84 THE FIRMA UNIU8 NOCTIS January Rex tenet in dominio Etwelle. Tempore regis Edwardi se defendebat pro XVI hidis una virgata minus, modo pro xiii hidis et dimidia ad firraam.* Rex tenet in dominio Cherchefelle. Eddid regina tenuit. Tunc se defendebat pro xxxvii hidis et dimidia. Modo ad opus regis pro xxxiiu hidis." In the time of the Conqueror the ferm was apparently as much the * defence ' of land as Danegeld. For this reason an estate which had never gelded might yet have defended itself by paying the king's ferm, as did the royal manors in Berks and Surrey. The manor of 'Cherchefelle' (or Reigate) which had belonged to Queen Edith may have paid Danegeld on its 37^ hides in her time, but when it was added to King William's demesne these hides were reduced to 34, and paid the royal ferm which continued their ' defence '. This we may believe had happened to another manor of Queen Edith in Surrey : Rex Willelmus tenet in dominio Essira. Eddid regina tenuit. Tunc se defendit pro ix hidis et tamen erant tunc ibi xvi hidae. Modo non dedit geldum.^ In like manner the power of the ferm to exempt land from geld and acquit it of its * defence ' is clearly expressed in the following records : Isdem H. tenet Bechesgate. Godric tenuit de rege Edwardo pro manerio. Duae hidae non geldabant quia de firma regis erant et ad opus regis calumniatae sunt.* Rex tenet in dominio Finchamestede. Heraldus tenuit. Tunc pro v hidis, modo non geldat, sed reddit firmam in Radinges.^ Both Bagshot and Finchampstead were exempt from geld because they paid ferm on their hidage. The record of Chippenham in Cambridgeshire is explicit evidence on this score. Chipeham pro x hidis se defendebat tempore regis Edwardi. Sed quidam vicecomes iliisit eas ad v hidas per concessionem eiusdem regis, quia firma eius eum gravabat, et modo se defendit pro v hidis . . . Hoc manerium tenuit Orgarius vicecomes regis Edwardi qui postea fuit homo Asgari stalri. De hac terra fuerunt v hidae in firma regis Edwardi.* The ten hides at which Chippenham had defended itself were reduced to five because the king's ferm pressed too heavily upon them. The ferm had determined Chippenham's defence, it would seem, without regard to the imposition of Danegeld. By establishing the fact that King Edward's ferm equally with Danegeld could acquit land of its * defence ', we are enabled » D. B. 30 b. » D. B. 30. • D. B. 30 b. « D. B. 60 b.
- D. B. 57. • D. R 197 ; cf. /. C. C. p. 2.
