which met immediately after the false rumour of the Danes' intended attack upon England, in the year 1085, as it is stated in the Saxon Chronicle, and it did not occupy long in the execution, since all the historians who speak of it vary but from the year 1083 until 1087. There is a memorandum at the end of the second volume, stating that it was finished in 1086. The manner of performing the survey was expeditious: certain commissioners, called the King's Justices, were appointed to travel throughout England, and to register upon the oath of the Sheriffs, the Lords of each manor, the priests of every church, the stewards of every hundred, the bailiffs and six villeins or husbandmen of every village, the names of the various places, the holders of them in the time of King Edward the Confessor, 40 years previous; the names of the possessors, the quantity of land, the nature of the tenures, and the several kinds of property contained in them. All the estates were to be then triply rated; namely, as they stood in the reign of the Confessor; as they were first bestowed by King William I.; and as they were at the time of the survey. The manuscript itself consists of two volumes, a greater and a less. The first of these is a large folio, containing the description of 31 counties, upon 382 double pages of vellum, numbered on one side only, and written in a small but plain character, each page having a double column. Some of the capital letters and principal passages are touched with red ink, and others have red lines run through them, as if they were intended to be obliterated. The smaller volume is of a 4to size, and is written upon 450 double pages of vellum, but in a single column, and in a very large and fair character: it contains three counties, and a part of two others. Through all ages this "Book of Judicial verdict" will be held in estimation, not only for its antiquity, but also for its intrinsic value. To the present day it serves to show what manor is, and what is not ancient demesne.

The Normans were remarkable for their courage and valour: though seated in the midst of warlike nations, they never made submission without an appeal to arms. Their valiant behaviour in the wars of the Holy Land exceedingly increased their honour; and Roger Hoveden, extolling their

The Domesday Book, the most ancient of its kind of which any European nation can boast, was, until 1695, kept under three locks, the keys of which were in the custody of the treasurer and two churchwardens of the Exchequer, but it is now deposited in the Chapter House at Westminster, where the fee for consulting it is 6s. 8d., and for transcripts from it, 4d. per line. Though it is now nearly 800 years old, it is in as fine a state of preservation as if it were the work of yesterday. In the 40th of George III. (1801), his Majesty, by the recommendation of Parliament, directed that it should be printed for the use of the members of the Houses of Lords and Commons, and the public libraries of the kingdom, which orders were duly obeyed.

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deeds of arms, tells us," that bold France, after she had experienced the Norman valour, drew back; fierce England submitted; rich Apulia was restored to her flourishing condition; famous Jerusalem, and renowned Antioch, were both subdued."

The Normans preserved most of the Anglo-Saxon laws and customs, but preferred their own trial by battle, as more worthy of warriors and freemen, to the fiery ordeals of the English. They separated the spiritual from the secular courts; and the old distinction of classes, viz., Ealdermen, Thanes, Ceorls, and Theowas, were preserved under the names of Count or Earl, Baron, Knight, Esquire, Freetenant, Villein or Villain, and Neif.

In the Domesday Survey we find Yorkshire, as at present, divided into three Ridings, called the east, west, and north, and subdivided into Wapentakes, a division peculiar to Yorkshire. And here we shall make a digression, for the purpose of explaining some of the ancient titles, tenures, and terms, used in the admeasurement of land, beginning with the names of the divisions and subdivisions of this county.

Riding is a term derived from the Saxon Trithing, which implies a third part; a mode of division in England, as has just been observed, now only peculiar to Yorkshire, but common in Lincolnshire and some other counties in the Anglo-Saxon era. The Trithing man, or Lathgrieve (the chief magistrate of a Riding), presided over three or four or more Hundreds, formed into what was called a Trithing, or Lath, or a Rape; hence the Laths of Kent, the Rapes of Sussex, the Parts of Lincoln, and the Trithings or Ridings of Yorkshire.

