usually from nearby families, and had large households. For
instance, the king had a circle of noblemen and ladies about him.
A peer or great prelate had a household of about 100-200 people,
among which were his inner circle, companions, administrators,
secretaries, bodyguards and armed escort, chaplain, singing
priests and choirboys, and servants. All officers of the household
were gentlemen. The secretary was usually a clerk, who was
literate because he had taken minor clerical orders. Since the
feudal obligation of the tenants was disappearing, a lord
sometimes hired retainers to supplement his escort of fighting
men. They proudly wore his livery of cloth or hat, which was in
the nature of a uniform or badge of service. A nobleman and his
lady had a circle of knights and gentlemen and their ladies. A
knight had a circle of gentlemen and their ladies.
The great barons lived in houses built within the walls of their
castles. Lesser barons lived in semi-fortified manors, many of
which had been licensed to be embattled or crenellated. Their
halls were two stories high, and usually built on the first rather
than on the second floor. Windows came down almost to the floor.
The hall had a raised floor at one end where the lord and lady and
a few others sat at a high table. The hearth was in the middle of
the room or on a wall. Sometimes a cat was used to open and shut
the louvers of the smoke outlet in the roof. The lord's bedroom
was next to the hall on the second floor and could have windows
into the hall and a spiral staircase connecting the two rooms.
There was a chapel, in which the lord attended mass every morning.
The many knights usually lived in unfortified houses with two
rooms.
In the great houses, there were more wall hangings, and ornaments
for the tables. The tables were lit with candles or torches made
of wax. Plates were gold and silver. The lord, his lady, and their
family and guests sat at the head table, which was raised on a
dais. On this high table was a large and elaborate salt cellar.
One's place in relationship to the salt cellar indicated one's
status: above or below the salt. Also, those of higher status at
the table ate a superior bread. The almoner [alms giver] said
grace. Gentlemen poured the lord's drink [cupbearer], served his
meat [carver], and supervised the serving of the food [sewer]. A
yeoman ewery washed the hands of the lord and his guests and
supplied the napkins, ewers [pitchers], and basins. A yeoman
cellarer or butler served the wine and beer. The yeoman of the
pantry served the bread, salt, and cutlery. The steward presided
over the table of household officers of gentle birth. The marshall
of the hall, clerk of the kitchen, or other yeomen officers
supervised other tables. Salt and spices were available at all
tables. Most people ate with their fingers, although there were
knives and some spoons. Drinking vessels were usually metal, horn,
or wood. A marshall and ushers kept order. Minstrels played
musical instruments or recited histories of noble deeds or amusing
anecdotes. Reading aloud was a favorite pastime. The almoner
collected the left-overs to distribute to the poor.
In lesser houses people ate off trenchers [a four day old slab of
coarse bread or a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a
bowl], or plates of wood or pewter [made from tin, copper, and
lead]. They often shared plates and drinking vessels at the table.
Queen Eleanor, a cultivated, intelligent, and educated lady from
the continent, fostered culture and rewarded individual literary
efforts, such as translations from Latin, with grants of her own
money. She patronized Oxford and Cambridge Universities and left
bequests to poor scholars there. She herself had read Aristotle
and commentaries thereon, and she especially patronized literature
which would give cross-cultural perspectives on subjects. She was
kind and thoughtful towards those about her and was also
sympathetic to the afflicted and generous to the poor. She shared
Edward's career to a remarkable extent, even accompanying him on a
crusade. She had an intimate knowledge of the people in Edward's
official circle and relied on the advice of two of them in
managing her lands. She mediated disputes between earls and other
nobility, as well as softened her husband's temper towards people.
Edward granted her many wardships and marriages and she arranged
marriages with political advantages. She dealt with envoys coming
to the court. Her intellectual vitality and organized mentality
allowed her to deal with arising situations well. Edward held her
in great esteem. She introduced to England the merino sheep,
which, when bred with the English sheep, gave them a better
quality of wool. She and Edward often played games of chess and
backgammon.
