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queror’s brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. It was held of him by one
Anschitil, otherwise called Anschitillus Rubitonensis, or Anschitil de Ros
or Roos. The same tenant also held Horton Kirby, likewise of Odo; and down
to the time of Queen Mary Allington is held as half a knight’s fee
"as of the manor of Horton Kirby," which, I suppose, accounted
for the other half. At the time of the knighting of the Black Prince,
Margaret de Penchester owed suit for Allington to a De Ros of Horton
Kirby, doubtless a descendant of the original Anschitil. The name "Anschitil"
is clearly of Viking origin.
The following is a translation of the Doomsday entry about
Allington:-
"Anschitil holds, of the Bishop (Odo), Elentun. It
answers for one solin. There is the arable land of three teams. In demesne
there are two teams. And 15 villains with two bordars; they have one team
and a half. A church there. And two slaves. And half a mill. And one dene
of 15 shillings. Wood of 8 hogs. And one acre of meadow. In the time of
King Edward it was worth 100 shillings.
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When he received it 60 shillings. Now 100 shillings. Uluric held it of
Alnod Cut."
A "solin," according to Vinogradoff,
"contained from 180 to 200 acres, and may even have been reckoned at
240 acres if its two hundreds were to be taken as long hundreds."
That was the area of the estate. Out of it there was arable land reckoned
as enough to be ploughed by three teams of eight oxen each, though, as a
matter of fact, there were three and a half teams actually on the ground.
The fifteen villains were the principal tenants of the manor. They were
"a class on whose work and rents the landlord depended." They
were subject to the harsh discipline of the hall and the steward, and to
burdensome rustic duties. The two bordars were crofters—smaller
householders than the villains—subjected to the same kind of service as
the villains, but the amount of the service considerably less. According
to Vinogradoff,* the latest authority, villain-holdings correspond to
* Villainage in England (1892). See also
Eng. Soc. in the 11th century (1908).
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