found, named as the moneyer, and this seems to point to the fact
that Swetman was dead or had been superseded ; and it will be
observed that Eadwin's brother also is mentioned.

In the same list of purchases, which Faritius had made ' in Oxen-
fordia urbe,' there was the land with the houses of Roger Maledoctus.
We find elsewhere in the Chronicle an account of his gift in Henry
the First's reign, but we have no means of knowing how long before
he had become possessed of the houses. It seems he came to the
chapter of the monks of Abingdon, together with his wife, named
Odelina, and gave ' terram cum domibus quas in Oxenford habebant ^.'
Part of their bargain was that they should both be buried in the
church at Abingdon, which is very suggestive of the low estimate in
which S. Frideswide's was held by them.

In the same list also the name of Peter, the sheriff of Oxfordshire,
occurs, as owning a house in Oxford. This Peter must have held
the post of sheriff soon after the time of the Domesday Survey, for
there is a writ issued to him apparently at the beginning of William
Rufus' reign ■*. This writ also refers to Eadwi, his praepositus, which
may perhaps mean the Port-reeve of Oxford for the time being ; it is
just possible too that this is the same as Eadwi the moneyer, men-
tioned above, for Eadwi and Eadwin are no doubt the same name ;
though, if it was the same person, he probably would not have held
the two offices at one and the same time.

The mention of ' Saulf ' of Oxford, in Domesday, under Wallingford^

^ See ante, p. 264.

^ From the Ensham Cartulary. Printed in Dugdale, vol. iii. p. 21. We
further find that amongst the signatures to that grant occurs the name of Nicholaus
Jiliiis Sawoldi.

^ Chron. Mon. Ab., ii. p. 139. * Ibid. p. 41.

'•' Domesday, folio 56 a. See atite, p. 228.



374 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.

may be added to the list of names connected with Oxford, unless
indeed it be a variety of the name Sawold: while the names of
William Fitz Nigel, and Gilbert of Damari will also have been observed
as having given their Oxford houses to Ensham, and, as has been
suggested, towards the endowment of S. Ebbe's Church ^.

Also in a suit early in King Henry the First's reign (before 1117)
we find that the Abbot of Abingdon held his court ' apud Oxeneford in
domo Thomae de Sancio Johanne ^.' The circumstances also attend-
ing Ermenold's suit and his house, '■ juxia pontem Oxeneford'^' belong
to the next century ; but the house may well have been standing in
the eleventh century.

Again, though it is trespassing somewhat upon the material of the
next century, the list of the tenants here given of the houses granted
to Oseney Abbey, by the charter of foundation in 11 29, carries on
some of the names already given, as well as gives others who may
have been living in the houses when they were counted in the Survey.
The grant includes : —

* Within the town of Oxford, the lands which the following held,
Engeric, Reimund, Godwin, Ailnoth, Edwacher's son, Ermenold,
Godwin Nicuma (?), Svveting Cadica (?), Ravenig, Segrim By wall
{juxta murum), Henry Corveiser, Leofwin Claudiis, Godwin the
moneyer, Brichtrec the moneyer, Godric, William Ralph the baker,

Leofwine Budda, Geoffrey the miller, and near the castle of

Oxford, beneath the wall, one mansion which belonged to Warine
the chaplain*.'
Many of these early names too are very constant in Oxford. For
instance, in the charter by King Stephen confirming the property
which S. Frideswide's had acquired during Henry the First's reign,
we find the houses of Ailwin, Sewi, Editha (a widow), Saul (possibly a
contraction of Sawold), Golde[win], Godric, and Alwi ; while the names
of Segrim and Sewi constantly occur in deeds relating to S. Frideswide's
property. And if we go on further, even to the Hundred Rolls in the
course of the inquisition taken in Edward the First's reign, we still
find the names of Edric, Harding, Segrim, Sewi, Godwin, and Swet-
man as those of resident citizens of Oxford, and several have survived

' See ante, p. 243.

^ Chron. Mon. Ab., ii. p. 134. Thomas of St. John appears to have been
appointed Sheriff of Oxfordshire. Ibid. 119.

3 Chron. Mon. Ab., ii. pp. 140, 141, ad. 196.

* Printed in Dugdale, vol. vi. p. 251. The original is in the Oseney Cartulary
(Cottonian Vitellius E. xv.), and though the edges are burnt it happens to be quite
legible. The titles nicuma and cadica are puzzling. It will be observed there
are two new Moneyers.



