there are 736 in Cambridgeshire, and 16 at Tateshale in Yorkshire. The RADCHENISTRI, under which denomination we find 196, and under that of RADMANNI 369, are, with the exception of 5 of the first mentioned in Hampshire, all found in the counties bordering on Wales, as 137 radchenistri in Gloucestershire, 47 in Herefordshire; 167 radmen in Shropshire, 145 in Cheshire, 24 in Herefordshire, 33 in Worcestershire; consequently collectively in the districts of the Magesætas, or the Hecanas and Hwiccas. Their relative position seems to be between the free and the villeins. As a peculiarity of Cheshire, dating no doubt from the conquests of the Danes, we find in that county a class of DRENGHS, a name originally applied to sons, but afterwards given to servants. Mention of them occurs occasionally for some centuries later, and on the Scottish border1 they correspond to the radchenistri on the marches of Wales. Passing over some classes of minor importance2, we have yet to notice 82,609 BORDARII (including 490 BORDARII PAUPERES3), whom we meet with in all the counties contained in the Domesday survey, in a tolerably equal proportion to the sum total of the inhabitants recorded in that document. They form a class usually named after the villeins and before Domesday, i. fol. 269 b. Before the Conquest there were forty-nine of them there. See Grimm, D. R. A. p. 305. Jamieson, Scottish Dictionary; also Rotulus Magn. Pipæ, 31 Hen. I. pp. 28, 132. In the year 1292 we find them at Tyndal. See Rot. orig. in Curia Scaccar. Abbrev. i. 70. The Dingi dwelling in the house of Gamel, a vassal (homo) at York, do not appear to have been drenghs, but subordinate servants like the pardingi in Legg. Henr. I. 29. 2 On this subject, see "Engl. under the A. S. Kings." ii. p. 357, sq. and "Rectitudines Singularum Personarum" in Anc. Laws and Instit. 3 With the exception of ten in Herefordshire, the bordarii pauperes ("qui propter pauperiem nullam reddunt consuetudinem"), all in Norwich, which had severely suffered, "partim propter foris facturas Rogerii comitis, partim propter arsuram, partim propter geltum regis, partim propter Waleranum." Domesday, ii. fol. 117 b. the slaves. Their name, if explained by the hut, provided with a small garden or kale-yard, in which they dwelt, would agree with that of the cotsetlan and the cotarii; but in Domesday all the three classes are distinguished one from another. This denomination does not seem to occur in any ancient, unquestionable Anglo-Saxon document, while in France it was cominon. Hence we may assume that this appellation was transferred to the Anglo-Saxons by the Normans, or that the bordarii were themselves Normans, that had stood in the same relation in their own country, and lived on the estate and in the hall of their lord, and originally fed at his table or bord1. In favour of this opinion, we may mention, that it does not appear how the shoals of Normans of the lower classes, that came over to England, were disposed of, while the number of bordarii well corresponds to that of the army of sixty thousand men, after deducting the slain, and doubling the remainder, in consequence of the masses that flocked over in the following years. In some places we find them in round numbers, which seems corroborative of the opinion that they were but recently established there2. It is, moreover, obvious that the Anglo-Saxon ceorls could not always be displaced by the herd of Normans and followers, particularly as these must constantly be under arms, and, consequently, incapacitated from devoting much time to field labour. Still a conclusive opinion on this subject is not possible, as, even under the Anglo-Saxon rulers, in consequence of the increase of an indigent population and the incessant wars with the Danes, similar relations could easily exist. 1 Bord, Dan. and Anglo-Sax. Engl. board. The bordarii are not mentioned in the "Rectitudines S. P."; but borda, signifying hut, is found in a questionable charter of king Eadgar, in Monast. Angl. i. p. 209. Cod. Diplom. iii. p. 179. 2 Extra burgum (Warwick) C. bordarii cum hortulis suis reddunt L. solidos. Domesd. i. fol. 238. Sub eis (civibus Huntingdon) sunt C. bordarii. Ib. fol. 203. In Norwich there were 480, in Thetford 20 bordarii. The total number of persons registered in Domesday-book, after allowing for the repetition of numerous tenants in several counties and hundreds, amounts to about two hundred and eighty-three thousand, which, with the addition of the counties and cities omitted in Domesday, will form a total of at least three hundred thousand heads of families. That other taxable classes have been omitted must appear highly improbable, when we call to mind that the grand object of the composition of Domesday was the benefit of the royal treasury. That church property was exempt from all imposts, appears only as a rare exception. Monks, on the other hand, because not personally taxable, are only incidentally mentioned. It has been supposed that frequently whole classes of the lower rural population have not been registered, because in several counties, in which