THE BREAK-UP OF THE MANOR.--SPREAD OF LEASES.--THE PEASANTS'
REVOLT.--FURTHER ATTEMPTS TO REGULATE WAGES.--A HARVEST HOME.--
BEGINNING OF THE CORN LAWS.--SOME SURREY MANORS
We have seen that the landlords' profits were seriously diminished by
the Black Death, and they cast about them for new ways of increasing
their incomes. Arable land had been until now largely in excess of
pasture, the cultivation of corn was the chief object of agriculture,
bread forming a much larger proportion of men's diet than now. This
began to change. Much of the land was laid down to grass, and there
was a steady increase in sheep farming; thus commenced that revolution
in farming which in the sixteenth century led Harrison to say that
England was mainly a stock-raising country. The lords also let a
considerable amount of their demesne land on leases for years. 'Then
began the times to alter' says Smyth of the Lord Berkeley of the end
of the fourteenth century, 'and hee with them, and he began to tack
other men's cattle on his pasture by the week, month, and quarter, and
to sell his meadow grounds by the acre. And in the time of Henry IV
still more and more was let, and in succeeding times. As for the days'
works of the copyhold tenants, they also were turned into money.'[149]
Such leases had been used long before this, but this is the date of
their great increase. In the thirteenth century a lease of 2 acres of
arable land in Nowton, Suffolk, let the land at 6d. an acre per annum
for a term of six years.[150] It contains no clauses about
cultivation; the landlord warrants the said 2 acres to the tenant, and
the tenant agrees to give them up at the end of the term freely and
peaceably. The deed was indented, sealed, and witnessed by several
persons. The impoverished landlords also let much of their land on
stock and land leases. The custom of stocking the tenants' land was a
very ancient one: the lord had always found the oxen for the plough
teams of the villeins. In the leases of the manors of S. Paul's in the
twelfth century the tenant for life received stock both live and dead,
which when he entered was carefully enumerated in the lease, and at
the end of the tenancy he had to leave behind the same quantity.[151]
It was a common practice also, before the Black Death, for the lord to
let out cows and sheep at so much per head per annum.[152] The stock
and land lease therefore was no novelty. In 1410 there is a lease of
the demesne lands at Hawsted by which the landlord kept the manor
house and its appurtenances in his own hands, the tenant apparently
having the farm buildings, which he was to keep in repair. He was to
receive at the beginning of the term 20 cows and one bull, worth 9s.
each; 4 stotts, worth 10s. each; and 4 oxen, worth 13s. 4d. each;
which, or their value in money, were to be delivered up at the end of
the term. The tenant was also to leave at the end of the lease as many
acres well ploughed, sown, and manured as he found at the beginning.
Otherwise the landlord was not to interfere with the cultivation. If
the rent or any part thereof was in arrear for a fortnight after the
two fixed days for payment, the landlord might distrain; and if for a
month, he might re-enter: and both parties bound themselves to forfeit
the then huge sum of £100 upon the violation of any clause of the
lease.[153] There is a lease[154] of a subsequent date (the twentieth
year of Henry VIII), but one which well illustrates the custom now so
prevalent, granted by the Prior of the Monastery of Lathe in Somerset
to William Pole of Combe, Edith his wife, and Thomas his son, for
their lives. With the land went 360 wethers. For the land they paid 16
quarters of best wheat, 'purelye thressyd and wynowed,' 22 quarters of
best barley, and were to carry 4 loads of wood and fatten one ox for
the prior yearly; the ox to be fattened in stall with the best hay,
the only way then known of fattening oxen. For the flock of wethers
they paid £6 yearly. The tenants were bound to keep hedges, ditches,
and gates in repair. Also they were bound by a 'writing obligatory' in
the sum of £100 to deliver up the wether flock whole and sound, 'not
rotten, banyd,[155] nor otherwise diseased.' The consequence of the
spread of leases was that the portion of the demesne lands which the
lords farmed themselves dwindled greatly, or it was turned from arable
into grass. Stock and land leases survived in some parts till the
beginning of the eighteenth century, when it was still the custom for
the landlord to stock the land and receive half the crop for
rent.[156] According to the _Domesday of S. Paul_, in the thirteenth
century, a survey of eighteen manors containing 24,000 acres showed
three-eighths of the land in demesne, the rest in the hands of the
tenants. In 1359 the lord of the principal manor at Hawsted held in
his own hand 572 acres of arable land, worth 4d. to 6d. an acre rent,
and 50 acres of meadow, worth 2s. an acre.[157] He had also pasture
for 24 cows, which was considered worth 36s. a year, and for 12 horses
and 12 oxen worth 48s. a year, with 40 acres of wood, estimated at 1s.
