490
APPENDIX В.
= 973j ferl. But the ferl. paid 4^d. .∙. 973∣ ferl. paid 4380∣<7.
which gives us the same value 187. 5s. 0¾d.
Now if we can obtain the value of any one of these denomina-
tions, we can calculate all the rest with security. The value of the
virga or yardland we can obtain : it consisted of ten Norman agri,
aeræ or acres, perhaps eight or eight and a third Saxon.
In the Exeter Domesday, fol. 48 (vol. iii. p. 42) we find ten
hides of land to be made up of the following parcels, 4 hides
+ 1 virg. +10 agri+ 5^ hides+ 4 agri ;
then 10 h.=9j h. + 1 v. + 10 a.
or 10—θɪ h. = l v. +10 a.
or ⅜ h. = l v. + 10 a.
But ⅜ h.=2 v.
.∙. 2 v. = l v.⅛10 a.
2—1 v. = 10a. .∙. 1 Virga=IOagri.
But 1 hyd = 4 virg. = 16 ferling.
.∙. 1 hyd=40 acres = 33⅛ Saxon.
1 ferl. = 24 acres = 2-r⅛ Saxon.
It will now be seen why I have given a column in which the whole
acreage was measured by a calculation of forty acres to the hid.
That this result is a near approximation to the truth appears from
the following considerations. In the Cornish Domesday, (a county
where arable land bore a very small proportion to the markland,
forest and pasture,) there are a great number of estates, valued at
one ager or acre. These are generally said to pay geld for half a
ferling. Thus in Treuurniuet, one ager paid geld for half a ferl-
ing 1 : so in Penquaro2, in Trelamar3, in Lantmatin4, in Chilo''-
goret,, in Roslet9, in Pengelli7, in Telbricg8, in Karsalan9, in
Dimelihoc10 ; and similarly in Widcwot, two agri paid geld for
one ferling11. Now throughout Domesday there are innumerable
examples of land being rated at less than its real value, or even
1 Exon. D. f. 227. vol. iii. 206.
8 Ibid. f. 234. vol. iii. 213.
s Ibid. f. 236, b. vol iii. 216.
’ Ibid. f. 245. vol. iii. 225.
8 Ibid. f. 254 vol. iii. 233.
11 Ibid. f. 254, b. vol. iii. 234.
• Ibid. f. 233. vol. iii. 212.
4 Ibid. f. 235. vol. iii. 214.
“ Ibid. f. 240. vol. iii. 20.
8 Ibid. f. 245, b. vol. iii. 225.
10 Ibid. f. 254, b. vol. iii. 234.
THE HI'D.
491
at its real value ; but I have not detected any instance in which
it is rated at more : and in Cornwall especially the rating seems
to have been in favour of the tenant. I do not therefore believe
that one ager was less than half a ferling : it was either more
than half a ferling or equal to it. But g ferl. =1∣ Norman acre,
which is more than one statute acre ; therefore we may conclude
that the ager or acre was equal to half a ferling. The way 1 under-
stand this, is by the assumption that the Saxon acre was some-
what larger than the Norman : we know that they differed in
point of extent1, and it is possible that the original Saxon calcula-
tion was founded upon multiples of eight, while the Norman was
reduced to a decimal notation : if this were so, we may believe
that the hid was the unit, and that its principal subdivisions re-
mained, being familar to the people, but that the value of the acre
was slightly changed. Hence that the
Saxon hid =32 Saxon acres =40 Norman acres.
---virg. = 8 ---- --- = 10 ---- ----
----feor1δing = 2 ---- ---- = 2i ---- ----
The document entituled “ Rectitudines singularum personarum ”
says2, that the poor settler on first coming in, ought to have seven
acres laid down for him in seed, out of his yardland ; and the
same authority implies that his grass-land was usually short of
his need : this it might be, if he had only one acre to support
the two oxen and one cow with which his land was stocked on
entry. The lot of meadow and pasture attached to these small
plots of one ager, is so frequently quoted at thirty agri, in Corn-
wall, that one could almost imagine an enclosure-bill to have been
passed just previous to the Conquest, under which the possession
of even so small a quantity as one acre qualified the owner to re-
ceive a handsome share of the waste.
It is obvious that all these calculations are ultimately founded
upon the value of the acre relatively to our own statute measure,
in which the survey of 1841 is expressed. That ager and acra
ɪ Ellis, Introd. p. 1. The fractions, and the admixture of a decimal with
the quarterly division, seem to imply that the later or Norman measure was
the smaller of the two. 2 Thorpe, i. 434.