George James Turner

“ It is possible that the rapes represent the shires of the ancient kingdom of Sussex, especially as in the 12th century they had sheriffs of their own. But there is no evidence of the existence of the rape before the Norman Conquest, except such as may be gathered from Domesday Book, and this is far from convincing. After the Conquest each rape had its own lord, and all the land within it, save that which belonged to the king or to ecclesiastical tenants, was held of the lord. ”

“ Some confirmation of this is to be found in the Words of the Norman chronicler, Dudo of St Quentin, who states that Rollo in distributing Neustria “suis fidelibus terrain funiculo divisit” (J. P. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus completus, tom. cxli. p. 652) . ”