soldiers. Again, in Normandy there had been barons as rich in lands and money as the Duke himself; but Willam kept enormous tracts of English land in his own hands, and so made the Crown ten times richer than any baron. Taxes.In Normandy the Duke had no real system of taxes; in England the King could and did levy a regular tax of so many shillings on each estate. Ethelred had begun this in order to get money to bribe the Danes; the later kings had continued it.
Domesday Book, 1085.Many estates were, however, free from this tax, and no doubt it was always difficult to collect. So, in 1085, William sent officers to every village and county in England to find out who must pay the tax and how much each must pay. These officers called together a sort of ‘Jury’ of the villagers, who declared the value of the estate. The results were collected and written down in ‘Domesday Book’, which you may see in the Record Office. An extract from it will run somewhat like this:—‘County of Cambridge: In Blackacre are ten hides [the hide is an old measure of land, say 120 acres]. Thurstan holds it. In King Edwards time Wulfstan held it. It was worth £2 6s. 8d. Now it is worth £4 13s. 4d. It never paid tax. There is land for eight ploughs. There are two freeholders and ten serfs. The priest holds half a hide. There is a mill, value 10s. There is wood for 100 pigs, and pasture for 20 cows.’
Old English money.Are you astonished at the small value of land? You must remember that you could then buy with £1 what might now cost you £40. For there was little silver and less gold in Europe before the discovery of America. Few gold coins were made in England before the reign of Edward III.
