THE DOMESDAY SURVEY
- Cristina,' who appears as the holder of two manors in Warwick-
shire and one in Oxfordshire, was sister to Eadgar ^Etheling, king for a moment of the English, and to Margaret Queen of Scots. Of her valuable and extensive estate at Long Itchington it is expressly recorded that ' the king ' (presumably William) gave it her, 1 though why he should have so handsomely provided for this daughter of the native royal house we do not know. Her name is followed by those of two of her humbler country-women who are entered as holding their land of the Conqueror's ' alms.' A few Englishmen also are named as holding of the king, but these will best be considered in connection with the fate of English thegns in Warwickshire. Richard the forester, whose name is entered as if he were a serjeant rather than a baron, 3 was the forester of Cannock Chase and held a fief in Staffordshire and Warwickshire larger than those of some of the barons ; in Staffordshire, indeed, his lands are entered amongst those of the other tenants-in-chief. It should be observed that in the Warwick- shire Domesday he is thrice styled Richard the huntsman (venator) ; for the offices of forester and huntsman were closely connected. In the neigh- bouring county of Northamptonshire the baronial family of Engaine combined a hunting tenure with a forestership in fee, and the Waleran 'venator' of Domesday in Hants and Wiltshire was also a forester in fee. We learn a good deal from the 'Testa de Nevill, under Warwickshire, about Richard and his descendants 3 down to Hugh de Loges who held his office under Henry III., and are also given some detailed information on his manors. It is expressly stated that he founded the church of Chesterton and that his son and successor gave it to Kenilworth Priory. At Kenilworth itself Richard had a holding entered separately from the rest of his fief on account of its being a member of the king's manor of Stoneleigh. 4 Its entry is immediately preceded by that of another ' member ' held by ' Albert the clerk.' This is that Albert of Lotha- ringia who enjoyed the favour of William as of Edward, and whom Domesday shows us variously styled, with interests in Herefordshire, Rutland, Beds, Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, and at Windsor itself. 8 Having now dealt with the bulk of those who held their lands in Warwickshire of the king himself, we will glance at two of their under- tenants who deserve special notice. Saswalo, who held of Henry de Ferrers the great manor of Lower Eatington, was undoubtedly the 1 We read in 'The laws of Edward the Confessor' (assigned to the reign of Henry I.) that Cris- tina's land was given her by Edward and was afterwards held by Ralf de Limesi (' Cui Cristine rex Eadwardus dedit terram quam habuit postea Radulfus de Limesi ' (Die Gesetze der Angelsachstn. By F. Liebermann [1903], Erster band, p. 661;). The statement as to Edward seems to be mistaken, for two of her manors had belonged to Earls ^(Elfgar and Eadwine, but her Warwickshire lands, as Dugdale observed, certainly came into Limesi's hands. 1 In the schedule of names he heads a group as ' Richard and other thegns and Serjeants of the King,' and he occupies in the text a corresponding position. 3 ' Willelmus Bastardus quando perquisivit Angliam dedit cuidam scrvienti suo Ricardo Cheven (sic) tres partes de Cestreton cum aliis feodis pertinentibus ad Castreton (sic) ad custodiendam forestam suam de Kanocper x marcas solvendas domino Regi pro ballia forestae,' etc. (pp. 86, 87, 51, 62, 93). See p. 294 below. See The Commune of London and other Studies, pp. 36-8. I 28l 36
