I have started to read David Blanchard's article 'Anglo-Norman Army: 1066-1181' in Slingshot 291. In it on page 34 he states 'The familia regis of Henry I numbered in the hundreds and "according to a contemporary observer... they received an annual fee of £5 in addition to ... up to 1s a day when on ... service'. He also indicates that the familia regis numbered at least 500 in Normandy. Assuming 40 days service per year (and 60 might be more normal) and the average pay is half the maximum, that implies that the King of England is allocating £3,000 of his income to the familia regis. Accepting that this will not be coin but rather will be resources in most cases, it still implies that the revenues from Normandy were far greater than I had previously understood, and far more than it would imply England was producing from some counties based upon the Doomsday Book.
Have I misunderstood or am I just way behind the times in terms of modern research?
It may be useful to note at this point that the only surviving Pipe Roll of Henry I (1130-1) records income at £24,500, with debts outstanding of £68,850, according to wikipedia.
I was surprised that Daviid said that 50,000 troops were mustered for the invasion of England and that 60,000 knights were available to Anglo Norman England. I assume that those figures are out by a factor of ten. and that 5,000 cavalry assembled for the invasion and around 6000 knights were settled in England.
Generally I was very impressed with the standard if the article and the references used.
Roy