CHAP. XXVI. SO constantly resorted to by the first Norman Kings, produced an intolerable grievance. In lieu of their own countrymen and fellow-townsmen, the inhabitants of the shire, and burgesses of the towns, were placed under the surveillance, and subject to the exactions of officers, who were alien to them in race, in language, and in feeling, and regardless of the interests of the community over which they presided. Having brought down our history to the time when Bailiffs first became all-powerful in Kent, I will, in the next chapter, introduce this officer as the chief over "the Seven Hundreds" in the Weald-a court established for the civil government of the reclaimed portions of this district. The Old Bailey, from ballium or vallum-an open space between the advanced gate of the city or town and the line of the outer wall. York, Oxford, Sheffield, and Radnor have their Bayle, Bailey, and Bailey Hill. A Bailiff was originally the Bayle-reeve, or officer in charge of the ballium, just as the Sheriff is the Shire-reeve. A bail is etymologically a palisade. Thus the bails at cricket were originally the stumps.-See Knapp, English Roots, p. 79-81, quoted in Taylor's "Words and Places,' p. 274. Folkestone appears to have had its Bayle; the name is still preserved. I CHAPTER XXVII. "THE SEVEN HUNDREDS" IN THE WEALD. CANNOT find that any of our historians have re- CHAP. XXVII. corded the origin of this union of Hundreds. Hasted Vol. III., briefly tells us that "the seven Hundreds were so con- fol. ed., p. 44. nected from their being comprehended under the jurisdiction of one Court, held within some part of them, and to which the whole district was amenable, and that they had been from ancient time part of the possessions of the Crown, and kept in the Sovereign's own hands." The Hundreds originally constituting this district, were: BARKLEY. BLACKBORNE. CRANBROOK. TENTERDEN.* The latest of our writers (Mr. Larking) does not mention them either in his notes or appendix, but at the end of the work he adds: "An Index to Hundreds, Manors, &c., with reference to Hasted." In this will be found the following references: "Seven Hundreds always in the Crown, viz., Hundreds of Cranbrook, Barkley, Blackborne, Tenterden, Rolvenden, Selbrittenden, Broomfield."+ "Cranbrook not in Domesday, probably in the paramount of seven Hundreds." "Frithenden, not in Domesday, Hundreds Paramount." *Tenterden, as already stated, was in the reign of Henry VI. withdrawn from this union and added to the Cinque Ports. +"Broomfield" must have been a misprint, as it was never one of the seven Hundreds. Barnfield is no doubt intended. CHAP. XXVII. Larking, “Rolvenden, not in Domesday,* (in jurisdiction of seven Hundreds)." "Shadoxhurst, seven Hundreds Paramount." Staplehurst not in Domesday (probably seven Hundreds Paramount)." "Tenterden not in Domesday (in seven Hundreds)." "Woodchurch not in Domesday (seven Hundreds, Appledore, and Wye, all have jurisdiction)." From these quotations, is it to be inferred that Mr. Larking was of opinion that the extensive district known as "the seven Hundreds" was so united at the time of the Conquest? If so, how could he have arrived at this conclusion? The Survey contains no reference to such a court, jurisdiction, or union; but more than this, we do not even find in it any mention made of four out of the seven Hundreds, viz. :-Cranbrook, Barkley, Barnfield, and Tenterden. Of the remaining three (Blackborne, Rolvenden, and Selbrittenden), the Hundred of Blackborne is referred to on six occasions, five of them in describing the possessions of Hugh de Montfort, and the sixth in the return for Appledore, which was held by the See of Canterbury. Rolvenden is only mentioned twice, once in describing Benenden held by Simon de Montfort, and on another occasion in the return for Belice, which appears to have been a small outlying dene included in the Hundred of Rolvenden and held with Bircholt; and Selbrittenden is mentioned once in describing Newenden belonging to the See of Canterbury. All this induces me to believe that the formation and grouping of these Hundreds did not take place until after. the Conquest. At the same time the reader must not be misled by the Maps 2 and 3 which precede this chapter, and suppose that because he finds a nameless tract of country covering more than one fourth of the shire, the whole of it was unreclaimed, uninhabited, and nameless at the time of the Conquest. The axe and plough had This is incorrect. It is mentioned in Domesday as the Hundred to