THE DOMESDAY BOOK
A survey of England in 1086 conceived by William
I, but probably based to some extent on pre-Conquest records, it was one of the most comprehensive assessment of
property and land ever undertaken . The shires were visited by royal commissioners and the survey gave evidence
relating to the identity of landlords the size of their holding, its use, its tax liability, and the number of
animals, the name reflects the concern apparent at that time .
( Held at the Public Records Office, London. ) ( Oxford Interactive Encyclopaedia )
The City of Chester paid geld T. R. E. for 50 hides . there are three & half hides which are outside the city, that is one & half hides beyond the bridge, and two hides in Newtown and Redcliff and in the bishop's borough ; these paid geld with the city .
There were in the city T.R. E. 431 houses which paid geld, besides these the bishop had 56 houses which paid geld . This city then paid ten & half marks of silver. Two thirds went to the king, and one third to the earl these are the laws which were there observed .
If the peace given by the king with his own hand, or by his writ, or by his messenger was broken by anyone, the king received a fine of 100 shillings . But if the same peace of the king given by the earl at his command was broken, the earl had the third penny of the 100 shillings which were given in fine for this offence. If however the same peace, given by the king 's reeve, or by the earl's sevent, was broken, a fine of 40 shillings was paid and the earl had the third penny .
If any freman , breaking the king's peace which had been given , killed a man in a house, all his land and chattels were forfeit to the king, and he became an outlaw. Nobody however, could give back peace to any outlaw except by the of the king .
a man who shed blood from the morning of Monday to noon on Saturday paid a fine of 10 shillings . But from noon on Saturday until the morning of Monday 20 shillings was the amount of the fine for bloodshed . a like 20 shillings was paid as a fine by the man who shed blood in the 12 days of Nativity, on Candlemas day , on the first day of Easter, and the first day of Pentecost, on ascension Day, on the day of the Assumption or of the Nativity of Mary , and on the day of the Feast of All Saints .
He who killed a man on these holy days paid a fine of 4 pounds ; on other days 40 shilliings . So too he who committed 'hamfare ' ( Breaking in a house ) or forsteal ( violence in the streets ) on these feast days and on Sunday paid 4 pounds ; on other days 40 shillings .
He who incurred ' hengwite ' ( failure to raise the hue and cry after a thief ) in the city paid 10 shillings ; but a reeve of the king or earl incurring this forfeiture paid a fine of 20 shillings .
He who was guilty of robbery ' reulach ) or theft,
or assaulted a woman in a house paid a fine of 40 shillings .
If a widow had unlawful intercourse with any man, she paid a fine of 20 shillings ; a young girl paid 10 shillings
for this offence.
A man who seized the land of another in the city and could not prove it to be his, paid a fine of 40 shillings. He who made the claim paid a like fine if he could not prove the land to be his by right.
He who wished to take up his land or the land of his kinsman gave 10 shillings, and if he could not or would not pay this, the reeve took his land into the king's hand .
He who did not pay his ' gafol ' at the term when
it was due paid 10 shillings as a fine .
If fire broke out in the city, the man from whose house it came paid a fine of 3 ounces of pennies , and to his
next door neighbour he gave 2 shillings .
Two-thirds of all these forfeitures were the kings and one third the earl's .
If ships arrived at the port of the city, or departed there from without the permission of the king , the king and the earl had 40 shillings from each man who was on the ship .
If a ship came against the kings peace, and despite
his prohibition, the king and earl had the ship, and all the men, and all that was in the ship .
But if the ship came in the king's peace , and with his leave , then those on board might sell what they had undisturbed
. When it left however, the king and the earl took 4 pence from each last . If the king's reeve ordered those who
had martens ' pelts not to sell to anyone until the king had seen them and been given an opportunity of buying
,then he who neglected to this paid a fine of 40 shillings.
A man or a woman caught giving false measure in the city paid a fine of 4 shillings to the reeves. The officers of the king and the earl took this forfeiture in the city in who so ever's land it arose, whether the bishop's or that of any other man . In like manner did they take toll, and anyone who delayed paying it beyond three nights paid a fine of 40 shillings
There were in the city T.R. E. 7 moneyers who, when the coinage was changed , paid 7 pounds to the king and earl over and above the ' farm '.
There were then 12 judges of the city and these were taken from the men of the king and the bishop and the earl . If any of them absented himself from the hundred court on the day of its session without proper excuse, he paid a fine of 10 shillings to the king and the earl .
For the repair of the city wall the reeve was wont to call up one man from each hide of the county. The lord of any man who failed to come paid a fine of 40 shillings to the king and the earl. This forfeiture was not included in the farm
This city then rendered a ' farm ' of 45 pounds and 3 'timbers' of marten pelts . A third of this was the earl's and two thirds the kings .
When Earl Hugh received it , it was not worth more
than 30 pounds for it was greatly wasted ; there were 205 houses less than there had been T. R. E. There are now
the same number as he found there.
Mundret held the city from the earl for 70 pounds and 1 mark of gold . The same Mundret had at ' farm ' for 50
pounds and 1 mark of gold all the earl's pleas in the shire court, and in the hundred courts, except Englefield
.
The land on which the church of St Peters stands, which Robert of Rhuddlan claimed as thegn-land, never belonged to a manor outside the city, and this was proved by witness of the county. It belongs to the borough and always paid dues to the king and the earl like the lands of the other burgesses .