Wapentake, or Wapontake, is equivalent to Hundred, and this division is likewise of Saxon origin, and was probably made in imitation of the Centena of Germany. The true origin of the application of the word Hundred to the division of a county is uncertain. Some authors have considered the Hundred as relating to the number of the heads of families, or the number of dwellings situated in the division; others to the number of hides of land therein contained. Other writers are of opinion that the Hundred was formed by the union of ten tithings, and was presided over by a Hundredary, who was commonly a Thane, or nobleman, residing within the Hundred. The word Wapentake is evidently of warlike origin. In the northern counties the frequent occasion for military array, predominating over the peaceful purposes of civil jurisdiction, before the union of England and Scotland, the subdivision of these counties received warlike titles, as Wards and Wapentakes. The court of the chief officer, or Hundredary, commonly met once a month, and all the members came to it in their arms, from which it obtained

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the name of Wapentac, or Wapentake, which literally signifies "To Arms," from Wapen, weapons, and tac, touch. When any one came to take upon him the government of a Wapentake, upon a day appointed, all that owed suit and service to that Hundred came to meet their new governor at the usual place of meeting. "He, upon his arrival, alighting from his horse, set up the lance on end (a custom used amongst the Romans by the Prætor, at the meetings of the Centumviri), and according to custom, took fealty of them; the ceremony of which was, that all who were present touched the governor's lance with their lances, in token of confirmation, whereupon the whole meeting was called a Wapentake, inasmuch as by a mutual touch of each other's arms, they had entered into a confederacy or agreement to stand by one another."* Tithings were so called because ten freemen householders, with their families, composed one; and a number of these tithings (probably ten, or perhaps one hundred) originally composed a superior division, called a hundred, wapentake, ward, &c., in each of which a court was held yearly for the trial of causes. An indefinite number of these divisions form a County or Shire, the civil jurisdiction of which is confined to the Shire-reve, or Sheriff, who is appointed annually. Anciently the Shire-genot, or Folk-mote, as the highest court in the county was then called, was held twice a year, and presided over by the Bishop or his deputy, and the Alderman or his vicegerent, the Sheriff.

Judge Blackstone says that King Alfred the Great divided England into counties, hundreds, and tithings, to prevent the rapine and disorders which formerly prevailed in the realm; the inhabitants of each district being then made responsible for the lawless acts of each other. But shires and counties are mentioned before the accession of that monarch. Soon after the introduction of Christianity in the seventh century, the kingdom was divided into Parishes and Bishoprics.

The principal titles of honour amongst the Saxons were Etheling, Prince of the blood; Chancellor, assistant to the King in giving judgments; Alderman, or Ealderman, Governor or Viceroy. This word is derived from ald or old, like senator in Latin. Provinces, cities, and sometimes wapentakes, had their aldermen to govern them, determine law suits, &c. This office gave place to the title of Earl, which is Danish, and was introduced by Canute. Sheriffe, or Shir-rieve, the Alderman's deputy, and chosen by him, sat as judge in some courts, and saw sentence executed. Heartoghan signified Generals of armies or Dukes. Hengist, in the Saxon Chronicle, is Hear

• Bawdwen's Domesday Gloss., p. 22.

togh. Reeve, among the English Saxons, was a steward. Witan or Wites (i.e. wise-men) were the magistrates or lawyers. Thanes (i.e. servants) were officers of the crown, whom the King recompensed with lands, to be held of him, with some obligation of service or homage. There were other lords of lands and vassals, who enjoyed the title of Thanes, but were distinguished from the King's Thanes. The Aldermen and Dukes were all King's Thanes. These were the great Thanes, and were succeeded by the Barons, which title was brought in by the Normans. Mass Thanes were those who held lands in fee of the church. Middle Thanes were such as held very small estates of the King, or parcels of land of the King's greater Thanes. They were called by the Normans, vavassors or vavassories. Ceorl (whence our word churl) was a countryman or artizan, who was a freeman. Ceorls, who had acquired possession of five hides of land with a large house court, and bell to call together their servants, were raised to the rank of Thanes of the lowest class. The Villeins—“ Ascripti villæ seu glebæ "—were labourers bound to the soil, and transferred with it from one owner to another; in this and other respects they were little better than slaves. According to the enumeration in the Domesday Book, these Ceorls, under the names of villeins, cottars, and bordars, amounted in England to 183,024; whilst the freemen were only 30,005; and the slaves, 26,552. The burghers, many of whom were ceorls of the same description, were numbered at 17,105.

