consideration of the case of Wilkes against Leuson as: "The heir is
estopped from falsifying the consideration acknowledged in the deed of
feoffment of his ancestor. Where a tenant in capite made a feoffment
without consideration, but falsely alleged one in the deed on an office
finding his dying seised, the master of the wards cannot remove the
feoffees on examining into the consideration, and retain the land until
&c. and though the heir tended, still if he do not prosecute his livery,
the Queen must admit the feoffees to their traverse, and to have the
farm, &c." The court reporter summarized this case as follows: Wilkes,
who was merchant of the staple, who died in February last past, made a
feoffment in the August before his death to one Leuson, a knight, and
his brother, and another, of the manor of Hodnel in the county of
Warwick; and the deed, (seen) for seven thousand pounds [140,000s.] to
him paid by the feoffees, of which sum he made acquittance in the same
deed (although in fact and in truth not a half-penny was paid), gave,
granted, and confirmed &c "habendum eir et hoeredibus suis in perpetuum,
ad proprium opus et usum ipsorum A. B. et C. in perpetuum," and not
"hoeredum suorum," together with a clause of warranty to them, their
heirs and assigns, in forma proedicta: and notwithstanding this
feoffment he occupied the land with sheep, and took other profits during
his life; and afterwards his death was found on a diem clausit extremum
by office, that he died seised of the said manor in fee, and one I.
Wilkes his brother of full age found his next heir, and a tenure in
capite found, and now within the three months the said feoffees sued in
the court of wards to be admitted to their traverse, and also to have
the manor in farm until &c. And although the said I. Wilkes the brother
had tendered a livery, yet he had not hitherto prosecuted it, but for
cause had discontinued. And whether now the master of the wards at his
discretion could remove the feoffees by injunction out of possession
upon examination of the said consideration of the said feoffment which
was false, and none such in truth, and retain it in the hands of the
Queen donec et quousque &c. was a great question. And by the opinion of
the learned counsel of that court he cannot do it, but the Queen is
bound in justice to give livery to him who is found heir by the office,
or if he will not proceed with that, to grant to the tenderers the
traverse, and to have the farm, &c. the request above mentioned. And
this by the statutes ... And note, that no averment can be allowed to
the heir, that the said consideration was false against the deed and
acknowledgment of his ancestor, for that would be to admit an
inconvenience. And note the limitation of the use above, for divers
doubted whether the feoffees shall have a fee-simple in the sue, because
the use is not expressed, except only "to themselves (by their names)
for ever;" but if those words had been wanting, it would have been clear
enough that the consideration of seven thousand pounds had been
sufficient, &c. for the law intends a sufficient consideration by reason
of the said sum; but when the use is expressed otherwise by the party
himself, it is otherwise. And also the warranty in the deed was "to
them, their heirs, and assigns, in form aforesaid," which is a
declaration of the intent of Wilkes, that the feoffees shall not have
the use in fee simple; and it may be that the use, during their three
lives, is worth seven thousand pounds, and more &c. And suppose that the
feoffment had been "to have to them and their heirs to the proper use
and behoof of them the feoffees for the term of their lives for ever for
seven thousand pounds," would they have any other estate than for the
term of their lives in the use? I believe not; and so in the other case.
A last example of a case concerning consideration is that of Assaby and
Others against Lady Anne Manners and Others. The court reporter
characterized the principle of the case as: "A. in consideration of his
daughter's marriage covenants to stand seised to his own use for life,
and that at his death she and her husband shall have the land in [fee]
tail, and that all persons should stand seised to those uses, and also
for further assurance. After the marriage he bargains and sell with fine
and recovery to one with full notice of the covenants and use; this is
of no avail, but on the death of A. the daughter and her husband may
enter." The court reporter summarized this case as follows: A. was
seised of land in fee, and in consideration of a marriage to be had
between his daughter and heir apparent, and B. son and heir apparent of
C. he covenanted and agreed by indenture with C. that he himself would
have, hold, and retain the land to himself, and the profits of during
his life, and that after his decease the said son and daughter should
have the land to them and to the heirs of their two bodies lawfully
begotten, and that all persons then or afterwards seised of the land
should stand and be seised immediately after the marriage solemnized to
the use of the said A. for the term of his life, and after his death to
the use of the said son and daughter in tail as above, and covenanted
further to make an assurance of the land before a certain day
accordingly &c. and then the marriage took effect; and afterwards A.
