PhDThis study explores some of the implications of the
distribution of estates between the landholders of Essex
in 1066. Emphasis is placed on the immediate background
of land ownership in Essex during the reign of Edward the
Confessor, though some attention is paid to the earlier
history of the shire. The principal source for the
investigation is the pre-Conquest data recorded in the
Essex folios of Domesday Book.
In the first part the broad outlines of the structure of
landholding society are considered. Particular attention
is paid to those with large amounts of land, although the
less extensive holdings of, freemen and sokemen are also
discussed. Charters, will's and other pre-Conquest documents
provide information on the earlier tenurial history of some
estates, and from them and other evidence a model is proposed
of the trends in land tenure in Essex between c900 and 1066.
In an appendix identifiable lay landholders are listed with
details of their estates, whilst in the body of the text the
pre-Conquest holdings of ecclesiastical institutions are
examined in detail.
The second part of the study considers the evolution of the
institutions 'of public administration within the shire, and
where relevant the influence upon them of powerful landholders.
This influence is seen most clearly in the hundreds, and an
attempt is made to reconstruct the earlier history of the
1066 Essex hundreds, in particular the evolution of those in
the west of the shire. The varying fortunes of the Essex
burhs are considered in the light of the output from their
mints. To complete the picture evidence of pre-Conquest
private lordship - soke, -and commendation - is examined