Page:VCH Hertfordshire 1.djvu/329

 THE DOMESDAY SURVEY Ansgar, held a manor at Thorley, 2 hides at Hoddesdon, two-thirds of a hide in Layston, and 2 hides close by at Beauchamps in Widiall. Moreover ' Edzi, a man of Coded,' held half a hide in Thorley, and at Wickham a sokeman with 8 acres was ' a man of Godid.' What became of all this land ? Geoffrey de Mandeville obtained the manor at Thorley, one of the hides at Hoddesdon and the land at Wickham ; count Eustace of Boulogne secured the estate in Layston and Widiall, with one of the hides at Hoddesdon ; and the bishop of London is found in possession of what ' Edzi ' had held at Thorley. The other instance is that of Wulfward, who was likewise a ' man ' of Ansgar. He had held a manor at Hormead and another at Wormley ; the former went to count Eustace, and the latter had passed apparently by sale, ' after the coming of king William,' to ./Elfwine Dodesone, an Englishman. Geoffrey de Mandeville had nothing. By way of contrast with Ansgar's ' fief we will take that of ^Elfstan ' of Boscumbe.' In Hertfordshire as in Bedfordshire all the lands held by ^Ifstan himself or by his ' men ' had passed to William de Ow. It may cause some surprise to learn that Boscombe, the seat of this great thegn, was far away near Amesbury in Wiltshire, but the fact illustrates the scattered character of the greater Anglo-Saxon estates. The point however to be here insisted on is that the lands of ^Elfstan's ' men ' passed with his own to William, his recog- nized Norman successor. We have mention of a few other lords whose ' men ' held manors. At Pelham the bishop of London had secured three estates which had been held by ' men ' or ' thegns ' of Godwine ' de Benefelle,' while two others which his ' men ' had held passed to Robert Gernon. No such man as Godwine de Benefelle is to be found in Domesday, but the fact that in one Hertfordshire entry he occurs as ' de Benedfelle ' convinces me that he was the nameless freeman (liber homo] who had held, on Robert Gernon's fief, Bendfieldbury ('Benedfelda') in Stansted Montfichet, just across the Essex border and close to Pelham. But one does not see what can have led Hertfordshire men to seek him for lord. A greater man was Oswulf, otherwise Oswulf son of Frane, whom the Hertfordshire Domesday expressly styles the predecessor of Robert ' de Todeni.' But although Robert succeeded to his manors here, as in Beds, Bucks and Northants, 2 of his 6 ' men ' with their lands passed to the count of Mortain and 2 to Robert d'Ouilly, while the other 2 were annexed by Engelric, the predecessor of count Eustace. This case is the more remarkable as their lands lay in and about Oswulf's chief manor. 1 Some- thing should also be said of yElfwine of ' Godtone,' who had held 3 1 Not many miles from this manor of Miswell was Studham (the ' Estodham ' of Domesday) on the borders of Herts and Beds, a considerable manor held by this same Oswulf (Domesday, fo. 215). I entertain no doubt that he was the Oswulf who, with ./Ethelitha his wife gave their land at ' Stodham ' to St. Alban's in the time of abbot Leofstan and Edward the Confessor. The gift (which the Normans seem to have ignored) is Kemble's No. 945 {Codex Diphmatictu, iv. 280-1) and is witnessed by Wulfwig bishop of Dorchester, Bondig the staller, Burhed (a great landowner) with Eadwine his son and successor (see the Victoria History of Northamptonshire), and Leofwine of Caddington Csee p. 281 below). 277