95. Domesday of St. Paul's, Hale's Introduction, pp. xxxviii, xxxix.
96. Gesta Abbatum (Rolls Ser.), 74. Cf Glastonbury Inqu. of 1189, p. 145.
97. See, for instance, the beginning of the description of Dorsetshire.
98. Exch. Q. R. Min. Acc. Bk. 587, T. P. R. 8109: 'Sciendum quod tenentes Abbatis de Osoluestone in Donington et Byker cum pertinentiis fuerunt semel in anno pro voluntate Abbatis ad curiam suam tenendum ibidem et invenient eidem Abbati et toti familie sue quam secum duxerit omnia necessaria sufficientia in adventu suo per unum diem integrum et noctem sequentem, vel noctem precedentem et diem sequentem in esculentis et poculentis tam vino quam cervisia, feno et prebenda pro equis eorum et equis carucariorum salem querencium, una cum candela et ceteris costis omnimodis inter necessaria computandis. Et si abbas non venerit facient finem cum celerario si voluerit vel cum alii quem Abbas nomine Suo miserit ad minus 20 solidis. Et si is qui nomine Abbatis missus ibidem fuit et finem recusault, procurabitur ut premittitur. Et si aliquid de necessariis in administrando defuerit, omnes tenentes qui comestum contribuere debent die crastino in plena curia super necessariorum defectu per senescallum calumpniabuntur et graviter amerciabuntur. Et talis fuit consuetudo ab antiquo et habetur quolibet anno pro certo redditu, et de quo Petrus de Thedingworth quondam Abbas de Osoluestone et predecessores sui a tempore quo non extat memoria sub forma predicta fuerunt seisiti.'
99. See about this point, Hale's Introduction. It is generally very good on the subject of the farm.
100. Domesday of St. Paul's, 21: 'Potest wainagium fieri cum tribus caruciis octo capitum cum consuetudinibus villate.'
101. The Templar's Book of 1185 at the Record Office (Q. R. Misc.
Books, N. 16) is already a rental in substance.
102. Glastonbury Inqu. of 1189, p. 117: 'Nigellus capellanus tenet unam vir. gatam, sed illa virgata non solet ad operacionem redigi. Cum dominus voluerit operabitur sicut alie.' Rot. Hundr.
ii. 815, a: '... dabit 8 solidos per annum pro operibus suis qui solidi poterunt mutari in aliud servicium ad valorem pro voluntate domini.'
103. Glastonbury Inqu. of 1189, p. 29: 'G. de P. (tenet) unum mesuagium et tres acras et dimidiam pro 2 solidis et facit sicut homines de Mera quando sunt ad gabulum. Hoc tenementum non solet esse ad opus.' 116: 'Leviva vidua tenet dimidiam hidam; Unam virgatam tenet eodem servitio; aliam tenet pro gabulo et non potest ad operationem poni sicut alia.'
104. Bury St. Edmund's Reg., Harl. MSS. 3977, f 82, d: 'Omnes liberi et non liberi dabunt festivales exceptis illis liberis qui habent residentes sub illos.' Glastonbury Cart, Wood MSS. i. f 176, b: 'Abbas et conventus remiserunt R. de W.... omnia carriagia... nec non et illas custodias quae predictus R. et antecessores sui personaliter facere consueverunt cum virga sua super bederipas ipsorum... et super arruras precarias que ei fieri debent in manerio de Pultone.'
105. Custumals of Battle Abbey (Camd. Soc.), p. 122106. Black Book of Peterborough (Camden Ser.), 164: 'In Scotere et Scaletoys sunt undecim carrucatae ad geldum Regis et 24plenarii villani... Plenarii villani operantur duobus diebus in ebdomada... Et ibi sunt 29 sochemanni et operantur uno die in ebdomada pertotum annum et in Augusto duobus diebus. Et isti villani et omnes sochemanni habent 21 carrucas et omnes arant una vice ad hyvernage et una ad tremeis.'
The Lord, His Servants and Free Tenants Descriptions of English rural arrangements in the age we are studying always suppose the country to be divided into manors, and each of these manors to consist of a central portion called the demesne, and of a cluster of holdings in different tributary relations to this central portion. Whether we take the Domesday Survey, or the Hundred Rolls, or the Custumal of some monastic institution, or the extent of lands belonging to some deceased lay lord, we shall again and again meet the same typical arrangement. I do not say that there are no instances swerving from this beaten track, and that other arrangements never appear in our records. Still the general system is found to be such as Ihave just mentioned, and a very peculiar system it is, equally different from the ancient latifundia or modern plantations cultivated by gangs of labourers working on a large scale and for distant markets, from peasant ownership scattered into small and self-dependent households, and even from the conjunction between great property and farms taken on lease and managed as separate units of cultivation.
The characteristic feature of the medieval system is the close connexion between the central and dominant part and the dependent bodies arranged around it. We have had occasion to speak in some detail of these tributary bodies -- it is time to see how the lord's demesne which acted as their centre was constituted.
Bracton mentions as the distinguishing trait of the demesne, that it is set aside for the lord's own use, and ministers to the wants of his household.(1*) Therefore it is sometimes called in English 'Board Lands.' The definition is not complete, however;because all land occupied by the owner himself must be included under the name of demesne, although its produce may be destined not for his personal use, but for the market. 'Board lands' are only one species of domanial land, so also are the 'Husfelds'
mentioned in a charter quoted by Madox.(2*) This last term only points to its relation to the house, that is the manorial house.
And both denominations are noteworthy for their very incompleteness, which testifies indirectly to the restricted area and to the modest aims of domanial cultivation. Usually it lies in immediate connexion with the manorial house, and produces almost exclusively for home consumption.
