The city of Norwich, chapter 5: Of the city in the Conqueror's time

CHAPTER V.

Of The City In The Conqueror's Time.

In the beginning of the reign of

William the Conqueror, it daily increased, till the year 1075, (fn. 1) when the King gave the earldom, city, and castle, to Ralf de Waiet, Waher, or Guader, a Norfolk man born, son of Ralf, an Englishman, by a Welsh woman; this Ralf, while the King was in Normandy, and against his command, as some historians say, (fn. 2) but, as the Saxon Chronicle says, with his leave and approbation, married Emma, daughter of William Fitz-Osborn or Osbert, sister to Roger Earl of Hereford, cousin to the Conqueror, and celebrated his nuptials with great pomp at this city; (fn. 3) Waltheof, the great Earl of Northumberland, Roger Earl of Hereford, and many other bishops, abbots, and barons, being present at the solemnity; such was the pride raised in the Earl by this affinity, that on his very wedding-day, (when wine had intoxicated his brain,) he persuaded his guests to join with him in a rebellion, to which they all consented, and immediately entered into a conspiracy against the the absent King; but Earl Waltheof having consulted his pillow, and perceiving the danger, went the next day to Archbishop Lanfrank, who was guardian of the realm in the King's absence, and discovered the whole to him, by whose advice he went over into Normandy, and with submissive repentance showed the whole to the King: the Earls therefore of Norfolk and Hereford, (whose state now lay open to chance,) as desperate men, took themselves to arms, and endeavoured to join their forces; this sudden noise of war immediately roused the King's subjects, so that Wolstan Bishop of Worcester, and others, raised forces in Worcestershire, and hindered Earl Roger's passing the Severne, and joining Earl Ralf, and at the same time, Odo Bishop of Bajeux, and Jeffry Bishop of Constance, who had assembled a mighty power of English and Normans, went directly against him, and forced him to retire to Norwich; but when he was there, seeing that neither the keepers of the several castles, nor the people, joined him, in such numbers as he expected, he took shipping at his castle at Norwich, (fn. 4) and fled into Little-Britain with the chief of his followers, leaving his wife to keep the castle, against which the King immediately sent an army, (fn. 5) and besieged the same, till through famine, she was forced to yield, but upon composition that the besieged should depart the realm, as persons abjured and banished for ever; (fn. 6) and then she and her adherents followed her husband; and so this castle, city, and earldom, came again into the Conqueror's hands, and became part of the royal demeans of England. In this siege the city suffered much, as we learn from Domesday; many of the citizens who took the Earl's part fled away, and so forfeited all they had, others were forced to go away, because Waleram, under pretence that they joined the Earl, whether they did or no, invaded and seized their inheritances, and a greater part were forced to look out for themselves, the chief of the city being burned down at the siege, so that they had no places of residence, and others were so heavily fined and taxed by the King, that they were forced to fly; and thus by this one conspiracy, the city received prodigious damage every way. Things being thus appeased, the King kept his Christmas at Westminster, and then punished all the English that were at Earl Ralph's wedding at Norwich, some of which were condemned to have their eyes put out, others to be banished, and others to forfeit all they had; (fn. 7) and thus ended this rebellion in England, but the King did not forget him, (fn. 8) but the next year went into Brittanny, and besieged Earl Ralph in his castle of Dol or Dolence, to whose assistance Philip the French King came with a powerful army, and constrained King William, who wanted provisions for his army, to raise the siege, with so great loss of men, horses, and money, that the next year he was glad to make peace with him; and thus ended the whole affair, in the year 1077.

The whole of the castle, earldom, and city, being in the Conqueror's hands, he made Roger Bigot constable of the castle, who was the King's bailiff also, to gather all the rents arising from the borough of the castle, city, and earldom.

In the year 1085, (fn. 9) the Saxon Chronicle says, the King sent messengers into every county to take an exact account of every hide of land, and the several owners thereof, how much rent, cattle, &c. every one had, in short, the substance of every man in England, whether in land, cattle, or money, was set down; so that neither ox, cow, or hog, was omitted: and from this record we have the exact account of this city in the year 1086.

Rex. M. de Norwic.

