permanent surname indicating parentage, place of birth, or
residence, such as Field, Pitt, Lane, Bridge, Ford, Stone, Burn,
Church, Hill, Brook, Green. Other names came from occupations such
as Shepherd, Carter, Parker, Fowler, Hunter, Forester, Smith.
Still other came from personal characteristics such as Black,
Brown, and White, Short, Round, and Long. Some took their names
from animals such as Wolf, Fox, Lamb, Bull, Hogg, Sparrow, Crow,
and Swan. Others were called after the men they served, such as
King, Bishop, Abbot, Prior, Knight. A man's surname was passed on
to his son.

Those few coerls whose land was not taken by a baron remained free
and held their land "in socage" and became known as sokemen. They
were not fighting men, and did not give homage, but might give
fealty, i.e. fidelity. Many free sokemen were caught up in the
subjugation by baron landlords and were reduced almost to the
condition of the unfree villein. The services they performed for
their lords were often indistinguishable. They might also hold
their land by villein tenure, although free as a person with the
legal rights of a freeman. The freeman still had a place in court
proceedings which the unfree villein did not.

Great stone cathedrals were built in fortified towns for the
Conquerer's Norman bishops, who replaced the English bishops. Most
of the existing and new monasteries functioned as training grounds
for scholars, bishops, and statesmen rather than as retreats from
the world's problems to the security of religious observance. The
number of monks grew as the best minds were recruited into the
monasteries.

The Conquerer made the church subordinate to him. Bishops were
elected only subject to the King's consent. The bishops had to
accept the status of barons. Homage was exacted from them before
they were consecrated, and fealty and an oath afterward. The
Conquerer imposed knight's service on bishoprics, abbeys, and
monasteries, which was usually commuted to a monetary amount.
Bishops had to attend the King's court. Bishops could not leave
the realm without the King's consent. No royal tenant or royal
servant could be excommunicated, nor his lands be placed under
interdict, without the King's consent. Interdict could demand, for
instance, that the church be closed and the dead buried in
unconsecrated ground. No church rules could be made without his
agreement to their terms. No letters from the pope could be
received without the K