bargained and sold the land for two hundred marks [2,667s.](of which not
a penny is paid) to a stranger, who had notice of the first agreements,
covenants, and use, and enfeoffed divers persons to this last use,
against whom a common recovery was had to his last use; and also A.
levied a fine to the recoverers before any execution had, and
notwithstanding all these things A. continued possession in taking the
profits during his life; and afterwards died; and the son and daughter
entered, and made a feoffment to their first use. And all this matter
was found in assize by Assaby and others against Lady Anne Manners and
others. And judgment was given that the entry and feoffment were good
and lawful, and the use changed by the first indenture and agreement.
Yet error was alleged. The judgment in the assize is affirmed.
The famous Shelley's Case stands for the principle that where in any
instrument an estate for life is given to the ancestor, and afterwards
by the same instrument, the inheritance is limited whether mediately, or
immediately, to his heirs, or heirs of his body, as a class to take in
succession as heirs to him, the word "heirs" is a word of limitation,
and the ancestor takes the whole estate. For example, where property
goes to A for life and the remainder goes to A's heirs, A's life estate
and the remainder merge into a fee in A. A can sell or devise this
interest.
Edward Shelley was a tenant in fee tail general. He had two sons. The
older son predeceased his father, leaving a daughter and his wife
pregnant with a son. Edward had a common recovery (the premises being in
lease for years) to the use of himself for term of his life, after his
decease to the use of the male heirs of his body, and of the male heirs
of the body of such heirs, remainder over. After judgment and the
awarding of the writ of seisin, but before its execution, Edward died.
After his death, and before the birth of his older son's son, the writ
of seisin was executed. The younger son entered the land and leased it
to a third party. Afterwards, the son of the older son was born. He
entered the land and ejected the third party. It was held that the
younger son had taken quasi by descent until the birth of the older
son's son. The entry by the older son's son was lawful. The third party
was lawfully ejected. (Shelley's Case, King's Bench, 1581, English
Reports - Full Reprint, Vol. 76, Page 206.)
About 1567, London authorities punished Nicholas Jennings alias Blunt
for using elaborate disguises to present himself as an epileptic to beg
for handouts from the public. He was pilloried, whipped, and pulled
behind a cart through the streets. He was kept at the Bridewell and was
set to work at a mill.
- - - Chapter 14 - - -
- The Times: 1601-1625 -
Due in part to increasing population, the prices of foodstuffs had
risen sixfold from the later 1400s, during which it had been stable.
This inflation gradually impoverished those living on fixed wages.
Landlords could insist on even shorter leases and higher rents. London
quadrupled in population. Many lands that were in scattered strips,
pasture lands, waste lands, and lands gained from drainage and
disafforestation were enclosed for the introduction of convertible
agriculture (e.g. market-oriented specialization) and only sometimes for
sheep. The accompanying extinguishment of common rights was devastating
to small tenants and cottagers. Gentry and yeomen benefited greatly.
There was a gradual consolidation of the land into fewer hands and
demise of the small family farm. In towns, the mass of poor, unskilled
workers with irregular work grew. Prices finally flattened out in the
1620s.
Society became polarized with a wealthy few growing wealthier and a
mass of poor growing poorer. This social stratification became a
permanent fixture of English society. Poverty was no longer due to death
of a spouse or parent, sickness or injury, or a phase in the life cycle
such as youth or old age. Many full-time wage earners were in constant
danger of destitution. More subdivided land holdings in the country made
holdings of cottagers minuscule. But these were eligible for parish
relief under the poor laws. Beside them were substantial numbers of
rogues and vagabonds wandering the roads. These vagrants were usually
young unmarried men. There were no more licensed liveries of lords.
During the time 1580 to 1680, there were distinct social classes in
England which determined dress, convention in comportment which
determined face-to-face contacts between superiors and inferiors, order
of seating in church, place arrangement at tables, and rank order in
public processions. It was influenced by power, wealth, life-style,
educational level, and birth. The various classes lived in separate
worlds; their paths did not cross each other. People moved only within
their own class. Each class had a separate existence as well as a
different life style from the other classes. So each class developed a
wariness of other classes. However, there was much social mobility
between adjacent classes.