DESCRIPTION OF OXFORD IN DOMES DA Y SUR VE Y. 2 1^

even to far later times. The name Sewi again survives in Sewy's
Lane, as will be seen in the recent map of the Ordnance Survey ^
though it does not follow that it dates from the Sewi living in the time
of William the Conqueror.

Taking then the Survey of Oxford Domesday as a whole, and
bringing to bear upon it what illustrations charters or other docu-
ments provide, and reading it by the light of existing remains,
it presents to us a town measuring about half-a-mile from east to
west, and a little more than a quarter-of-a-mile (about 480 yards)
from north to south, fortified and compact. Domesday, it will have
been observed, tells us that dues from certain houses were set aside
for the keeping the fortifications in repair, and draws a clear distinction
between the houses within and without the wall ^ Moreover it is re-
ferred to in one place as a city {civitasY, a name rarely given to towns.
From the survival through mediaeval times of the line of the fortifica-
tion we can fairly judge of the extent of the town, and the number of
houses being given, we are able to form some idea of the general
aspect. Compared with the time * when ^thelred, ealdorman of the
Mercians, took possession of Oxford in 912, much which was then
perhaps still pasture land and woodland had given way to houses with
their gardens, until the whole of the plateau of the gravel promontory,
the sloping edges of which are washed by the Thames on the south
and west, and by the Cherwell on the east, had in 1087 come to be
occupied by habitations ^.

Some of the chief features however were no doubt the same. The
main roads, the sides of which were more definitely marked by houses
than they were before, so that they were now streets, still followed the
old lines, meeting in the centre at Carfax, and at the far western

* The lane led from New Inn Hall Street by S. Michael's Schoolhouse into
Commarket Street, crossing through where Messrs. Grimbly and Hughes' premises
were built. By neglect the right of way seems to have been lost. It was for a
time called Shoe Lane.

^ Note also the 'thirty acres of meadow near the wall,' atite, p. 225.

' Molimim quern infra civitatem habebat. See ante, p. 219, but in the next line
but three it nuis In ipsa villa. So far as has been observed, the only tovras
throughout the whole of the Domesday Survey to which civitas is applied are Can-
terbur}', Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Shrewsbury, and Chester.

* See ante, p. 119-122.

* The plateau may be reckoned to be about 36 feet above the level of the river
beneath Folly Bridge, the slope being, as a rule, uniformly gentle throughout ; the
most rapid part of the slope is that between the site of South Gate (at the south-
western corner of Christ Church) and Carfax, being something like 24 feet in 280
yards, while from the ground just below the Castle Mound on the way to the
Station the rise to Carfax is about 24 feet in 500 yards, and from the High Street,
by the turn to Long Wall to Carfax, only 24 feet in the 700 yards.

T 2



276 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.

extremity of the town beneath the slope there still rose the Castle
mound. But the ditches here had probably been deepened, and the
earthen vallum had no doubt been faced with stone work, and
perhaps in places surrounded by a stone wall ; while along the western
edge overhanging the river there now rose the great tall tower, a more
conspicuous object than the mound itself, and no doubt the wonder
and admiration of the citizens.

The view of the Castle as given by Loggan, though some allowance
must be made for the effects put in by the artist, probably represents
most of the chief features as they existed at the close of the eleventh
century. In after years the more imposing fortification of Henry the
Third's time, and the greater amount of buildings had no doubt much
changed the aspect and obscured the original landmarks ; but when in
the seventeenth century these additions had been swept away, leaving
the deep ditch with the water standing in it, the Vallum, the Mound,
the Tower, and the Mill as the chief objects, the artist was able to
draw, and has drawn a picture as closely representing the appearance
which the Castle presented in the eleventh century as possible. He
has perhaps exaggerated the high rising ground on the outer edge of
the castle ditch on the north side, and which appears to have been the
place of execution, and called the Mo7it de juts ; at least it is not
probable that it existed at the time of the Survey of such a size as to
endanger the safety of the castle. It has now been almost levelled.
Its position would be on the northern side of the enclosure occupied
by the Canal wharfs, lying between the New Road and the western end
of George Street. It is very possible, however, that in deepening the
ditches in the Conqueror's time a large quantity of soil was thrown out
here, just as the excavation of the original ditch had provided the material
for the Castle Mound. Further, the artist has represented a row ■
of houses on the outer edge of the Castle ditch, on the eastern side
towards the city, with what is now Bulwarks Lane curving round
behind them and forming a street ; while the houses have their little ■
gardens at the back lining the outer slope of the ditch, and trees j
growing on either side of the stream beneath. It is not improbable
that some such appearance may have presented itself in the eleventh
century ; as long as the gardens did not interfere with the fortification^,
the tenants might in time of peace have been allowed to use the \

