POLITICAL HISTORY arms, was a royal base of operations against Belleme, 44 whose castles of Bridg- north and Shrewsbury were captured and he himself driven to Normandy. The downfall of this man, one of the worst examples of the turbulent Norman barons, was hailed in England with delight. 45 His life was spared, but his English domains, which included large estates in Staffordshire, were confis- cated. The royal castle after this declined in importance, and like many others degenerated into a gaol, though it was occasionally dignified with the name of castle, even as late as the reign of Henry VIII. 46 The government of Henry I, ' the Lion of Righteousness,' though strong and just, was severe, and the chroniclers of the time frequently bewail the taxation which was ' not so burdensome by its weight as by its regular and inevitable incidence.' 47 From the report of the sheriff of Staffordshire it appears that the annual ferm of the county, that is the amount arising from the king's demesnes, territorial rights, and profits from judicial proceedings, was in the years 112930 about 127 i6j. jd, in ordinary or unpurified money. Before rendering his account the sheriff had to discharge the king's debts in the county by paying the royal benefactions to religious houses, providing for / the maintenance of the stock on crown lands, the costs of public business, of provisions supplied to the court, and the travelling expenses of the king
- within his district. 48
When doing so at Michaelmas, i 130, among the items with which the sheriff of Staffordshire charged the king is 4 ios. paid for mead and ale in supply of a royal corrody (allowance for food), showing that the king had recently visited the county. 49 The Danegeld, the next most important item in the sheriffs account, and the most unpopular for out of it he probably made his greatest profit amounted in 1130 to 44 is., that is, 2s. per hide on 440! hides, a large area of Staffordshire being ingeldable by prescription. The rate at which the county was assessed for this purpose works out at a^out one twenty-seventh of 1 to the square mile, a very low rate, as the normal rate per square mile was about one-seventh of i. This, however, was not altogether an indication of poverty, especially when we allow for the large portion of ingeldable land, for the rich county of Kent was assessed at one-fifteenth, and it is almost certain that the assessment differed according to the polity of the ancient kingdoms out of which England had been formed. 60 The most heavily assessed counties, for instance, were those of Wessex, and Shropshire, part of which belonged to Wessex, was twice as heavily assessed as its neighbour Staffordshire. 61 At Michaelmas, 1 156, the ferm had increased considerably in amount, and among the deductions is 29 1 8j. for restocking all the royal manors in Staffordshire. 63 In the wars of Stephen's reign the eastern half of England was nominally for the king and the western for Maud, but really the former controlled little more than the counties round London, and the latter Gloucestershire and the " Eyton, Staffs. Domesday, 20. " Stubbs, Const. Hist. (ed. 4), i, 334. 46 Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii (2), 8. The collections made by this society must be gratefully acknow- ledged as giving most valuable assistance to the writer of this article. " Stubbs, Const. Hist, i, 339. 48 Ibid. 411. " Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), i, 5. w Round, feud. Engl. 95. " Ibid. 96. " Call. (Salt Arch. Soc.), i, 21. 223