At the top were the gentry, about 2% of the population. Theirs was a
landed wealth with large estate mansions. They employed many servants
and could live a life of leisure. Their lady wives often managed the
household with many servants and freely visited friends and went out
shopping, riding, or walking. They conversed with neighbors and made
merry with them at childbirths, christenings, churchings, and funerals.
Gentlemen usually had positions of responsibility such as lords of
manors and leaders in their parishes. These families often sent the
oldest son to university to become a Justice of the Peace and then a
member of Parliament. They also served as county officers such as High
Constable of their hundred and grand jury member. Their social,
economic, and family ties were at least countywide. They composed about
700 gentle families, including the peers, who had even more landed
wealth, which was geographically dispersed. After the peers were:
baronets (created in 1611), knights, esquires, and then ordinary
gentlemen. These titles were acquired by being the son of such or by
purchase. Most gentry had a house in London, where they spent most of
their time, as well as country mansions. About 4/5 of the land was in
the hands of 7,000 of the nobility and landed gentry due in part to
estate tails constructed by attorneys to favor hereditary interests. The
gentry had also profited by commerce and possessions in the colonies.
The country life of a country squire or gentleman dealt with all the
daily affairs of a farm. He had men plough, sow, and reap. He takes part
in the haying and getting cut grass under cover when a rain came. His
sow farrows; his horse is gelded; a first lamb is born. He drags his
pond and takes out great carps. His horses stray and he finds them in
the pound. Boys are bound to him for service. He hires servants, and
some work out their time and some run away. Knaves steal his sheep. His
hog is stabbed. He and a neighbor argue about the setting up of a
cottage. He borrows money for a daughter's dowry. He holds a leet court.
He attends church on Sunday and reads the lesson when called upon. He
visits the local tavern to hear from his neighbors. Country folk brawl.
Wenches get pregnant. Men commit suicide, usually by hanging. Many
gentlemen spent their fortunes and died poor. New gentlemen from the
lower classes took their places.
The second class included the wealthier merchants and professional men
of the towns. These men were prominent in town government. They usually
had close family ties with the gentry, especially as sons. When wealthy
enough, they often bought a country estate. The professional men
included military officers, civil service officials, attorneys, some
physicians, and a few clergymen. The instabilities of trade, high
mortality rates in the towns, and high turnover rate among the leading
urban families prevented any separate urban interest group arising that
would be opposed to the landed gentry. Also included in this second
group were the most prosperous yeomanry of the countryside.
The third class was the yeomanry at large, which included many more
than the initial group who possessed land in freehold of at least 40s.,
partly due to inflation. Freehold was the superior form of holding land
because one was free to sell, exchange, or devise the land and had a
political right to vote in Parliamentary elections. Other yeomen were
those who possessed enough land, as copyholder or leaseholder, to be
protected from fluctuations in the amount of the annual harvest, that
is, at least 50 acres. A copyholder rented land from a lord for a period
of years or lives, usually three lives including that of the widow, and
paid a substantial amount whenever the copyhold came up for renewal. The
copyholder and leaseholder were distinguished from the mere
tenant-at-will, whose only right was to gather his growing crop when his
landlord decided to terminate his tenancy. The average yeoman had a one
and a half story house, with a milkhouse, a malthouse, and other small
buildings attached to the dwelling. The house would contain a main
living room, a parlor, where there would be one or more beds, and
several other rooms with beds. No longer was there a central great hall.
Cooking was done in a kitchen or over the open fire in the fireplace of
the main room. Furniture included large oak tables, stools, long
bencches with or without backs, chests, cupboards, and a few hard-backed
simple chairs. Dishware was wood or pewter. The yeomen often became
sureties for recognizances, witnesses to wills, parish managers,
churchwardens, vestrymen, the chief civil officers of parishes and
towns, overseers of the poor, surveyors of bridges and highways, jurymen
and constables for the Justices of the Peace, and sheriffs' bailiffs.