1 The plan of the Castle engraved by Skelton {Oxonia Antiqtia Restatirata, 1843,
pi. 127) from the drawing, temp. Elizabeth, in possession of the Dean and Chapter t
of Christ Church, shows the houses also with their gardens. They are showi
partially in Agas' map, but they are not so numerous. In continental towns it i
not unusual to see the slopes of fortifications utilized for garden purposes.



DESCRIPTION OF OXFORD IN DOMESDA V SURVE V. 277

ground, though in time of siege the houses themselves might have
been, if thought necessary, wholly swept away.

At the time of the Domesday Survey the view of the town, with a
much increased number of buildings, concentrated within a well-
defined boundary, would have at first sight presented a marked con-
trast to the few groups of habitations clustering round the north side
of S. Frideswide's, or scattered over the sloping ground between the
Castle ditch and the central spot where the roads crossed, such as
would have been seen a hundred years before. Further, the fortifi-
cations must have been of a more imposing character, and though
we have only evidence of the two tall towers of the Castle and of
S. Michael's, guarding the west and north of Oxford, it would be rash to
say that the east and south gates were not so guarded. It is true the
north gate was the most liable to be attacked, but the east and south
were still liable. Again, it is hard to think that they were the only
two towers which rose from amidst the town of Oxford, where so
many churches existed already^

But with all the growth of buildings, if much stress is laid upon the
returns made by the inhabitants when they were to be taxed, con-
cerning the number of houses which were vasiae, nearly five hundred
must be supposed to have had closed doors, or their roofs fallen to
decay, or indeed perhaps presenting in some cases only bare walls,
while less than two hundred and fifty were in such a habitable state as
to pay the tax ; the town, if this were so, must have presented to the
visitor so forlorn an aspect that it might have appeared more busy and
prosperous in the days when Eadward the Elder took possession of it
and fortified it. But it would be a mistake to lay too much stress
upon these returns, since so many contingencies, as already pointed out,
are included under the word vasiae. The population of a thousand,
the number suggested, would, as towns went in those days, present a
busy scene. Already the roads had given way to streets, and the
houses dotted about, each for the most part with a garden behind it,
or sometimes standing clear within its plot of ground 2, were thus so
distributed that their varied roofs of tiles or wooden shingles, or stone
slabs, would have given an aspect of a populous town. Although too
it is difficult to judge of the kind of business which was done, it may
be fairly considered that more took place in the open-air in proportion
to what takes place there at the present day; that is, many more
people would be seen in the streets and open spaces, in proportion to

' As to the tower of S. Frideswide's in 1002, see ante, p. 148.
^ See aittc, p. 256, note 5.



278 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.

the population than is now the case; and this would add life and
brightness to the scene.

The chief market-place probably occupied an important position
near the centre of the town, if not at Carfax itself, though we do not
find a notice of it in any of the few records which we have belonging
to the century \ The existence of the market may be assumed as a
matter of certainty, though we do not definitely hear of it till we find
in Henry II's reign disputes arising between the market men of
Oxford and of Wallingford on one side, against the market men of
Abingdon on the other, the former evidently considering that the
ancient privileges of their market had been invaded by those which
the men of Abingdon had, through the interest of the Abbot, obtained
from the Crown '^.

And again as to the fairs ; it is not till the reign of Henry I that 1
we find a charter professing to be granted by the king to the com- I
munity of S. Frideswide to hold a fair for seven days, with especial j
privileges belonging thereto; but then it was that S. Frideswide's 1
monastery was arousing itself from its lethargy, and obtaining as many I
privileges as possible ; so that it would be most unreasonable to sup- '
pose that fairs existed in Oxford then for the first time.

As already pointed out, we obtain in contemporary records few if any
mention of trades in the town^; we have only the mills, the gardens in
HolyAvell manor, and the business of Wulwi the fisherman mentioned,
yet other trades and occupations were no doubt in existence, though
accident has prevented record of them. There must have been bakers
and brewers and butchers then as well as now, and though for pur-
chasing clothes, crockery, household utensils and the like, the citizens
waited till fair time, and there were but few if any shops, such as we
have in abundance now, still there must have been tailors and
carpenters, and smiths, though no record of the name of even one has
been handed down.

