NOTE The following translation agrees in the main with that of Mr. Stuart Moore, my predecessor in this field ; but I have been compelled in certain cases, as for instance on p. 327,. to differ from him in identi- fying places, a matter of the utmost importance. For the original identification of the places named in Domesday one is, of course, indebted to the labours of Bridges and of Baker. The reader should bear in mind throughout that the date of the Domesday Survey is 1086 ; that King Edward, to whose time it refers, died January 5, 1066; that the 'hide' was the unit of assessment on which the (Dane)geld was paid, and that the ' virgate ' was its quarter. Par- allel with the ' hide ' was the ' carucate ' of the region to the north of Northamptonshire, the 'borate' representing an eighth of it. The essential portion of the plough ('caruca') was its team of oxen, eight in number. The ' demesne ' was the lord's portion of the manor, the peasantry holding the rest of it under him. ' Farm ' or ' ferm,' x.s. firma of Domes- day, was virtually the rent for which the ' farmer ' (^firmarms) of a manor or group of manors was liable. The woodland measures are discussed in the introduction, and the modern names of the Hundreds will be found on pp. 296-298 above. 300