the rearing of swine was an object of industry, no mention is made of swineherds. But these were, no doubt, frequently taken from the serfs. If then we would estimate the total number of inhabitants of England at that time, two millions might seem a number rather too great than too little. The extent of the forests in England was very considerable, enormous tracts were waste, and others of great magnitude had latterly been desolated or abandoned. The villages were very small, on which account several, at a later period, were united into one. Yorkshire was desolated more than any other part; in four hundred and eleven manors in that county, there were found only thirty-five villeins and eight bordarii. The cities and towns had few and only very small houses. Previous to the Conquest, London and York alone numbered above ten thousand resident inhabitants, and only the former many above that number. The greater number of the towns had severely suffered, partly by plundering and fire, partly through the construction of fortresses, for which purpose many houses were demolished. In Exeter, of 463 houses existing at the time of the Confessor, above 50 were destroyed; in Dorchester, of 172, and in the wealthy city of Norwich, (the burgesses of which possessed 43 chapels,) of 1320, the half. In Lincoln, of 1150 houses, 166 were sacrificed to the erection of the castle, and 100 others no longer inhabited. In Cambridge 27 houses were destroyed to make room for the castle; in Chester, of 487 houses, 205 were destroyed; in Derby, of 243, no fewer than 103; the remainder were inhabited by 100 great and 40 small burgesses. In Stafford, of 131 houses, 38 were destroyed; in York, of 1800, or thereabouts, 800 were probably no longer standing. But no city suffered more than Oxford, where geld was paid by 243 houses, while 478 were so ruined that they could no longer pay it. One town only, Dunwich, showed any sign of increase after the Conquest, where the number of burgesses, in the time of the Confessor, 120, was, at the time of the survey, augmented to 236; a phenomenon easily explained by the decay of the neighbouring city of Norwich. The total amount of the yearly revenue of the king of England, as enjoyed by Eadward the Confessor, has, at a later period, been estimated at sixty thousand marks of silver; but by donations to the church and other gifts, this amount, according to the expressions of the discontented eldest son and immediate successor of the Conqueror, was diminished to the half. A century after the Conqueror, it is said to have amounted to a fifth only, or twelve thousand marks, the trifling value of which will appear the more striking, on calling to mind that the revenue of the German emperor, at the last-mentioned time, was estimated at three hundred thousand marks'. While the power of William in England was every year becoming more firmly established (1087), the state of things in France was a source to him of unceasing trouble, which claimed his constant attention, and finally led to the cause of 1 Giraldus Cambrensis, De Institutione Principis, Distinct. iii. c. 28, in Recueil des Historiens Français, tom. xviii. his death. After the decease of queen Matilda, who had by her prudence contributed to the better government of Normandy, as well as to the calming of the differences with the neighbouring states, the turbulent nobles of Le Maine again rose in arms against William. Among these his most dangerous adversary was the viscount Hubert, son-in-law of William, count of Nivernais. This individual, leaving his castles of Beaumont and Frenay, fortified himself, on the boundary of Le Maine and Anjou, in the castle of Ste Susanne, situated on a steep rock, where, at the head of the malcontents and many knights, collected from Guienne and Burgundy, he for three years plundered and captured the Normans and the inhabitants of Le Mans, and slew them, if they resisted him with arms; until the king, at length, after fruitless sieges and the loss of many of his most distinguished warriors, listening to the representations of the Normans, agreed to a reconciliation with the fortunate rebel, on terms prescribed by himself. William's chief motive for this concession lay in the dissensions with the king of France, which had at that time broken out afresh. The vassals of Mantes on the Seine, Hugh, surnamed Stavelus, Ralf Mauvoisin and others had entered the Norman territory and committed great depredations in the diocese of Evreux. William availed himself of this opportunity to demand the restoration of the Vexin, which, after the death of the count Drogo of Mantes, had been re-united to the crown of France, together with the towns of Pont Ysère, Chaumont, and Mantes, and supported this frivolous demand, in contravention of the feudal law and in contempt of a possession confirmed through the course of half a century, by the most violent threats1. A joke of the French monarch reported to William served as fuel to the anger that was burning within him. Alluding both to William's corpulency and to his delay in carrying his 1 Ord. Vital. p. 664 sq. P |