There must also have been at times a great deal of business going
forward connected with the peace and welfare of the town, and in a
case of this kind we may fairly gather something from the light which

^ In the next century the land of Ralph Brito is described as ' infra forum
Oxeneford sitatn^ Chron. Mon. Ab., ii. p. 212.

^ 'Adienmt regem istum Henricum juniorem Walingefordenses, cum iis de
Oxeneforde de foro ei Abbendonensi suggerentes quoniam aliter esset quam esse
deberet,' &c. Chron. Mon. Ab., ii. p. 227.

' The earliest charter referring to a Gilda Meiratoria which has been observed,
is one by Henry III (1229); but as it is a confirmation of previous liberties, it
implies a previous existence.



DESCRIPTION OF OXFORD IN DOMES DA Y SURVEY. 279

after history reflects back on this period. We may consider that the
town meetings took place in the open space, then existing on the
north side of Carfax church, and in bad weather it is not impossible
that much was transacted in the nave of the church itself^.

Amongst other things it will be seen by the Survey'' that sixty pounds
had to be provided as an annual payment to the king, but probably
payable by quarterly instalments, and the provision each quarter for
the sum required must have entailed much discussion, and much busi-
ness connected with the assessment of such taxes, whence the money
was to be obtained, and in the administration of such property whence
revenue was derived towards supplying the sums needed.

Further it has already been shown that from Oxford being a shire
town, many of the manors in the county, and several in the adjoining
counties possessed houses there, in order that their owners or tenants
could find a residence when they came to transact the various business
which must necessarily take place in the management of large proper-
ties, and settle those differences which must be constantly arising where
rival interests are at stake.

Gemots and courts of several kinds therefore were constantly being
held in Oxford, but from the few references to their practical working
which we have left to us, and the imperfect summaries of the laws in
force at that time which have been preserved, it is difficult to distinguish
the various forms of procedure, or ascertain how often various courts
were sitting. In the laws which King Eadward the Elder (904-24)
issued, he decreed as follows : —

' I will that each Reeve have a gemot always once in four weeks, and
so do that every man be worthy of folk-right^.'

This is repeated in the laws of King Eadgar (959-75), and in a series
of additional laws belonging to the same king we find : —

'Let the hundred gemot be attended as it was before fixed, and
thrice in the year let a burh-gemot be held ; and twice a shire-gemot*.'
And in the laws of King Cnut, the references to the shire and burh-
gemots are in almost exactly the same words, and there is good reason
to suppose that this series of laws are in substance those which were
decreed at Oxford in 1018, when ' Danes and Angles were unanimous

* That churches were at times used for purposes of administering justice in
various ways is evident. Amongst the laws of Eadward the Confessor it is decreed,
' Et si barones sint qui judicia non habeant ; in hundredo ubi placitum habitum
fuerit, ad propinquiorem ecclesiam ubi judicium regis erit, determinandum est.
salvis rectitudinibus baronum ipsorum.' Thorpe's Ancient Laws, &c., vol. i. p. 446.

^ See ante, p. 223.

^ Thorpe's Laws and Institutes of England. London 1840, vol. i. p. T65.

* Ibid. vol. i. p. 269.



28o THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.

for Eadgar's law^, and that these various gemots were continued during
the Conqueror's reign is shown by their being virtually repeated in the
laws of Henry the First ^.

It may be presumed that at one of these gemots the set of laws
especially relating to Oxford, which are found enrolled at the end of
the king's manors in Oxfordshire in the Domesday Survey, were pro-
mulgated. These few laws are expressed as follows : —

* The king's peace given under hand or seal ; if any shall break it
so that he kill a man to whom this peace has been given, his members
and life shall be at the king's will if he be taken, and if he cannot be
taken, he shall by all men be counted as an exile ; and if any one shall
succeed in kiUing him he shall lawfully have his goods ^.

' If any stranger choosing to live in Oxford, and having a house
independently of his parents, shall there end his life, the king shall
have whatever he has left,

' If any shall break or enter into the court or house of any one, so
that he knock down (? occidat), wound, or assault a man, he pays to the
king one hundred shillings.

