A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE at pains to explain that the only difference between those without and those within the wall was that the former paid 'j^d. and the latter '^d. as the money rent of their houses ; all other customs they had in common. The Survey further informs us that Earl Harold had in the city twenty-seven burgesses with the same customs, and therefore apparently owing the same dues to the king, in which case it is not easy to see where Harold had his profit unless in their fines and forfeitures.^*^ But the rack rentals of the houses may have exceeded their quit-rents. The description gives us no hint that there were more than 130 burgesses T.R.E., but when we come to the bishop's fief we read of his ninety-eight messuages in the city, from which he used to receive 94J. Probably these were in his own fee and the custumal did not apply to them. With this important custumal one cannot deal seriatim, but certain points may be selected. There is sufficient resemblance between some of its provisions and those recorded at Shrewsbury to make comparison instructive. In both is the ever-present reminder of Welsh warfare : Hereford Shrewsbury Si vicecomes iret in Wales cum exercitu, Cum in Walis pergere vellet vicecomes, qui ibant hi homines cum eo. Quod siquis ire ab eo edictus non pergebat xl sol. de forisfactura jussus non iret emendabat regi xl solidos.^*' dabat.^* So, too, there is a parallel in the three forfeitures : Rex vero habebat in suo dominio tres foris- Siquis pacem regis manu propria datam scienter facturas, hoc est pacem suam infractam et infringebat, utlag' fiebat. Qui vero pacem regis a heinfaram et forestellum. Quicunque horum vicecomite datam infringebat c. sol. emendabat unum fecisset emendabat c solidos regi cujus- et tantundem dabat qui Forestel, vel Heinfare cunque homo fuisset. faciebat. Has iii forisfacturas habebat in dominio Rex E. in omni Anglia extra firmas. At Shrewsbury the king was entitled to a 'relief of loj. on the death of every burgess in his demesne ; at Hereford he had this sum on the death of a burgess who had no horse {equum), or his land with the houses on it instead; if the burgess 'served on horseback' (serviem cum caballo), the king had his horse and arms — the recognized' heriot.'^" All Domesday distinctions between classes of burgesses are important. At Hereford we find at least two ; for determination of the dues at death a sharp line, we have seen, was drawn between the man with the horse and arms and the man without, while the line was drawn, for another purpose, between the man who had an entire messuage and the man who had not, the former being liable to beater service when the king went hunting, and the latter to guard service when the king lay in the town. Both services are mentioned at Shrewsbury, but the former was performed by thirty-six footmen sent by the sheriff, and the latter by twelve ^*' of the better class {de melioribus civitatis). The ' horse and arms ' burgesses of Shrewsbury acted as guard to the king when he went a hunting,*"*' a precaution suggestive of Welsh raiders. Those of Hereford had no such duty ; but, as I read the record, they also ^" These seem only to have accrued to the king from his ' demesne ' (' in suo dominio '). '" Fol. 179. It will be remembered that in Archenfield the iine for this offence was only zs. or an ox. =" Fol. 25Z. '" See V.C.H. Berks, i, 316.
- Adding to these figures the twenty-four ' caballi ' whom the sheriff had to send to Leintwardine, we seem
to have traces of a duodecimal system. '*' ' Custodiebant eum cum armis.' 298