In Nowic erant t. r. e. tc. as before; (fn. 10) ¶ modo sunt in Burgo MDLXV. Burgenses Anglici et Consuetudines reddunt, et cccclxxx. Bordarij, qui propter pauperiem nullam reddunt Consuetudinem, et in illa terra quam tenebat Stigandus tempore Regis Edwardi manent modo er illis Superioribus xxxviiii. Burgenses et in eadem sunt ix. Mansure vacue. Et in illa terra, de qua Heroldus habebat Socam Sunt xv. Burgenses, et xvii. Mansure vacue que Sunt in Occupatione Castelli, et in Burgo clxxxx. Mansure vacue in hoc quod erat in Soca Regis et Comitis, et lxxxi. in Occupatione Castelli, et in Burgo Sunt adhuc L Dom. de quibus non habet Rex suam Consuetudinem, et his habet Rainaldus homo Rogeri Bigot ii. Domus et ii. Mansuras et Robertus Baro ii. Domos, et Abba i. dom. t Rabel ii. domos, et ii. Mansure, et ii. Mansure quas ten. ii. femine, et Ascolf Unglicus [Anglicus] i dom. et homo Teodbald Abbatis Sri. Edmundi i. dom. rt Burghard i. dom. et Wala i. Dom. et Wills. homo Hervi. B. i. Dom. et. meinardus vigil i Dom. et Meinburgenses {Mein Burgensis} i. Dom. t Hervius Deb. [Herveus} i dom. et Rad. Arbalistarius ii. Dom. t i Mansura (fn. 11) t Hereberd Fossator iii. dom. t Rogerus Pete- vinus i. Dom. et Meinardus homo Abbatis de Sco. Benedicto i. Do- mus. et Petrus homo Abbatis Sri. Edmundi i, Mans. Everwinus Burgensis i. Dom, et Baldeuuinus i. Dom, t Wills. i. Anglicus i. Dom, t Gerardus vigil i. Dom. Rodbertus Lorimarus i Mansura t Hildebrand Lorimarus i. Domus t Godwinus Burgensis i. Dom. et Wills. homo Hermeri i. Dom. t Gislebertus Vigil i. dom. et Fulbertus quidam sacerdos Hermeri i. Dom. t Walterus i. dom. t Reinoldus Filius Ivonis i. Dom. et Richardus de Sentebor (potius Sent-cler) i dom. et Hugo homo Willi. de Scoies i. dom.

Et homines Episcopi x. Do,. et in propria Curia Episcopi xiiii. Mansure, quas dedit Wills. Rex. Æ. (Ærfasto) ad principalem sedem Episcopatus, et Gislebertus Arbalistarius i. Dom. et ii. Mansure, et Wills. de Scoies i. Dom, et Meinardus i. Dom. Abbas de Eli i. Man- sura. Et in Burgo tenent Burgenses xliii. Capellas, et tota hee Willa reddibat t. r. e. tc. as before.

Et modo lxx. Lib. pensum Regis, t c. Sol. ad numerum de Gersu- ma Regine, et i. Asturconem; et xx. Lib. Blancas comiti, et xx. Sol. Bersuma ad numerum G. [sc. Godrico.]

Et Ecclesiam Sanctorum Simonis t Jude tc as before.

De Burgensibus qui manserunt in Norwic. abierunt t manent in Beccles, villa abbatis Sancti Burgum. et in Torp regis i. et in terra Rogeri Bigot i. et sub Willo de Noiers i. et Ricus de Sent-cler i. Jiti fugientes et alii remanentes omnino sunt vastati, partim propter foris- farturas Radi Comitis, partim propter Arsuram, partim propter Gel- tum Regis, partim per Walerannum.

In hoc Burgo, si bult Episcopus, potest habere i. Monetarium.

In Burgo erat quedam basta Domus, hanc accepit Ranulfus filius Walteri de dono Regis, et Walterus Diaconus i. Dom, in Burgo, sed non euit t. r. e. et ii. Acc. prati de Sancto Sepulchro, abstulere ii. ha mines Radi. Comitis, post rebabuit Presbiter concessu bicecomitis. Radulfus Comes tenuit xiv. Acr. terre t i. Acr. t dim. prati, post tenuit Alunard de Niwetuna.

Terra Burgenisum in Hundret de Humiliat. semper lxxx. Acr. t. xiii. Bord. t i. Car. et iii. Acr. yroti, et val. xiii. s. iiij. d

Franci de Norwic. in Nouo Burgo xxxvi. Burgenses, et vi. Anglici, et er annua Consuetudine reddebat unusqufsque i.d. preter fortisfactu- ras, de hoc toto habebat Rex.ii Pactes et tertiam, modo xli. Burgenses Franci, in dominio et Comitis, t Roger Bigot habet L. et Radulfus Bellafago xiiii. t Hermerus viii. et Robertus Arbalis- tarius v. Fulcherus homo Abbatis i. t Isac i. et Rad. Visus Lupi (fn. 12) i. et in habet et man- suram bastam. Tota hec terra Burgensium erat in Dominio Tomitis Radi. et concessit eam Gegi in Tommune ad faciendum Burgum inter se et Gegem, ut testatur Vicecomes et omnes terre iste tam Militum quam Burgensium reddunt Gegi suam Consuetudinem.