Farm efficiency was increased by the use of windmills in the
fields to pump water and by allowing villeins their freedom and
hiring them as laborers only when needed. Customary service was
virtually extinct. A man could earn 5d. for reaping, binding, and
shocking into a pile, an acre of wheat. A strong man with a wife
to do the binding could do this in a long harvest day. Harvests
were usually plentiful, with the exception of two periods of
famine over the country due to weather conditions. Then the price
of wheat went way up and drove up the prices of all other goods
correspondingly. The story of outlaw Robin Hood, who made a living
by robbing, was passed around. This Robin Hood did not give to the
poor. But generally, there was enough grain to store so that the
population was no longer periodically devastated by famine. The
population grew and all arable land in the nation came under the
plough. The acre was standardized. About 1300, the price of an ox
was 9s., a heifer or cow 7s., a hide 2s.6d., a cart horse 2 or 3
pounds. Farm women went to nearby towns to sell eggs and dairy
products, usually to town women.
Although manors needed the ploughmen, the carters and drivers, the
herdsmen, and the dairymaid on a full-time basis, other tenants
spent increasing time in crafts and became village carpenters,
smiths, weavers or millers' assistants. Trade and the towns grew.
Smiths used coal in their furnaces.
Money rents often replaced service due to a lord, such as fish
silver, malt silver, or barley silver. The lord's rights are being
limited to the rights declared on the extents [records showing
service due from each tenant] and the rolls of the manor.
Sometimes land is granted to strangers because none of the kindred
of the deceased will take it. Often a manor court limited a fee in
land to certain issue instead of being inheritable by all heirs.
Surveyors' poles marked boundaries declared by court in boundary
disputes. This resulted in survey maps showing villages and cow
pastures.
The revival of trade and the appearance of a money economy was
undermining the long-established relationship between the lord of
the manor and his villeins. As a result, money payments were
supplementing or replacing payments in service and produce as in
Martham, where Thomas Knight held twelve acres in villeinage, paid
16d. for it and 14d. in special aids. "He shall do sixteen working
days in August and for every day he shall have one repast - viz.
Bread and fish. He shall hoe ten days without the lord's food -
price of a day 1/2 d. He shall cart to Norwich six cartings or
shall give 9d., and he shall have for every carting one leaf and
one lagena - or gallon - of ale. Also for ditching 1d. He shall
make malt 3 1/2 seams of barley or shall give 6d. Also he shall
flail for twelve days or give 12d. He shall plough if he has his
own plough, and for every ploughing he shall have three loaves and
nine herrings ... For carting manure he shall give 2."
Another example is this manor's holdings, when 3d. would buy food
for a day: "Extent of the manor of Bernehorne, made on Wednesday
following the feast of St. Gregory the Pope, in the thirty-fifth
year of the reign of King Edward, in the presence of Brother
Thomas, keeper of Marley, John de la More, and Adam de Thruhlegh,
clerks, on the oath of William de Gocecoumbe, Walter le Parker,
Richard le Knyst, Richard the son of the latter, Andrew of Estone,
Stephen Morsprich, Thomas Brembel, William of Swynham, John
Pollard, Roger le Glide, John Syward, and John de Lillingewist,
who say that there are all the following holdings:... John Pollard
holds a half acre in Aldithewisse and owes 18d. at the four
terms, and owes for it relief and heriot. John Suthinton holds a
house and 40 acres of land and owes 3s.6d. at Easter and
Michaelmas. William of Swynham holds one acre of meadow in the
thicket of Swynham and owes 1d. at the feast of Michaelmas. Ralph
of Leybourne holds a cottage and one acre of land in Pinden and
owes 3s. at Easter and Michaelmas, and attendance at the court in
the manor every three weeks, also relief and heriot. Richard Knyst
of Swynham holds two acres and a half of land and owes yearly 4s.
