Page:VCH Essex 1.djvu/589

 THE HOLDERS OF LANDS SCELGA [Shellow (Bowells)], which was held of Harold, in King Edward's time, by Ulvric, a free man, as a manor and as 2 hides, is held by Geoffrey in demesne. Then as now (semper) 2 ploughs on the demesne. Then I plough belonging to the men ; now a half. Then 2 villeins ; now i. Then 2 bordars ; now 4. Then 4 serfs ; now 6. (There is) wood(land) for 150 swine, (and) 12 acres of meadow. And I more plough could be employed (fieri). It was then worth 4 pounds ; now 100 shillings. To this estate belongs (terrt adjacet) half a hide of land, which is held now as then (semper) by I sokeman ; then i plough on the demesne ; now a half; then as now (semper) i bordar ; and there are i acres of meadow ; and half a plough could be added to the stock (restau- rari); it is worth 10 shillings. fo. 6ib RODINGES [(White) Roding 1 ], which Ans- gar held as a manor and as 2 hides in King Edward's time, is held of Geoffrey by (Geoffrey ?) Martell'. Then as now (semper) 2 ploughs on the demesne. Then 3 ploughs belonging to the men ; now 2 ; and a third could be added to the stock (restaurari). Then 6 villeins ; now 8. Then I bordar ; now 5. Then i serf; now none. (There is) wood- (land) for 20 swine, (and) 20 acres of meadow. Then and afterwards it was worth 100 shil- lings ; now 6 pounds. DOMMAWA [Dunmow *], which was held by the same A[nsgar] as half a hide and 15 acres in King Edward's time, is held (of Geoffrey) by William. Then as now (sem- per) i plough on the demesne. Then 4 villeins ; now i ; and 4 bordars. (There is) wood(land) for 50 swine, (and) 16 acres of meadow. Then and afterwards it was worth 20 shillings ; now 6o. 3 ESTANES [Easton *], which was held by i 1 i.e. the manor of Maskelsbury there. This identity is proved absolutely, not only by Maskels- bury, like (Geoffrey) Martel's manors at Bigods and Dunmow (see above), descending to the count of St. Pol, but by the Teita Je Nevi/J and Red Book of the Exchequer (see note above), where the count's holding is placed in ' Alba Roynge." Morant wrongly identified the ' Rodinges * of the text as Marks in Margaret Roding (ii. 473). Great Dunmow, which was afterwards held of Bohun. 8 There seems to be nothing to account for this great rise. 4 The identity of this small estate has not been ascertained. free man as a manor and as half a hide in King Edward's time, is held of G[eoffrey] by Richard. Then as now (semper) i plough on the demesne. Then i serf; now I bor- dar. There are 12 acres of meadow. Then and afterwards it was worth 10 shillings ; now 30.' CHENEFELDA [(Little) Canfield 8 ], which was held by Afnsgar] as a manor and as half a hide and 16 acres in King Edward's time, is held of G[eoffrey] by Richard. Then 2 ploughs on the demesne ; now I . (There is) now i plough belonging to the men, (with) 2 villeins. Then 8 bordars ; now 4. (There is) wood(land) for 30 swine, (and) 1 6 acres of meadow. It was then worth 40 shillings ; and when received, the same ; now 60. ROINGES [Roding 7 ], which was held by A[nsgar] as a manor and as 2 hides less 10 acres in King Edward's time, is held of G[eoffrey] by Rainalm. Then as now (sem- per) 2 ploughs on the demesne. (There are) now 8 bordars. Then as now (semper) 2 serfs. (There is) wood(land) for 2O swine, (and) 32 acres of meadow. Then and after- wards it was worth 60 shillings ; now 100. And i plough more (adhuc) could be added to the stock (restaurari). To this estate (terre) have been added 10 acres which were held by I free man in King Edward's time ; and now the whole Hundret (court) testifies that they (are) of King William's demesne. RODINGES [Roding 8 ], which was held by I free man as a manor and as I hide and 3 virgates in King Edward's time, is held (of Geoffrey) by William. Half of this land owed soke to Ansgar, and the other half was free and was given by the king to Geoffrey, 8 as his men say. Then i^ 5 Here again, as in the entry preceding, the value has tripled for no apparent reason ; and the tenant was different. 8 i.e. the manor of Langthorns there, which, as Morant points out, was afterwards held of the Bohuns. 7 The identity of these two estates seems doubtful. 8 Hec terra dimidia reddcbat socam Ansgaro, et altera pars erat libcra, quam rex dcdit G.' This is a difficult but important passage as bearing on ' soke ' and on the meaning of the word ' libera.' Its gist appears to be that Geoffrey had obtained half of it as Ansgar's recognized successor and the other half by special gift of the Crown. It should be observed that the whole estate had been held by one man and ' as a manor,' although the tenure of its two portions thus differed.
 * Possibly, as Morant held, Shingle Hall in