Est etiam in Novo Burgo quedam Ecclesia quam fecit Radus. Comes et eam dedit suis capellanis, modo eam tenet quidam sacerdos Vice-Comitis, de dono Regis nomine Wala, et bal. lx. Sol. et quamdiu Rob. Blundus Comitaum tenuit, habuit inde unoquoque anno i. unciam auri.

The Hundred of Norwich is the King's land. (fn. 13)

In Norwich, in the time of the Confessor, were 1320 burgesses, &c. Now Roger Bigot holds of the King's gift, Edstan the burgess and his land, churches, &c. and Wihenoc hath also 12 acres and an half taken from the burgesses, which now belong to Rainald son of Ivo, St. Martin's church also, with 12 acres of land, which Stigand had in King Edward's time, belonged now to William de Noiers, who owned part of the fee, that belonged to Stigand; (fn. 14) St. Michael's church on Tombland, was Bishop William's, of his own inheritance, and the church of the Holy Trinity, or St. John's Maddermarket, which belonged to 12 burgesses in the Confessor's time, was the Bishop's also by the King's gift.

Now at the time of the survey, there were in the borough 665 burgesses, Englishmen, and they pay the customs, and there are 480 bordars, (fn. 15) who, because of poverty, pay no custom, (fn. 16) and in that land which Stigand held in the time of King Edward, there now remain 39 burgesses of those above mentioned, (fn. 17) and in the same there are 9 (fn. 18) mansions void.

And in that land of which Harold had the soc, there are 15 burgesses, and 17 mansions void, which are in the occupation of the castle, (fn. 19) and in the borough 190 mansions are void, in that which was the soc of the King and the Earl, and 81 (fn. 20) in the occupation of the castle.

In the Borough (fn. 21) there are moreover 50 houses, of which the King hath not his custom. (fn. 22) Of these Rainald, a man or tenant of Roger Bigot, hath 2 houses, and 2 mansions, (fn. 23) and Robert the Baron 2 houses, and the Abbot (of St. Edmund) 1 house, and Rabel (fn. 24) 2 houses and 2 mansions, and 2 mansions which 2 women hold, and Ascolf an Englishman 1 house, and Teodbald a man or tenant of the Abbot (of St. Edmund) 1 house, and Burghard 1 house, and Wala (fn. 25) 1 house, and William a man or tenant of Hervy the burgess 1 house, and Meinnard the watchman (fn. 26) 1 house, and Mein the burgess 1 house, and Hervi the invalid (fn. 27) 1 house, and Ralph the arbalister (fn. 28) 2 houses and 1 mansion, and Hereberd the ditcher 3 houses, and Roger the Pictavian 2 houses, and Meinard, a man (or tenant) of the Abbot of St. Bennet, 1 house, and Peter a man of the Abbot of St. Edmund, 1 mansion, and Everwin a burgess 1 house, and Baldewin 1 house, and William 1 house, Englishman 1 house, and Gerard the watchman 1 house, and Robert the lorimer (fn. 29) (fn. 30) 1 mansion, and Hildebrand the lorimer 1 house, and Godwin a burgess 1 house, and William, a man of Hermer, 1 house, and Gislebert the watchman 1 house, and Fulbert, a certain priest of Hermer, 1 house, and Walter 1 house, and Reinold the son of Ivo 1 house, and Richard de Sentbor (fn. 31) 1 house, and Hugh, a man of William de Scoies, (Le Escois or the Scot,) 1 house, and the men (or tenants) of the bishop 10 houses, and in the bishop's own court (or palace) 14 mansions, which King William gave to Ærfast, (fn. 32) for the principal seat of the bishoprick, (fn. 33) and Gislebert the arbalister (fn. 34) 1 house and 2 mansions, and William de Scoies 1 house, and Meinard 1 house, and the Abbot of Ely 1 mansion.

And the burgesses held 43 chapels (fn. 35) in the borough.

And this whole town, in the time of King Edward paid, as before.

