When this was done a survey was taken of the whole : first, of the demesne lands of the king ; and next, of the lands which had been granted out to the eccle siastical corporations, or to the private persons who had received portions of land by the gift of the king. At the same time, the commissioners, to whom the making of this survey was entrusted, were instructed to inquire into the privi leges of cities and boroughs, a subject with which we have not at present any concern. The result of this survey was entered of record in the book which has since obtained the name of Domesday Book, the most august as well as the most ancient record of the realm, and for the early date, the extent, variety, and im portance of the information which it con tains, unrivalled, it is believed, by any record of any other nation. We see there who the people were to whom the king had granted out his lands, and at the same time what lands each of those people held. It presents us with a view, which is nearly complete, of the persons who in the first twenty years after the Conquest formed the barons of England, and of the lands which they held : the progeni tors of the persons who, in subsequent times, were the active and stirring agents in wresting from King John the great charter of liberties, and who asserted rights or claims which had the effect of confining the kingly authority of England within narrower limits than those which circumscribed the regal power in most of the other states of Europe.
The indexes which have been prepared to 'Domesday-Book' present us with the names of about 400 persons who held lands immediately of the king. Some of these were exceedingly small tenures, and merged at an early period in greater, or, through forfeitures or other circum stances, were resumed by the crown. On the other hand, Domesday-Book' does not present us with a complete account of the whole tenancies in chief, because— I. The four northern counties are, for some reason not at present understood, omitted in the survey ; and 2. There was a creation of new tenancies going on after the date of the survey, by the grants of the Conqueror or his sons of portions of the reserved demesne. The frequent re bellions, and the unsettled state in which the public affairs of England were in the first century after the Conquest, occa sioned many resumptions and great fluc tuations, so that it is notpossible to fix upon any particular period, and to say what was precisely the number of tenan cies in chief held by private persons ; but the number, before they were broken up when they had to be divided among co heiresses, may be taken, perhaps, on a rude computation, at about 350. In this the ecclesiastical persons who held lands in chief are not included.
When we speak of the king having given or granted these lands to the per sons who held them, we are not to under stand it as an absolute gift for which nothing was expected, in return. In pro portion to the extent and value of the lands given, services were to be rendered, or money paid, not in the form of an an nual rent, hut as casual pay Jents which the king had a right, under certain cir cumstances, to demand. The services
were of two kinds : first, military service, that is, every one of those tenants (tenants from teneo, to hold) was bound to give personal service to the king in his wars, and to bring with him to the royal army a certain quota of men, corresponding in number to the extent and value of his lands ; and, secondly, civil services, which were of various kinds, sometimes to per form certain offices in the king's house hold, to execute certain duties on the day of his coronation, to keep a certain num ber of horses, hounds, or hawks for the king's use, and the like. But, besides these honourable services, they were bound to personal attendance in the king's court when the king should please to summon them, and to do homage to him (homage from homo), to acknowledge themselves to be his honsines, or barons, and to as sist in the administration of justice, and in the transaction of other business which was done in the court of the king.
We see in this the rude beginnings of the modern parliaments, assemblies in which the barons are so important a con stituent. But before we enter on that part of the subject, it is proper to observe, that among the great tenants of the crown there was much diversity both of rank and property. We shall pass over the bishops and other ecclesiastics, only ob serving, that when it is said that the bishops have seats in parliament in virtue of the baronies annexed to their sees, the meaning of the expression is, that they sit there as any other lay homagers or barons of the king, as being among the persons who held lands of the crown by the services above mentioned; which is correct as far as parliament is regarded as a court for the administration of jus tice, but doubtful so far as it is an assem bly of wise men to advise the king in matters touching the affairs of the realm. Amongst the other tenants we find some to whose names the word vicecomes is annexed. On this little has been said by the writers on English dignities, and it is doubtful whether it is used in ' Domes day' as an hereditary title, or only as a title of office answering to the present sheriff. But we find some who have in disputably a title, in the proper sense of the word, annexed to their names, and which we know to have descended to their posterity. These are the comites of Domesday-Book,' where, by the Latin word comes, they have represented the earl of the Saxon times ; and as these persons were raised above the other tenants in dignity, so were they, for the most part, distinguished by the extent of the lands held by them. greater Among those to whose names no mark of distinc tion is annexed, there was also great di versity in respect of the extent of territory granted to them. Some had lands far exceeding the extent of entire counties, while others had but a single parish or township, or, in the language introduced at the Conquest, but a single manor, or two adjacent manors, granted to them.