' Likewise he who when summoned to go ' on expedition,' does not
go, shall give one hundred shillings to the king.

' If any shall have killed {hiterfecerit] any one within his own court or
house, his body and all his substance are in the king's power, except
the dowry of his wife if she shall have had a dowry *.'

It is difficult to see why these five laws should be especially enacted at
this time and place. It looks rather as if they were judgments which
had been given as cases which had occurred, perhaps recently, or
during the then sheriff's tenure of office, and which he thought it
good to have enrolled; for there is reason to think that Domesday
Book was looked upon as a Dom-boc, or book of decrees {domas).
It will be observed that the second law mentions Oxford by name,

^ Seeanfe, p. i6i.

* ' Debet autem scyresmot et burgemot bis, hundreta vel wapentagia duodecies in
anno congregari.' Thorpe's Laws, &c., vol. i. p. 514.

^ The 'king's peace' here especially referred to is raentioned at the head of the
list given in the laws of King Eadward the Confessor, ' Pax regis multiplex est.
Alia data manu sua quam Anglici vocant Kinges hand-sealde grith. Alia per
breve suum data. Alia, &c., &c.' (Thorpe, vol. i. p. 447.) There does not appear
to be any special law previously enacted relating to the breach of the king's hand
grith apart from the breaking of the king's peace generally, though the expression
is frequently found. Note especially Thorpe, pp. 167, 319, 359, 453, 454> and
518. This Oxford law however is afterwards incorporated into the laws of
Henry I. in the following teiTas : ' Qui pacem regis fregerit, quam idem manu sua
dabi alicui, si capiatur, de membris culpa sit' (.ibid. p. 585). At the same time it
is uncertain how far the compilations which go under the name of Leges Regis
Henrici Primi, were ever authoritatively promulgated.

' Domesday, folio 154 b, col. 2. Appendix A, § 101.



DESCRIPTION OF OXFORD IN DOMESDA V SURVE V. 38 1

as if it was applicable solely to this town; the case may perhaps
have arisen from some one, probably an Englishman driven out from
some other town, who had come and taken up his abode in Oxford,
and without friends or relations. The third law seems at first sight
a repeal of one of those laws of King Cnut, which, as already said,
were possibly decreed at Oxford on the occasion mentioned in the
Chronicle. In those laws 'house-breaking,' that is Hus-bryce, was
decreed, according to secular law, to be bot-Iess^, while here the fine
is fixed. But there may be some special circumstance in this case
which the terse language in which the law is laid down does not ex-
plain. The word ' occidai,' too, probably has the meaning of knocking
down, and does not involve killing, since it is put in the same category
as vulneret and assaliat, and is therefore to be contrasted with inler-
fecerit, which occurs in the fifth law relating to similar offences.

The fourth of the series also seems to be in a measure connected
with the succeeding laws as they stand in the series enacted by King
Cnut above referred to, since it defines the penalties for neglecting
any one of the three obligations imposed by the trinoda necessitas,
i.e. of fortification, making of bridges, and going on expeditions.
The law of King Cnut stood as follows :

< 66. If any one neglect " burh-bot,^' or " bricg-bot," or ''fyrd-fare " ;
let him make " hot " with one hundred and twenty shillings to the
king by English law, and by Danish law as it formerly stood ; or let
him clear himself,' &c.'^
In this it would seem that though Cnut's laws recognized the English
law as the guiding principle, there might be occasions on which the
Danish law might be administered. What the hot under the Danish
law was does not seem to be ascertainable ; but here we seem to haye
William the Conqueror's law promulgated in Oxford, reducing the fine
imposed by Cnut's law and agreed upon in the same city, from 1 20 shil-
lings to 100 shillings. But the promulgation of this law at Oxford has a
further significance in illustrating the passage in the Domesday Survey,

* Laws of King Cnut, No. 65. ' Hus-bryce .... sefter woruld-lage is bot-leas.'
(Thorpe, vol. i. p. 410.)

- Laws of King Cnut, No. 66. ' Lif hwa burh-bote oththe bricg-bote oththe fyrd-
fare forsitte gebete mid hund-twelftigum scill tham cyningce on Engla-lage and on
Dena-lage swa hit ser stod oththe geladige hine,' &c. (Thorpe, vol. i. p. 410.) This
law is practically repeated in the compilation of laws known as those of Henry I,
viz. under Cap. LXVI. as follows : ' Si quis burcbotam vel brig botam vel fierdfar