William of Knelle holds two acres of land in Aldithewisse and owes
yearly 4s. Roger le Glede holds a cottage and three roods of land
and owes 2s.6d. Easter and Michaelmas. Alexander Hamound holds a
little piece of land near Aldewisse and owes one goose of the
value of 2d. The sum of the whole rent of the free tenants, with
the value of the goose, is 18s.9d. They say, moreover, that John
of Cayworth holds a house and 30 acres of land, and owes yearly
2s. at Easter and Michaelmas; and he owes a cock and two hens at
Christmas of the value of 4d. And he ought to harrow for two days
at the Lenten sowing with one man and his own horse and his own
harrow, the value of the work being 4d.; and he is to receive from
the lord on each day three meals, of the value of 5d., and then
the lord will be at a loss of 1d. Thus his harrowing is of no
value to the service of the lord. And he ought to carry the manure
of the lord for two days with one cart, with his own two oxen, the
value of the work being 8d.; and he is to receive from the lord
each day three meals at the value as above. And thus the service
is worth 3d. clear. And he shall find one man for two days, for
mowing the meadow of the lord, who can mow, by estimation, one
acre and a half, the value of the mowing of an acre being 6d.: the
sum is therefore 9d. And he is to receive each day three meals of
the value given above. And thus that mowing is worth 4d. clear.
And he ought to gather and carry that same hay which he has cut,
the price of the work being 3d. And he shall have from the lord
two meals for one man, of the value of 1 1/2 d. Thus the work will
be worth 1 1/2 d. clear. And he ought to carry the hay of the lord
for one day with a cart and three animals of his own, the price of
the work being 6d. And he shall have from the lord three meals of
the value of 2 1/2 d. And thus the work is worth 3 1/2 d. clear.
And he ought to carry in autumn beans or oats for two days with a
cart and three animals of his own, the value of the work being
12d. And he shall receive from the lord each day three meals of
the value given above. And thus the work is worth 7d. clear. And
he ought to carry wood from the woods of the lord as far as the
manor, for two days in summer, with a cart and three animals of
his own, the value of the work being 9d. And he shall receive from
the lord each day three meals of the price given above. And thus
the work is worth 4d. clear. And he ought to find one man for two
days to cut heath, the value of the work being 4d., and he shall
have three meals each day of the value given above: and thus the
lord will lose, if he receives the service, 3d. Thus that mowing
is worth nothing to the service of the lord. And he ought to carry
the heath which he has cut, the value of the work being 5d. And he
shall receive from the lord three meals at the price of 2 1/2 d.
And thus the work will be worth 2 1/2 d. clear. And he ought to
carry to Battle, twice in the summer season, each time half a load
of grain, the value of the service being 4d. And he shall receive
in the manor each time one meal of the value of 2d. And thus the
work is worth 2d. clear. The totals of the rents, with the value
of the hens, is 2s.4d. The total of the value of the works is 2s.3
1/2 d., being owed from the said John yearly. William of Cayworth
holds a house and 30 acres of land and owes at Easter and
Michaelmas 2s. rent. And he shall do all customs just as the
aforesaid John of Cayworth. William atte Grene holds a house and
30 acres of land and owes in all things the same as the said John.
Alan atte Felde holds a house and 16 acres of land (for which the
sergeant pays to the court of Bixley 2s.), and he owes at Easter
and Michaelmas 4s., attendance at the manor court, relief, and
heriot. John Lyllingwyst holds a house and four acres of land and
owes at the two terms 2s., attendance at the manor court, relief,
and heriot. The same John holds one acre of land in the fields of
Hoo and owes at the two periods 2s., attendance, relief, and
heriot. Reginald atte Denne holds a house and 18 acres of land and
owes at the said periods 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot.
Robert of Northehou holds three acres of land at Saltcote and owes
at the said periods attendance, relief, and heriot. Total of the
rents of the villeins, with the value of the hens, 20s. Total of
all the works of these villeins, 6s.10 1/2 d. And it is to be
noted that none of the above-mentioned villeins can give their
daughters in marriage, nor cause their sons to be tonsured, nor
can they cut down timber growing on the lands they hold, without
licence of the bailiff or sergeant of the lord, and then for
building purposes and not otherwise. And after the death of any
one of the aforesaid villeins, the lord shall have as a heriot his
best animal, if he had any; if, however, he have no living beast,
the lord shall have no heriot, as they say. The sons or daughters
of the aforesaid villeins shall give, for entrance into the
holding after the death of their predecessors, as much as they
give of rent per year. Sylvester, the priest, holds one acre of
meadow adjacent to his house and owes yearly 3s. Total of the rent
of tenants for life, 3s. Petronilla atte Holme holds a cottage and
a piece of land and owes at Easter and Michaelmas - ; also,
attendance, relief, and heriot. Walter Herying holds a cottage and
a piece of land and owes at Easter and Michaelmas 18d.,
attendance, relief, and heriot. Isabella Mariner holds a cottage
and owes at the feast of St. Michael 12d., attendance, relief, and
heriot. Jordan atte Melle holds a cottage and 1 1/2 acres of land
and owes at Easter and Michaelmas 2s., attendance, relief, and
heriot. William of Batelesmere holds one acre of land with a
cottage and owes at the feast of St. Michael 3d., and one cock and
one hen at Christmas of the value of 3d., attendance, relief, and
heriot. John le Man holds half an acre of land with a cottage and
owes at the feast of St. Michael 2s., attendance, relief, and
heriot. Hohn Werthe holds one rood of land with a cottage and owes
at the said term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. Geoffrey
Caumbreis holds half an acre and a cottage and owes at the said
term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. William Hassok holds
one rood of land and a cottage and owes at the said term 18d.,
attendance, relief, and heriot. The same man holds 3 1/2 acres of
land and owes yearly at the feast of St. Michael 3s. for all.