A Hide, or a Carucate of land, is generally estimated at 120 acres, and was considered to employ one plough for a year—hence it is sometimes called a Plough-land. It is, by some, derived from the Saxon hyden-tectum, the roof of a house; this quantity of land being considered as a proper annexation to a farm house. Under the feudal system most lands were held under a military tenure. All the lands in the kingdom, soon after the Conquest, were said to be "held of the King;" and the great vassals of the crown, both lay and clerical, were forced to have a certain number of horsemen completely armed, and to maintain them in the field for the space of forty days. England was so distributed by these means, that William the Conqueror had always at his command an army of 60,000 Knights. By the term Knights must be understood those who held Knight's fees, not persons who had obtained the order of knighthood. A Knight's fee consisted of two hides of land, or two hides and a half; and a mesne tenant, who had more than a single Knight's fee, was called a bavasor, a term applied to any vassal who held a military fief of a tenant in chief to the crown. He who held of a bavasor, was called a balvasini, and each of these might enfeeoff another to hold of him by Knight's service. A Barony was Knight's service embaroned,

or enlarged. Thus every nobleman was by tenure a soldier; his military duty was not confined within the kingdom, but extended abroad at the command of the King; and not singly, but with such a number of Knights as his barony, by its several fees, maintained. All the great landowners were soldiers, paid and maintained by the lands they possessed, as they likewise paid and maintained those freeholders of an inferior rank, who held Knight's fees under them. The military tenure, or that by Knight service, consisted of what were deemed the most free and honourable services, but in their nature they were unavoidably uncertain, as to the time of performance; the second species of tenure, or free socage, consisted also of free and honourable services, but were reduced to an absolute certainty. This tenure subsists to this day, and in it, since the statute of Charles II., almost every other species of tenure has been merged.

The chief tenants of lords generally divided their property into two portions, one of which, the principal farm or manor, on which the rest depended, and to which they owed suit and service, was called the Demesne.

A Virgate or Yard of land differed in extent at various times, and in various parts of the kingdom, from being measured with a rood (virga) of the length of a yard. An Oxgang or Bouvate was as much land as an ox could till, or about 28 acres. A Perch was 5 yards; an Acre, 160 square perches; a Carucate, Carve, or Plough-land, was generally 8 oxgangs. Berewicks are manors within manors. Heriot is a fine paid to the lord at the death of a land holder or change of tenant.

The other terms, most common in connection with the tenure of land, were Sac, Soc, Thol, Theam, Infangtheof, and View of Frank Pledge. All these terms are in ancient law, and originated from the old Saxon. Sac and Soc means the jurisdiction of holding pleas, and imposing fines, and the right which a lord possessed of exercising justice on his vassals, and compelling them to be suitors at his court. Sockmen were those who held land on lease, and their land was called sockland. They were comparatively free tenants, and held their land generally by the service of ploughing their lord's own demesne land, a certain number of days in the year. According to some, Soc in Saxon means the handle of a plough; but others tell us that it means liberty or privilege. Socage then, or free socage, denotes a tenure by any certain and determinate service.

Britton, describing lands in socage tenure, under the name of fraunke forme, says that they are lands and tenements, whereof the nature of the fee is charged by feoffment out of chivalry for certain yearly services, and in respect whereof neither homage, ward, marriage, or relief can be demanded.