The families and servants of these yeomen ate meat, fish, wheaten bread,
beer, cheese, milk, butter, and fruit. Their wives were responsible for
the dairy, poultry, orchard, garden, and perhaps pigs. They smoked and
cured hams and bacon, salted fish, dried herbs for the kitchen or
lavender and pot-pourri for sweetening the linen, and arranged apples
and roots in lofts or long garrets under the roof to last the winter.
They preserved fruits candied or in syrup. They preserved wines; made
perfumes, washes for preserving the hair and complexion, rosemary to
cleanse the hair, and elder-flower water for sunburn; distilled
beverages; ordered wool hemp, and flax to spin for cloth (the weaving
was usually done in the village); fashioned and sewed clothes and house
linens; embroidered; dyed; malted oats; brewed; baked; and extracted
oils. Many prepared herb medicines and treated injuries, such as
dressing wounds, binding arteries, and setting broken bones. Wives also
ploughed and sowed, weeded the crops, and sheared sheep. They sometimes
cared for the poor and sold produce at the market. Some yeomen were also
tanners, painters, carpenters, or blacksmiths; and as such they were
frequently brought before the Justices of the Peace for exercising a
craft without having served an apprenticeship. The third class also
included the freemen of the towns, who could engage independently in
trade and had political rights. These freemen were about one-third of
the male population of the town.
The fourth class included the ordinary farmer leasing by copyhold, for
usually 21 years, five to fifty acres. From this class were drawn
sidesmen [assistants to churchwardens] and constables. They had neither
voice nor authority in government. Their daily diet was bacon, beer,
bread, and cheese. Also in this class were the independent urban
craftsmen who were not town freemen. Their only voice in government was
at the parish level.
The fifth and lowest class included the laborers and cottagers, who
were usually tenants at will. They were dependent on day labor. They
started work at dawn, had breakfast for half an hour at six, worked
until dinner, and then until supper at about six; in the summer they
would then do chores around the barns until eight or nine. Some were
hedgers, ditchers, ploughmen, reapers, shepherds, and herdsmen. The
cottagers' typical earnings of about 1s. a day amounted to about 200
shillings a year, which was almost subsistence level. Accordingly they
also farmed a little on their four acres of land with garden. Some also
had a few animals. They lived in one or two room cottages of clay and
branches of trees or wood, sometimes with a brick fireplace and chimney,
and few windows. They ate bread, cheese, lard, soup, and greens. If a
laborer was unmarried, he lived with the farmer. Theirs was a constant
battle for survival. They often moved, because of deprivation, to seek
opportunity elsewhere. The town wage-earning laborers ranged from
journeymen craftsmen to poor casual laborers. The mass of workers in
London were not members of guilds, and the crime rate was high.
The last three classes also contained rural craftsmen and tradesmen,
who also farmed. The variety of trades became very large, e.g.
tinsmiths, chain smiths, pewterers, violin makers, and glass painters.
The curriers, who prepared hides for shoemakers, coachmakers, saddlers,
and bookbinders, were incorporated.
The fourth and fifth classes comprised about three fourths of the
population.
Then there were the maritime groups: traders, ship owners, master and
seamen, and the fishers.
Over one fourth of all households had servants. They were the social
equals of day laborers, but materially better off with food and clothing
plus an allowance of money of two pounds [40s.] a year. Those who sewed
got additional pay for this work. There was no great chasm between the
family and the servants. They did not segregate into a parlor class and
a kitchen class. The top servants were as educated as their masters and
ate at the same table. Great households had a chaplain and a steward to
oversee the other servants. There was usually a cook. Lower servants ate
together. Servants were disciplined by cuffs and slaps and by the rod by
master or mistress. Maids wore short gowns, a large apron, and a gypsy
hat tied down over a cap. Chamber maids helped to dress their
mistresses. Servants might sleep on trundle beds stored under their
master's or mistress's bed, in a separate room, or on the straw loft
over the stables. A footman wore a blue tunic or skirted coat with
corded loop fasteners, knee-britches, and white stockings. He walked or
ran on foot by the side of his master or mistress when they rode out on
horseback or in a carriage and ran errands for him, such as leading a
lame horse home or running messages. A good footman is described in this
reference letter: "Sir, - You wrote me lately for a footman, and I think
this bearer will fit you: I know he can run well, for he has run away
twice from me, but he knew the way back again: yet, though he has a
running head as well as running heels (and who will expect a footman to
be a stayed man) I would not part with him were I not to go post to the
North. There be some things in him that answer for his waggeries: he
will come when you call him, go when you bid him, and shut the door
after him; he is faithful and stout, and a lover of his master. He is a
great enemy to all dogs, if they bark at him in his running; for I have
seen him confront a huge mastiff, and knock him down. When you go a
country journey, or have him run with you a-hunting, you must spirit him
with liquor; you must allow him also something extraordinary for socks,
else you must not have him wait at your table; when his grease melts in
running hard, it is subject to fall into his toes. I send him to you but
for trial, if he be not for your turn, turn him over to me again when I
come back..."
