The Doomsday Book & Stoke-on-Trent

The Doomsday Book & Stoke-on-Trent

 

List of definitions of terms found in the Domesday Book (as far as they relate to the Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire area).
There are many other terms  - the meaning can be found on this web site:-  Domesday Book Glossary.

 

Land Measurement:

 Hide Measurement of land for tax assessment. Approximately 120 acres, depending on local variations in the acre.

Carucate Derived from the Latin word caruca, meaning plough, this is a measure of land used in Danelaw (North and Eastern) counties in Domesday. Equivalent to a hide and represented the amount of land which could be ploughed by one plough team.

Plough the word implies a plough team with its eight oxen and the plough itself.
(NOTE: A measure known as a carucate was originally the amount of land which such a team could plough in one day)

Virgate A quarter of a hide. Used in Domesday for tax purposes.

 

League Measurement of distance, twelve furlongs, (about 1½ miles). 

Furlong  An area or length of land for tax assessment; area was one sixteenth of a hide or one quarter of a virgate; length about 220 yards.

Acre A value of land assessment used often in Domesday for pasture, meadow and woodland.
(NOTE: Measurement of an acre as a multiple of hides varies in Domesday from region to region).

 

Land Description:

 Hundred Large administrative subdivision of land, each having its own representative body from local villages.

 Village Village; but the same Latin word was sometimes used for a larger village or a town.

 Forest Not necessarily a physical forest with trees, but an area under forest law, outside common law.

 Waste Land which was either unusable or uncultivated, and not taxed. Although sometimes waste was the result of William's wars in the north, it could also simply mean land not fit for agricultural use.

 People:

  Reeve A royal official. Also a manor official, appointed by the lord, or sometimes elected by the peasants.

 Freeman Class of peasant, substantial in number in Domesday possessing relatively strong economic position.  

Villager Member of the peasant class with most land.

 Smallholder Middle class of peasant, usually with more land than a cottager but less than a villager.

 Freedman  A lower class of peasant above slaves. 

Slave A man or woman who owed personal service to another, and who was un-free, and unable to move home or work or change allegiance, to buy or to sell, without permission.

 

Other definitions:

 Lordship ("In lordship") In one sense, the land owned by a tenant-in-chief (lord or institution). Also sometimes refers to the land owned by a tenant-in-chief and farmed directly by them, rather than by peasants.

 Before 1066 Refers to information used in Domesday from records originating from the reign of King Edward the Confessor. Domesday records list property and land values before the Conquest (i.e. where it says "held it"), after it and contemporary values.

 Landowners  
(as far as they relate to the Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire area)

The King - William the Conqueror. Duke of Normandy 1035-87. King William I of England 1066-87.

Robert of Stafford - Son of Roger de Tosny, brother of Ralph; married Roger Bigot's daughter. Large holdings in Staffs. Also in 5 other western and Home counties.

 Richard Forester   

 The King's Thanes Originally a military companion of the king, later one of his administrative officials. (In Domesday most thanes were Anglo-Saxons who had retained some of their land).