Roger Doget holds half an acre of land and a cottage, which were
those of R. the miller, and owes at the feast of St. Michael 18d.,
attendance, relief, and heriot. Thomas le Brod holds one acre and
a cottage and owes at the said term 3s., attendance, relief, and
heriot. Agnes of Cayworth holds half an acre and a cottage and
owes at the said term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. Total
of the rents of the said cottagers, with the value of the hens,
34s.6d. And it is to be noted that all the said cottagers shall do
as regards giving their daughters in marriage, having their sons
tonsured, cutting down timber, paying heriot, and giving fines for
entrance, just as John of Cayworth and the rest of the villeins
above mentioned." The above fines and penalties, with heriots and
reliefs, are worth 5s. yearly.
Often one village was divided up among two or more manors, so
different manorial customs made living conditions different among
the villagers. Villages usually had carpenters, smiths, saddlers,
thatchers, carters, fullers, dyers, soapmakers, tanners, needlers,
and brassworkers. Each villein had his own garden in which to grow
fruit and vegetables next to his house, a pig (which fattened more
quickly than other animals), strips in the common field, and
sometimes an assart [a few acres of his own to cultivate as he
pleased on originally rough uncultivated waste land beyond the
common fields and the enclosed common pastures and meadows]. Most
villeins did not venture beyond their village except for about ten
miles to a local shrine or great fair a couple times a year. At
the fair might be fish, honey, spices, salt, garlic, oil, furs,
silks, canvas, soap, pans, pots, grindstones, coal, nails, tar,
iron, shovels, brushes, pails, horses, and pack-saddles. Early
apothecaries might sell potions there. Men and women looking for
other employment might attend to indicate their availability.
Under Edward I, villages were required to mount watches to protect
life and property and were called upon to provide one man for the
army and to pay his wages.
People told time by counting the number of rings of the church
bell, which rang on the hour. Every Sunday, the villagers went to
church, which was typically the most elaborate and centrally
located building in the village. The parishioners elected
churchwardens, who might be women. This religion brought comfort
and hope of going to heaven after judgment by God at death if sin
was avoided. On festival days, Bible stories, legends, and lives
of saints were read or performed as miracle dramas. They learned
to avoid the devil, who was influential in lonely places like
forests and high mountains. At death, the corpse was washed,
shrouded, and put into a rectangular coffin with a cross on its
lid. Priests sang prayers amid burning incense for the deliverance
of the soul to God while interring the coffin into the ground. Men
who did not make a will risked the danger of an intestate and
unconfessed death. The personal property of a man dying intestate
now went to the church as a trust for the dead man's immperiled
soul instead of to the man's lord.
Unqualified persons entered holy orders thereby obtaining "benefit
of clergy", and then returned to secular employments retaining
this protection.
A villein could be forever set free from servitude by his lord as
in this example:
"To all the faithful of Christ to whom the present writing
shall come, Richard, by the divine permission, abbot of
Peterborough and of the Convent of the same place, eternal
greeting in the Lord: Let all know that we have manumitted
and liberated from all yoke of servitude William, the son of
Richard of Wythington, whom previously we have held as our
born bondman, with his whole progeny and all his chattels,
so that neither we nor our successors shall be able to
require or exact any right or claim in the said William, his
progeny, or his chattels. But the same William, with his
whole progeny and all his chattels, shall remain free and
quit and without disturbance, exaction, or any claim on the
part of us or our successors by reason of any servitude
forever.
