Medieval Basingstoke
Wessex
was one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, which
eventually became the most important kingdom, with Winchester as the capital of
the country. One part of Wessex was Hamtunscire, like other shires it was split
into smaller divisions called hundreds (units of 100 families), these were
further divided into tithings, which consisted of ten householders.
The shire reeve (sheriff) was
responsible for the kings interests and his authority throughout the county. The
sheriff saw that writs from the king were carried out by the population and he
was also responsible for the maintenance of law and order. The king's interests
also included those of a landowner and included estates at Hurstborne and
Basingstoke.
Landowners used what parts of the land they
needed for thier own use and rented the rest out to tenants in return for an
annual payment in money or kind. In addition to free tenants, who paid money and
helped the owner at busy times of the year, there were also unfree tenants (villeins) who performed a weekly labour service for him. The Normans introduced
the term "manor" for these estates. The Domesday book describes
Basingstoke as "always having been a royal manor". The king kept the
town in his own hands, not letting it out to tenants.
The manor of Basingstoke was not part of a
hundred but had appendages of the hundred of Basingstoke and five other
hundreds, Bermondspit, Chuteley, Holdshot, Odington and Overton. One of the
functions of the sheriff was the collection of revenue, details of which were
recorded in the Pipe Rolls. Basingstoke is first mentioned in a roll in 1159-60
when the sheriff of the time paid into the royal treasury the sum of 66s 8d for
fines for murder in the Basingstoke hundred. In 1203 there was an entry which referred
to the market of Basingstoke when the town paid to move the market from a Sunday
to a Monday.
In the year 1211-12 the king granted
the men of Basingstoke "firm of the manor", which meant that they were
then directly responsible to the king for payment of the rent of the manor,
without reference to the sheriff. Unfortunately the men of Basingstoke had
trouble paying the rent regularly and so in 1217 custody of the manor was
granted to Bartholomew peche and then onto Luke de Drumare. In 1227 the town was
separated from the other hundreds, which the king retained as his own. This
allowed the men of Basingstoke to hold the manor at a reduced rate of £80.
However the town still continued to get into debt, in 1236 three of the men of
Basingstoke had to explain to the king's justices why they had borrowed £20 in
the name of Basingstoke without their consent.
In 1237 Walter de Burgh was
appointed king's bailiff, with the responsibility of the finances of the manor
of Basingstoke. In 1238 the roll mentions the name of Walter de Merton, who in
1240 was granted the manor for five years at an annual rent of £80. At the end
of this period responsibility reverted back to the sheriff until in 1256 Henry
III granted the men of Basingstoke and their heirs the perpetual tenure of the
manor and hundred of Basingstoke. This meant that the town was now a self
governing community.
(back to top)