Of actual violence there is little trace in the memorandum. The assault which Walter Canut made on Ringolf of Tibenham when he wished to move his house to a new place stands alone, and should not be taken as evidence of an unsettled state of society. Such episodes might occur at any time. They are often recorded upon the plea rolls of the thirteenth century.
Encroachments of the kind described in the memorandum were not confined to the period which followed the Norman Conquest. Early in the reign of Henry II Abbot William II obtained a writ commanding him to do justice between his church and one of its tenants who was deforcing it of lands in the hundreds of Flegg. The substance of the writ is entered by a later hand at the foot of a page in the register. It was copied with little care, and its text is imperfect. But judicial writs issued before 1168 are not common, and this example has value as an illustration of social conditions:
Memorandum quod dominus rex Henricus misit breue suum abbati Willelmo sub hac forma. Precipio quod plenarie rectum teneas ecclesie sancti Benedicti et monachis de Hulmo de Richardo filio Hugonis qui iniuste eis terras suas difforciat in Fleg et eas sine ullo seruicio tenet . terram . scilicet . que fuit Stannardi diaconi . xxv acras in campo et in marisco . octo acras . terram Swalegot . viii acras in campo et ii. in marisco . terram Wluan . iiii acras in campo . et .ii. in marisco . terram Laui . vi. acras . in campo et ii in marisco . terram Alfrici stein . ii. acras in campo et dimidiam acram terram Snuning [sic] . i. acram et i. percam infra nemus iuxta domum suam .iii. acras et super terram illam est unum horreum et omnes alie domus que sunt in curia preter aulam et solarium Et ⟨de⟩ dominio abbatis triginta acras et dimidiam et in marisco de Ouby . xl acras Et in Burc de terra Bertelot .lx. acras in campo et .x. in marisco Et in Sumertona et in Wyntertona .xvi hominia et lvi acras in campo et viii. in marisco . terram Eluuin [sic] nonne .xl acras in campo et vi. hominia [sic] . terram Goche in Clepesby . unam acram in campo. Et si non feceris etc.[1]
The resemblance between the encroachments of Richard son of Hugh and those which are recorded in the memorandum is curiously close. There is the same subtraction of small parcels of land and the same withdrawal of tenants' homage. There is no doubt that the hominia of the writ represent the manredae
- ↑ MS. Cott. Galba, E. ii, fo. 63. The suit seems to have been ended by a compromise. The register, fo. 60, includes a copy of a charter by which Abbot William granted to Richard son of Hugh of Clippesby the service of Stannard the deacon's land in Clippesby, two acres in the same village, an acre in Repps, two parts of the meadow in Webfen, four other acres in Clippesby, and all the tenements which Richard's father had held of the abbey in Flegg. Richard on his part released to the abbey his claim to its land in Waxham and agreed to pay three shillings a year for the property described in the charter. The charter is probably later than the writ which has just been printed.
