DOMESDAY SURVEY the subject. We do seem to recognize a broad distinction between the holders whose ' soke was in the hundred ' and those whose soke was in some particular manor, and if we are to draw any kind of line between freemen and sokemen we must draw it there. But the hundred itself, in King Edward's time, as in later centuries, might be in private hands. We have a full account of the state of jurisdiction in Earsham half-hundred.^ Here Stigand had ' sac and soc ' of the half-hundred in Earsham, but the abbots of St. Edmunds and Ely had soke in their respective manors of Thorpe Abbots and Pulham, while Earl Ralf had the same in Redenhall, and also over those who were commended to him, and there seem to have been two smaller jurisdictions. In the same way the hundred and a half of Clackclose was the soke of St. Benet of Ramsey and appendant to the saint's manor of Wim- botsham, being worth ^3 los.^ Saint Audrey of Ely had the soke of the hundred and a half of Midford^ in East Dereham which was worth £2- Stigand's manor of Mileham seems to have included the soke of Launditch hundred. Other hundreds, like Holt* which rendered ^^66 by tale (^ sic for £2 ^^•)-) were in the king's hands. Guiltcross, whose soke was in Kenninghall, had been King Edward's, but had passed to Earl Ralf ; it rendered 20^.^ Shropham hundred belonged to Earl Ralf, and its soke was in his manor of Old Buckenham ; it rendered ;^2.* The soke of North Greenhoe hundred was in Wighton, the king's manor, but the profits were divided between the king and the earl, no doubt in the usual proportion of 2 : I.' The half-hundred of Diss was the king's, but St. Edmund had half the soke over the lands which he held in the hundred.^ The king seems to have held Eynesford hundred with its soke in Foulsham." It is not quite so easy to specify where the soke of the other hundreds lay. The common formula in many cases is the ' soke is in the hundred ' or ' the king and the earl have the soke': but we can say without any hesitation that the soke of a freeman is normally in the chief manor of the hundred, though there have been grants and usurpations of private jurisdiction which have gravely disturbed the normal arrangement. Thus the soke of Forehoe hundred and a half ought no doubt to be in Hingham, and we find instances throughout the book which confirm this ; but alongside of Hingham we find Stigand's soke of Wymondham,^" and Gurth's soke of Costessy," where the sokemen had a special territory of their own, which is separately measured and assessed.'^ We read that Gurth usurped the soke over all his freemen in Henstead hundred,^' and Earl Ralf seems to have acquired a similar right. ^* We are expressly told that the king had soke over all the ' freemen * of North Erpingham hundred." In the half-hundred of Diss we find the freeholders divided into two classes : those who hold 30 acres or more are sokemen of the hundred ; those who hold less are sokemen of the manor of Fersfield, which had been in private hands. Similarly in Walsham hundred the earl ' Dom. Bk. f. 139^. - Ibid. f. 215^. Mbid. f. 214. ' Ibid. f. 112^. ' Ibid. f. 128. ' Ibid. f. 127. ' Ibid. f. 1 1 ji. On the earl's ' third penny,' see Dia/. de Scacc. i, xvii, and note. The right is most likely as old as Athelstan, and may be earlier. « Ibid. f. 1 14. " Ibid. f. 114. '" Ibid. f. 1373. " Ibid. f. 144^. " Ibid. f. 145. " Ibid. f. 210. " See above and Dom. Bk. f. 147. " Ibid. f. 185. 2 33 5
