Just 11 households were listed for Shearsby in the 1086 Domesday Book, putting it in the smallest 40% of settlements recorded in that survey. These households were supervised by three landowners: the un-named wife of Quentin, Earl Coucy and Hugh de Grandmesnil.
Quentin’s wife
The land looked after by Quentin’s wife, as tenant-in-chief, extended to two smallholdings with two ploughlands attached. The land was assessed as worth 3 shillings in 1086, but had been worth 15 shillings when first acquired. She was probably the same landowner of a similar sized holding in Sutton-in-the-Elms a few miles to the west. Their value had been 15 shillings, but by 1086 this had dropped to 3 shillings.
Female Tenants-in-chief may have been rare, but not unheard of. In Leicestershire, Quentin’s wife shared this status the Countess Judith who gave her name to the settlement still known as Countesthorpe.
Quentin’s wife is one of five landholders in Leicestershire who had received their lands as gifts or alms from the King. William directly held extensive lands in the county, much of them places like Rothley that had royal connections before the Conquest. 5 carucates of land there had previously been held by Edward the Confessor. The lands the king gave as alms may also have had previous royal associations. Of those receiving royal lands as alms were three churchmen: Godwin, Arnbern and Aelfric (all priests) and two lay people, Ingold and the wife of Quentin. It seems possible that Quentin was someone close to the king and that his wife was being provided for with the land in Shearsby and Sutton.
Earl Aubrey of Coucy
Earl Aubrey’s lands were more extensive, running in a band up from Wiltshire to Leicestershire. In 1086 there were 44 properties associated with his name. However, it may be the there was more uncertainty about the status of Earl Aubrey’s land than the Domesday Book implies. In 1080 Aubrey (a Norman from Coucy in Picardy) had been made Earl of Northumbria by William the Conquerer. The title brought with it extensive lands in the Midlands, but also responsibilities for defending the kingdom in the north. Faced with having to respond to the threat of Danish invasion in 1085 Aubrey resigned from his earldom. Historians consider that the threat of Danish invasion in 1085 was a major factor in William’s decision to organise the national survey that we know today as the Domesday Book. The title of Earl of Northumbria was passed on the Roger de Mowbray, (or perhaps his uncle Bishop Geoffrey) along, presumably, with much of the landholdings.
Whoever was acting as Tenant-in-chief, the day to day responsibilities for the land would have been dealt with by tenants, or ‘lords’. In the case of Shearsby, this was someone called Norman.
Norman of Theddingworth
This ‘Norman‘ was acting as lord of at least three properties in the immediate area. These lands were in Shearsby, Walton and Theddingworth. There was 4.5c. of land in Shearsby, plus a meadow 4 furlongs in length and 2 furlongs wide. The land was valued at 15 shillings when acquired, but had increased to 40 shillings per year by 1086. This Norman’s land-holding in Walton was of a similar size, while the land at Theddingworth was larger at 6.5c., but of similar value to the Shearsby land.
Another landowner with the same name was lord of some other properties in the Hallaton area of Leicestershire.
Harding son of Alnoth
In contrast, Harding, son of Alnoth enjoyed a different career. Before the Conquest, he was associated with properties in Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Warwickshire and Leicestershire. Much of the landholdings in 1066, and those of his father’s colleague Tovi, were transferred to build up the fiefdom of Earl Aubrey. That he retained some lands after the conquest made him one of the more successful survivors. In the Guthlaxton Hundred in Leicestershire, Harding’s lands had included: Bitteswell, Broughton Astley, Croft, Fenny Drayton, Hinckley, Knaptoft, Sapcote, Shearsby, Shenton, Sibson, Sutton-in-the-Elms, Swinford, Torp [near Littlethorpe] and Walton. He owned 2 virgates (about 30 acres) in Knaptoft and a further 4.5 carucates in Shearsby. All of these properties were lost by 1086. Harding retained the role of Tenant-in-chief of 10 properties in Somerset and Wiltshire and was the tenant for a further 12 landholdings in the wider Southwest.
Hugh of Grandmesnil
Hugh was the largest landowner in the Borough and County of Leicester. He accompanied William and fought at the battle of Hastings. Shortly after the Conquest was put in charge of the castle at Leicester. With extensive landholdings across the Midlands, he needed tenants to look after the farming.
Huard of Peatling
Huard looked after 3.5c of Hugh’s land in Peatling Parva. There was a mill there that brought in 16d a year and a 5 acre meadow. He also held 1c. of land, also from Hugh de Grandmesnil, in Shearsby. This land, like that of Quentin’s wife, had connections to the royal charitable holdings. In this case Huard ‘has it in pledge’, and through Hugh of Grandmesnil, rather than directly.
What was Shearsby like in 1086?
Taxation value
The Domesday Book was essentially put together for taxation purposes, strengthening the king’s power over the landholders. In 1086 the village was assessed as being worth 2 pounds and 8 shillings. The larger part of this was the land of Earl Aubrey de Coucy worth 2 pounds, with Hugh de Grandmesnil assessed for 5 shillings and Quentin’s wife for 3 shillings.
These values had been subject to change since the lands were acquired by their Domesday owners. the land of Quentin’s wife had gone down from 15 to 3 shillings while that of Earl Aubrey had gone up 5 shillings from 15 to 2 pounds. Over the same period, the land of Hugh de Grandmesnil had remained the same at 5 shillings.
Population
On Earl Coucy’s land there were 4 villagers. 2 freemen. 3 smallholders. There was 1 Man-at-arms on the land of Hugh de Grandmesnil and 2 smallholders associated with Quentin’s wife, one each for Shearsby and Sutton.
Land use
Quentin’s wife had land for two ploughs upon which crops were grown and Huard ploughed his land. Norman of Theddingworth also had land under plough, but also a meadow 4 furlongs long and two wide.
References
Baxter, S., & Lewis, C. P. (2017). Domesday book and the transformation of English landed society, 1066–86. Anglo-Saxon England, 46, 343-403. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026367511800011X
Keats-Rohan, K.S.B (2004). Hugh de Grandmesnil. Dictionary of National Biography https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/14054
The Domesday Book, ed. by John Morris. (1979). Phillimore
Open Domesday website https://opendomesday.org/
Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE) website http://pase.ac.uk/index.html
Shearsby History Notes 