Page:VCH Bedfordshire 1.djvu/258

 A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE of Northumberland, passed to Earl Waltheof on the fall of Harold's brother Tostig in 1065. In Huntingdonshire, he wrote, Domesday ' implies the succession of Siward, Tostig, and Waltheof by speaking of " men " and of rights which belonged first to Tostig and afterwards to Waltheof.' 1 But, he added, ' of Bedfordshire I cannot speak with any certainty.' a So far as actual possessions go, there is little to choose in Bedfordshire between Harold's brothers, Earl Gyrth and Earl Tostig ; as for Harold himself he had but one ' man ' in the county. Gyrth had held Kempston in its western, Tostig Potton in its eastern half, both of them important manors with satellites, which were held alike by Countess Judith in 1086. 3 In the case of Potton, however, there is a peculiarity ; we read not only of Potton itself, but also its ' berewick ' Charlton : ' Hoc M[anerium] tenuit rex Edwardus et fuit comitis Tosti.' This is an ambiguous phrase which I interpret as meaning that King Edward had held the manor after Tostig's forfeiture, but it might conceivably mean that the king had given it to Tostig. A further complication is intro- duced by the fact that lands at Cardington and Harrowden which had been held by a ' man ' of Tostig could not be sold without the leave of the lord of Kempston. The ' sphere of influence,' as shown by their ' men,' of the two earls was but small in the county. Of Tostig's man ' Stori,' I have al- ready spoken. Four other ' men ' of his are mentioned, and one of Gyrth's, but no succession of earls is indicated, nor are we shown how Countess Judith came by so much land in the county. Her husband, Waltheof, had but few ' men ' within its borders, while in Cambridge- shire he had a good number. From the lands of Countess Judith, the Conqueror's relative, to those of Bedford burgesses is a sharp change. Four of these bur- gesses who had been holding land in Biddenham before the Conquest continued to do so at the time of the survey, and their manors are followed by those of five other ' survivals,' who, in spite of the heading, had nothing, I take it, to do with the burgesses. Edward had been allowed by the king's writ to hold ' in almoin ' half a hide which had belonged to his father, and Almar similarly half a virgate. Godmund retained three virgates and Alric one virgate, which they had held respec- tively before the Conquest. The arrangement of Domesday here is bad ; on the next page (2 1 8b) we find, after the king's reeves, the names of more Englishmen who had been allowed to retain small holdings of land. These vary from three or four virgates to a quarter of a virgate. Holders of this class were usually grouped together, at the end of the survey of a county, as ' king's thegns,' and this was actually done with Alwin and his holding at Keysoe, under Huntingdonshire (fo. 207b) ; but Domes- 1 Norman Conquest (1870), ii. 559. 3 Ibid p. 567. In the section dealing with 'Religious Houses' there will be found a curious claim, in 1327, by the abbess of Elstow to the (earl's) ' third penny ' of Bedford under a charter of Malcolm IV. (Earl of Huntingdon under Henry II.). Although unsuccessful, the claim connects Bedford with the earldom of Huntingdon and Northampton. 3 Compare pp. 257, 258 below. 204