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The Domesday Book Entries - 1086
Along with the Magna Carta, the Domesday Book is possibly the best known English historical document. What can it tell us about our own area? Of course there is no entry for Woburn Sands. The area now occupied by modern Woburn Sands would have fallen mainly under Wavendon in Bucks, and some under Aspley Guise in Beds.
King William I spent 20 years in settling his own people into the positions of land owners, by rewarding his own family, supporters and knights with generous gifts of land that had belonged to the Anglo-Saxons. He decided he wanted to know exactly what he had, and who was using it. So, in 1085, he commissioned the gathering of all this information into one book, The Domesday Book. Some say this was to maximise the taxation he could levy, as he feared an invasion by the Danes. The Shires, as we know them, were already in place; Britain having been divided into administrative areas. Each of these was sub-divided in ‘Hundreds’. The Kings representatives went sent forth in 1086 with questions to ask at every local circuit court. These were then double checked by sending a different team to the same area.
The Words A ‘Manor’ could be any large area of land, as large as a modern country estate or as small as a part of a village. The entries are arranged by the owners of the land, who paid their dues to the King. The names of the sub-tenants of this land are given, with details of how many men worked it, and an approximation of how much land there was, by giving how many ploughs it took to work the land. Villages were nowhere near the size you would know now. Most were just a collection of homesteads, spread out over a small area. As farms rose and declined, village names could move around, leading to difficulties in identifying exact locations today. A ‘hide’ could vary in size, but Domesday experts have settled on an expression of 120 acres. A ‘hide’ was divided in 4 ‘virgates’ of 30 acres each.
Entries under Buckinghamshire Land of the Count of Mortain In Wavendon Ralph holds 2 hides from the Count as one manor.
In Wavendon, the Count of Mortain has let one manor, with a total of 240 acres to Ralph. There is enough farmed land for 2½ plough teams of 8 oxen, and one is used by Ralph himself. There are two peasant farmers, and three poor peasant farmers, who have land for between 1 - 1½ plough teams. There is one landless peasant. There is enough common land of hay for two plough teams; some woodland, and 15 pigs. The current total annual receipt of the Manor is 20s; when acquired by the Norman tenant it was 10s, but before 1066, it was 40s. Godnir, King Edward's Guard, held this manor; he could sell. In the same [village] Walter holds 2 hides from the Count as one manor. In the same village, the Count of Mortain has let one manor, with 240 acres, to Walter. There is enough farmed land for 2½ plough teams of 8 oxen, and one is used by Walter himself. There are two peasant farmers, and three poor peasant farmers, who have land for between 1 - 1½ plough teams. There are two landless peasants. There is enough common land of hay for 2 plough teams; some woodland, and 15 pigs. The current total annual receipt of the Manor is 20s; when acquired by the Norman tenant it was 10s, but before 1066, it was 40s. Brictwin, Earl Harold's man, held this manor; he could sell. In the same village Humphrey holds 3 virgates from the Count. In the same village, the Count of Mortain has let 90 acres to Humphrey. There is enough farmed land for one plough team of eight oxen. There is one poor peasant farmer, and enough common land of hay for one plough team. The current total annual receipt of the Manor is and was 5s; but before 1066, it was 10s. Kentish, Leofnoth son of Osmund's man, held this land; he could sell. Land of Hugh of Bolbec In Wavendon Ansel(m) holds 3 hides less 1 virgate from Hugh as one manor. In Wavendon, Hugh of Bolbec has let one manor of 330 acres to Ansel(m). There is enough farmed land for three plough teams of eight oxen, and there are four oxen. There are two peasant farmers, and three poor peasant farmers. There is enough common land of hay for three plough teams. The current total annual receipt of the Manor is and was 49s, but before 1066, it was 60s. Swein, King Harold's man, held this land; he could sell. Land of Leofwin of Nuneham, the Kings Thanes and Almsmen In Wavendon Godwin the priest holds 1 virgate from Leofwin In Wavendon Leofwin of Nuneham has let 30 acres to Godwin the priest. There is land for four oxen, and there are three poor peasant farmers. There is enough common land of hay for four oxen. The current total annual receipt of the Manor is and was 2s, but before 1066, it was 5s. Godwin also held this land before 1066; he could sell.
Entry under Bedfordshire Land of Hugh of Beauchamp Aspley answers for 10 hides. Acard of Ivry holds from Hugh. Land for 12 ploughs. In Lordship 2 ploughs; a third possible. There are 1200 acres in Aspley, which Hugh of Beauchamp has let to Acard of Ivry. There is land for 12 ploughs and Acard has 2 himself, but could do with another. 16 peasant farmers have another 8 ploughs, but could use another also. There are 4 poor peasant farmers and five men with no lands at all. There is a mill which pays 10s a year in tax, enough meadow land for hay that takes 10 ploughs to work it, some woodland and 50 pigs.
Some of the People in the text Hugh of Bolbec accompanied William the Conqueror to England. He is referred to as a cousin, sometimes as a brother of Walter Giffard, the first Earl of Buckingham. Hugo de Bolebec, or Hugo de Bolebech, is listed as "tenent in capite" - a tenent holding land immediately from the King. He held the manors of Messenden, Agmondesham, Chesham, Medmenham, Brock, Citedone (Cheddington), Claveston, Linford and Hardmead. According to a manuscript in the Ashmolean Collection in Oxford, Hugh de Bolebec was an attesting witness to the charter of endowment when Walter Giffard, second Earl of Buckingham, founded Notley Abbey for a reformed order of Augustine monks in 1112, and to another charter giving to the abbey the church of Hillesden. The Bolebec family were traditionally the owners of Bullbanks Castles at Danesfield. Hugh de Bolebec had two sons, Hugh and Walter, and was succeeded by both in turn. Hugh, his son, built Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire for the Cistercian monks in 1145, assigning to the monks the great titles of the parish, and later adding the honor of Medmenham as a cell to the abbey. The Bolbec heirs became Earls of Oxford. They had large holdings in Bucks, Berks, Hunts and Oxon.
Robert, Count of Mortain was a half brother of William I, and the younger brother of Odo of Bayeux. He married Earl Hugh of Chesters daughter, and was Lord of the Sussex rape of Pevensey, with a castle there. His titles included Honour of Berkhampstead, as he had a Castle there. He rebelled in 1088, but was pardoned and then died in 1091. He was the largest landholder in the country after the King, with holdings in 19 counties. Walter - Possibly Walter son of FitzOther. Founder of the house of Windsor, keeper of the forests of Berkshire and constable of Windsor Castle, ancestor of FitzGeralds of Ireland. Large holdings in Bucks. Also Berks Hants Middlesex and Surrey. Humphrey - Possibly Humphrey the Chamlerlain. Brother of Aiulf, Sherriff of Dorset; in the service of Queen Matilda. Holdings in 9 counties from Leicestershire south. Leofwin, Possibly Leofwin Earl of Kent Son of Countess Gytha and Earl Godwin, younger brother of King Harold Earl of Kent and the home counties. Earl Waltheof of Huntingdon - Son of Earl Siward, husband of Countess Judith. He wa also Earl of Northumbria. He was executed in 1076
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