We will, moreover, and concede that he and his heirs shall
hold the messuages, land, rents, and meadows in Wythington
which his ancestors held from us and our predecessors, by
giving and performing the fine which is called merchet for
giving his daughter in marriage, and tallage from year to
year according to our will, - that he shall have and hold
these for the future from us and our successors freely,
quietly, peacefully, and hereditarily, by paying to us and
our successors yearly 40s. sterling, at the four terms of
the year, namely: at St. John the Baptist's day 10s., at
Michaelmas 10s., at Christmas 10s., and at Easter 10s., for
all service, exaction, custom, and secular demand; saving to
us, nevertheless, attendance at our court of Castre every
three weeks, wardship, and relief, and outside service of
our lord the King, when they shall happen. And if it shall
happen that the said William or his heirs shall die at any
time without an heir, the said messuage, land rents, and
meadows with their appurtenances shall return fully and
completely to us and our successors. Nor will it be allowed
to the said William or his heirs to give, sell, alienate,
mortgage, or encumber in any way, the said messuage, land,
rents, and meadows, or any part of them, by which the said
messuage, land, rents, and meadows should not return to us
and our successors in the form declared above. And if this
should occur later, their deed shall be declared null, and
what is thus alienated shall come to us and our successors...
Given at Borough, for the love of Lord Robert of good
memory, once abbot, our predecessor and maternal uncle of
the said William, and at the instance of the good man,
Brother Hugh of Mutton, relative of the said abbot Robert,
A.D. 1278, on the eve of Pentecost."
Villeins who were released from the manorial organization by
commutation of their service for a money payment took the name of
their craft as part of their name, such as, for the manufacture of
textiles, Weaver, Draper, Comber, Fuller, Napper, Cissor, Tailor,
Textor; for metal-work, Faber, Ironmonger; for leatherwork,
Tanner; for woodwork, building and carpentry, Carpenter, Cooper,
Mason, Pictor; for food-production, Baker, Pistor. Iron, tin,
lead, salt, and even coal were providing increasing numbers of
people with a livelihood.
Many new boroughs were founded as grants of market rights by the
king grew in number. These grants implied the advantage of the
King's protection. In fact, one flooded town was replaced with a
new town planned with square blocks. It was the charter which
distinguished the borough community from the other communities
existing in the country. It invested each borough with a distinct
character. The privileges which the charter conferred were
different in different places. It might give trading privileges:
freedom from toll, a guild merchant, a right to hold a fair. It
might give jurisdictional privileges: a right to hold court with
greater or less franchises. It might give governmental privileges:
freedom from the burden of attending the hundred and county
courts, the return of writs, which meant the right to exclude the
royal officials, the right to take the profits of the borough,
paying for them a fixed sum to the Crown or other lord of the
borough, the right to elect their own officials rather than them
being appointed by the king or a lord, and the right to provide
for the government of the borough. It might give tenurial
privileges: the power to make a will of lands, or freedom from the
right of a lord to control his tenants' marriages. It might give
procedural privileges: trial by combat is excluded, and trial by
compurgation is secured and regulated. These medieval borough
charters are very varied, and represent all stages of development
and all grades of franchise. Boroughs bought increasing rights and
freedoms from their lord, who was usually the King.
In the larger towns, where cathedrals and public building were
built, there arose a system for teaching these technical skills
and elaborate handicraft, wood, metal, stained glass, and stone
work. A boy from the town would be bound over in apprenticeship to
a particular craftsman, who supplied him with board and clothing.
The craftsman might also employ men for just a day. These
journeymen were not part of the craftsman's household as was the
apprentice. After a few years of an apprenticeship, one became a
journeyman and perfected his knowledge of his craft and its
standards by seeing different methods and results in various
towns. He was admitted as a master of his trade to a guild upon
presenting an article of his work worthy of that guild's standard
of workmanship: his "masterpiece". Women, usually wives of
brethren only, could be admitted. The tailors' guild and the
skinners' guild are extant now.