Dress was not as elaborate as in Elizabethan times. For instance, fewer
jewels were worn. Ladies typically wore a brooch, earrings, and pearl
necklaces. Men also wore earrings. Watches with elaborate cases were
common. Women's dresses were of satin, taffeta, and velvet, and were
made by dressmakers. Pockets were carried in the hand, fastened to the
waist by a ribbon, or sewn in petticoats and accessible by a placket
opening. The corset was greatly reduced. Women's hair was in little
natural-looking curls, a few small tendrils on the forehead with soft
ringlets behind the ears, and the back coiled into a simple knot. Men
also wore their hair in ringlets. They had pockets in their trousers,
first as a cloth pouch inserted into an opening in the side seam, and
later sewn into the side seam. The bereaved wore black, and widows wore
a black veil over their head until they remarried or died. Rouge was
worn by lower class women. Toothbrushes, made with horsehair, were a new
and costly luxury. The law dictating what classes could wear what
clothes was difficult to enforce and the last such law was in 1597.
Merchants who had become rich by pirating could now afford to extend
their trading ventures well beyond the Atlantic sea. Cotton chintzes,
calicoes, taffetas, muslins, and ginghams from India now became
fashionable as dress fabrics. Simple cotton replaced linen as the norm
for napkins, tablecloths, bed sheets, and underwear. Then it became the
fashion to use calicoes for curtains, cushions, chairs, and beds. Its
inexpensiveness made these items affordable for many. There was a
cotton-weaving industry in England from about 1621, established by
cotton workmen who fled to England in 1585 from Antwerp, which had been
captured. By 1616, there were automatic weaving looms in London which
could be operated by a novice.
Even large houses now tended to do without a courtyard and became
compacted into one soaring and stately whole. A typical country house
had deep-set windows of glass looking into a walled green court with a
sundial in it and fringed around with small trees. The gables roofs were
steep and full of crooks and angles, and covered with rough slate if
there was a source for such nearby. There was an extensive use of red
tile, either rectangular or other shapes and with design such as
fishscales. The rooms are broad and spacious and include hall, great
parlor, little parlor, matted chamber, and study. In the hall was still
the great, heavy table. Dining tables were covered with cloth, carpet,
or printed leather. Meals were increasingly eaten in a parlor. Noble men
now preferred to be waited upon by pages and grooms instead of by their
social equals as before. After dinner, they deserted the parlor to
retire into drawing rooms for conversation and desserts of sweet wine
and spiced delicacies supplemented by fruit. Afterward, there might be
dancing and then supper. In smaller parlors, there was increasing use of
oval oak tables with folding leaves. Chests of drawers richly carved or
inlaid and with brass handles were coming into increased use. Walls were
lined with panels and had pictures or were hung with tapestry. Carpets,
rugs, and curtains kept people warm. There were many stools to sit on,
and some arm chairs. Wide and handsome open staircases separated the
floors. Upstairs, the sitting and bedrooms open into each other with
broad, heavy doors. Bedrooms had four-post beds and wardrobes with
shelves and pegs. Under the roof are garrets, apple-lofts, and
root-chambers. Underneath is a cellar. Outside is a farmyard with
outbuildings such as bake house, dairy, cheese-press house, brewery,
stilling house, malt house, fowl house, dove cot, pig stye,
slaughter-house, wood house, barns, stable, and sometimes a mill. There
were stew-ponds for fish and a park with a decoy for wild fowl. There
was also a laundry, carpenter's bench, blacksmith's forge, and pots and
equipment of a house painter.