Benenden, and to a dene, "Belice" appertaining to Bircholt. + I have stated at the commencement of Chap. XXII. that Bircholt is spelt five different ways in Domesday. I should have said six, as I find I omitted Belice, which is also clearly intended for Bircholt. been long at work before that date, and large portions of CHAP. XXVII. what once formed the shire forest or public wood of the county had been already enclosed, and consisted of denes to which names had long been given. The maps merely profess to record the "manors" and possessions which then existed in that locality. I incline to think that some of the denes in the Weald had at the time of the Survey been formed into burhs (boroughs) if not into hundreds. The Sovereign could no doubt create additional hundreds, and if he had not previously parted with the fee, he might consolidate them. If the reader has followed me, he will have remarked that the greater part of the possessions granted by the Conqueror to Hugh de Montfort, were situate in and about the Weald; he was therefore interested in the welfare and tranquillity of the district, and it was of the first importance to the King and his Norman followers that the rigorous laws which had been introduced for the government of other parts of the shire, should be extended to the Weald; in short, that such portions of it as might have consisted at this time of boroughs, but had not been formed into Hundreds, might be so united, whereby a better surety and pledge for the peace, order, and protection of a thinly scattered and rude population, might be obtained. Looking also at the extent of the Weald still unreclaimed, the wretched approaches to it, and the tracks through it, it was of equal importance that such a court might be formed, which, though subsidiary to the chief one at Penenden Heath, would bring justice home to the doors of the inhabitants. The Sovereign, therefore, as Lord paramount, and with a view to uphold his own rights and those dependent upon him, established the Court of the seven Hundreds, and appointed a Bailiff over them, which name confirms my impression that it was an Anglo-Norman institution. I am further strengthened in this opinion by a remark of the late Mr. Kemble, who Sax. in Eng., I hope to be able to supply a list of the greater part, if not of all of these denes and their situations hereafter, Vol. I., p. 255. CHAP. XXVII. says that "at a comparatively late period we occasionally find a consolidation of Hundreds into one body for judicial purposes, a proceeding not unusual with great civil or ecclesiastical authorities." The Conqueror's son, Henry I., appears to have recognized such a jurisdiction, for in his Laws, xlviii., § 2, I find, "Si totus comitatus vel vii. Hundreta super aliquibus implacitentur," &c. Thorpe's Ancient Laws of England, Vol. I., p. 546. It is rather remarkable that the earliest existing Quo warranto roll for the county of Kent, (25 Hen. III., 1241), commences with "The seven Hundreds of the Wealds" -(De Waldis). One of the first acts of Edward I. on his return to England after the death of his father, was to continue an enquiry which Henry III. had originated into the rights and revenues of the Sovereign, and the conduct of the sheriffs, bailiffs, and other officers who had defrauded the Crown and oppressed the people, which led to the compilation of the Hundred Rolls for Kent and other counties (3 Edward I., 1274), and will be further noticed hereI will refer here only to such portions of it as relate to the subject of this chapter. It records that, during the previous reign (Henry III.), William de Casingham (sometimes written Kasingham) held "the Seven Hundreds" for forty years at fee farm for 100s. On his death, Reginald de Cobbeham (the Sheriff) set them to farm for £10. After the battle of Evesham (August 4th, 1265), Roger de Leyburn held them at the rent of 100s.-a reduction no doubt occasioned by the Barons' war. rent was collected and paid by the Sheriff into the Exchequer. Roger de Benyndenne is returned as the Bailiff, and Hugh de Wy as the Clerk. Stephen de Peneshurst held them at the time the Hundred Roll was in preparation and let them for £10, payable at the Castle of Dover in support of its defence. The Hundred of Cranbrook appears to have paid one-fourth of the entire rent. We find Walter Colefol. ed., p. 44. peper was the Bailiff in the reign of Edward II.* Hasted, Vol. III., Martin's Leeds This *He was put to an ignominious death, at Leeds Castle, as an adherent of the "rich Lord Badlesmere." |