And now it pays 70l. (fn. 36) by weight to the King, and a hundred shillings by tale, (fn. 37) as a free gift (fn. 38) to the Queen, and an ambling palfrey, and twenty pounds blanch, (fn. 39) or silver uncoined to the Earl, and 20s. by tale, as a free gift to Godric. (fn. 40)

St. Simon and Jude's church was now held by Bishop William, and Wicman's land was held by Rainald the son of Ivo, &c. as under the Confessor's reign.

Of the burgesses who dwelt in Norwich, 22 are gone away, and dwell in Beccles, a town of the Abbot of St. Edmund, and 6 in Humilgar or (Humbleyard) hundred, and have forsaken the Burgh, and in King's Torp or Thorp 1, and in the land of Roger Bigot 1, and under Will. de Noiers 1, and Richard de Sentcler 1.

Those who fled, and those remaining, are altogether wasted or impoverished, partly through Earl Ralph's forfeitures, partly through fire, partly by the King's tribute, and partly by Waleran.

In this borough, if the Bishop will, he may have one monyer. (mintmaster, or man to coin money, and consequently a mint.)

In the burgh there was a certain decayed house, which Ralf the son of Walter had of the King's gift, and Walter the Deacon hath one house in the burgh, but it was not in the time of King Edward. And 2 men took away from St. Sepulcher (fn. 41) 2 acres of meadow, which afterwards the priest had again, by the grant of the sheriff.

Earl Ralph held 14 acres of land, and one acre and an half of meadow, which afterwards Alward de Nieweton (or Newton) held.

The land of the burgesses in the hundred of Humilait, (fn. 42) was always 80 acres, and there were 13 bordars, and it is reckoned or valued at one carucate, and there is of meadow 3 acres, and it is worth, that is the whole paid, 13s. and 4d.

Frenchmen of Norwic. (fn. 43)

In the New-Burgh there were 36 burgesses Frenchmen, and 6 English, and by a yearly custom, every one paid 1d. besides forfeitures; of all this, (fn. 44) the King had 2 parts, and the Earl the third. Now there are 51 French burgesses, in the demean of the King and the Earl, (fn. 45) and Roger Bigot hath 50, and Ralf de Bellafago or Beaufo (fn. 46) 14, and Hermer 8, and Robert the arbalister 5, and Fulcher, a man of the Abbat 1, and Isac 1, and Ralf Vice de Lieu 1, and in the Earl's bakehouse, Rob. Blund hath 3, and Wimer (fn. 47) hath one decayed mansion.

All this land of the burgesses was in the demean of Earl Ralf, and he granted it to the King, in common to make a new-borough, between himself and the King; and all these lands, (fn. 48) as well of the knights (or soldiers) as of the burgesses, pay to the King his custom.

There is also in the new-borough, a certain church which Earl Ralph made, and gave it to his chaplains, now, a certain priest of the sheriff, by name Wala, (fn. 49) holds it by the King's gift, and it is worth 60 shillings, and so long as Rob. Blund held the county, (fn. 50) he had thence every year, one ounce of gold. (fn. 51)

And thus we see, that in the Confessor's time, there were 25 churches, and in the Conqueror's time we find 54 churches and chapels here, so that the chapels belonging to the burgesses, seem to be built since the Confessor, they being not mentioned in his survey.

There were no Jews in England before this King's reign, who brought many from Roan in Normandy, and settled them in London, Norwich, Cambridge, &c. In what capacity they came over, says Fuller in his Church History, p. 9, I do not find, perchance as plunderers, to buy such oppressed Englishmen's goods as Christians would not meddle with; sufficeth it us to know, that an invasion by conquest (such as King William then made) is like an inn, entertaining all adventurers; and it may be, these Jewish bankers assisted the Conqueror with their wealth. These Jews (though forbidden to buy land in England) grew rich by usury, (their consciences being so wide, that they were none at all,) so that in the barest pasture in which a Christian would starve, a Jew would grow fat, he bites so close unto the ground. And ever bow down their backs, is part of God's curse upon the Jews, and crook-back'd men, as they eye the earth, the centre of wealth, so they quickly see what straight persons pass by, and easily stoop to take up that they find thereon; and therefore no wonder if the Jewish nation, whose souls are bowed down with covetousness, quickly wax wealthy therewith. King William favoured them very much, and Rufus his son much more; especially if that report of him be true, that he should swear by St. Luke's face, his common oath, If the Jews could overcome the Christians, he himself would become one of their sect.

On Thursday the 9th of September, 1087, died this Great Conqueror, and the city fell to his son and successour, William Rufus.