MEDENECOME
Bernard (probably a sub-tenant knight who had sworn an oath to his lord and superior) holds Medenecome (Maidencombe) from Baldwin the Sheriff of Exeter (or Viscount).Cniht (old English for knight?) held it at the time of King Edward (King Harold II not mentioned by the scribe as the Normans wished to have all references of the 'perjurer' Harold as king removed from history).
William the Conqueror commissioned the Domesday Book |
It paid geld (Anglo-Saxon tax system retained by the Normans) for half a hide or some 60 acres and half a ferding (a ferding is the farthing or supposedly a fourth part of a virgate or yardland - usually 30 acres).
There is land for three ploughs (the taxable amount of land that can be ploughed by a team of eight oxen).
There is one plough, with one slave (man or woman who was the property of his or her lord and had no lands) and one villan or villein (one who owed service to his lord but who also farmed land for himself so was among the better off of unfree peasants) and two bordars (less well off than a villein).
With only four persons named by the scribe, it can be estimated that the 11th century settlement had a population of about two dozen men, women and children.
Formerly (of the value) 30 d. now it is worth 5s. A silver penny in 1086 would have been roughly the equivalent to £210 today so 30 pennies would equate to £6,300 and 5 shillings (60 pennies) would be a 100% increase in value.
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