Bishop Gundulf confirms Gilbert the priest's grant at Haddenham, a.1086 AD
Bishop Gundulf confirms a grant by Gilbert the priest of three hides at Haddenham in exchange for Gilbert entering the monastic life, Date: after 10861. Textus Roffensis, ff. 213r–213v. Translated from Latin and edited by Dr Christopher Monk.
Transcription
213r2 (select folio number to open facsimile)
De Dudicote. Gundulfus Rofensis episcopus, Rodberto Lincoliensi episcopo,
et Goisfrido uicecomiti, et omnibus fidelibus regis
Francigenis et Anglis de comitatu de Bukin-
geham, salutem. Sciatis quod Gislebertus noster clericus
de Hedenham concessit ęcclesię Rofensi Sancti Andreę
tres hidas terrę quas habuit in suo dominico in He-
denham, ea conuentione quod quando ipse uoluerit
fiet ibi monachus. Et hoc idem concessit et confirmauit
Radulfus filius suus ex toto. Et ego concessi eidem Radulfo
ęcclesiam de Hedenham cum una hida et dimidia terrę, et
duobus pratis, Coiea, et Cetemora, et concessi ei pasturam
decem boum, et omnes consuetudines que ad eandem ęcclesiam
pertinent, insuper quicquid Gislebertus tenuit in Heden-
ham, exceptis illis tribus supradictis hidis terrę. Et de ipsa ęcclesia non faciet ullum seruitium,
nisi, quod ad ęcclesiam pertinet tantum.
Translation
Concerning Dollicott3
Gundulf bishop of Rochester to Robert bishop of Lincoln,4 Geoffrey the sheriff, and all the faithful of the king, the French and the English, of the county of Buckingham, greetings. Let it be known that Gilbert our priest of Haddenham has granted to the church of Saint Andrew in Rochester three hides of land which he held as demesne in Haddenham, 5 with the agreement that when he himself wishes he will become a monk there. And that Ralf his son has granted the same and confirmed it fully. And I have granted to the same Ralf the church of Haddenham with one and a half hides of land and with two meadows, Coiea and Cetemora;6 and I have granted him pasture for ten cows and all customs which pertain to that same church,7 in addition to whatever Gilbert held in Haddenham, except those three hides of land mentioned above.
And the church itself will not create dues for service, except those pertaining to the church only.
Footnotes
1 Gilbert is recorded as the owner of these three hides of Haddenham in an entry of Domesday Book (1086): opendomesday.org/place/SP7408/haddenham [accessed 06.03.18].
2 Folio 213 is a replacement leaf, added sometime later in the twelfth century; the hand is not that of the main scribe.
3 The heading ‘De Dudicote’ alludes to the name of the three hides of land within the manor of Haddenham – a ‘sub-manor’, as William A. Strange puts it – granted by Gilbert to the church of St Andrew, Rochester. The place-name Dudicot evidently corresponds to Dollicot(t), which is recorded in the seventeenth century as a ‘field’ unit of land, and which survives as the street name Dollicott in modern day Haddenham. Dudicot (as ‘Dodecot’) is mentioned in Custumale Roffense (c.1235) as supporting 250 sheep, and the meadow there was to be mown by its tenants ‘for love and not as a duty owed’, for which they were rewarded with ‘one wether and one cheese worth 4 pence and one salt bacon and one bundle of straw’. See William A. Strange, ‘Haddenham and Cuddington: The Early History of Two Buckinghamshire Villages’, Buckinghamshire Papers 11 (2007), esp. pp. 11-12, 25, 28 (Figure Two), and 37. My thanks to William for personally communicating this information about Dudicot/Dollicott. It should be noted that ‘Concerning Dollicott’ (2024) is a correction of my previous ‘Concerning Didcot’ (2018) and the information in this present footnote (2024) is a revision of the original footnote (2018).
4 Robert Bloet (also, Bluet), bishop of Lincoln, r. 1093/4–1123.
5 ‘in demesne’, translating in dominico. ‘Demesne. […] land held for the lord’s own use rather than let or leased’: A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases, ed. Christopher Corèdon with Ann Williams (D. S. Brewer, 2005). Dominicus, Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources ‘3c. demesne, land held for lord’s use’: logeion.uchicago.edu/index.html#dominicus [accessed 06.03.18].
6 Unidentified place-names of the two meadows; left untranslated.
7 Customs: e.g. tithings and other dues owed the church.