an acre. In 1387, however, the arable land had decreased to 320 acres,
but the stock had increased, and now numbered 4 cart horses, 6 stotts
or smaller horses, 10 oxen, 1 bull, 26 cows, 6 heifers, 6 calves, 92
wethers, 20 hoggerells or two-year-old sheep, 1 gander, 4 geese, 30
capons, 26 hens, and only one cock. The dairy of 26 cows was let out,
according to the custom of the time, for £8 a year; and we are told
that the oxen were fed on oats, and shod in the winter only.
But if the position of the lords was severely affected by the great
pestilence that of the villeins was also. The villein himself was
becoming a copyholder; in the thirteenth century the nature of his
holding had been written on the court roll, before long he was given a
copy of the roll, and by the fifteenth century he was a
copyholder.[158] There was, too, a new spirit abroad in this century
of disorganization and reform, which stirred even the villeins with a
desire for better conditions of life. These men, thus rising to a more
assured position and animated by new hopes, saw all round them hired
labourers obtaining, in spite of the Statute of Labourers, double the
amount of wages they had formerly received, while they were bound down
to the same services as before. The advance in prices was further
increased by the king's issuing in 1351 an entirely new coinage, of
the same fineness but of less weight than the old; so that the demands
of the labourers after the Black Death were largely justified by the
depreciation in the currency.[159] There had also arisen at this time,
owing to the increase in the wealth of the country, a new class of
landlords who did not care for the old system[160]; and it is probably
these men who are meant by the statute I Ric. II, c. 6, which
complains that the villeins daily withdrew their services to their
lords at the instigation of various counsellors and abettors, who made
it appear by 'colour of certain exemplifications made out of the Book
of Domesday' that they were discharged from their services, and
moreover gathered themselves in great routs and agreed to aid each
other in resisting their lords, so that justices were appointed to
check this evil. But there were other 'counsellors and abettors' of
the Peasants' Revolt than the new landlords. One of its most
interesting features to modern readers is its thorough organization.
Travelling agents and agitators like John Ball were all over the
country, money was subscribed and collected, and everything was ripe
for the great rising of 1381, which was brought to a head by the bad
grading of the poll tax of King Richard. It has been said that the
chief grievance of the villeins was that the lords of manors were
attempting to reimpose commuted services, but judging by the petition
to the King when he met them at Mile-end there can be no doubt that
the chief grievance was the continuance of existing services. 'We
will', said they, 'that ye make us free for ever, and that we be
called no more bond, or so reputed.' Also, as Walsingham says,[161]
they were careful to destroy the rolls and ancient records whereby
their services were fixed, and to put to death persons learned in the
law.
As every one knows, the revolt was a failure; and whether it
ultimately helped much to extinguish serfdom is doubtful. It probably,
like the pestilence, accelerated a movement which had been for some
time in progress and was inevitable. There is ample evidence to prove
that there was a very general continuance of predial services after
the revolt, though they went on rapidly decreasing. One of the chief
methods adopted by the villeins to gain their freedom was desertion,
and so common did this become that apparently the mere threat of
desertion enabled the villein to obtain almost any concession from his
lord, who was afraid lest his land should be utterly deserted. The
result was that by the middle of the fifteenth century the abolition
of labour services was approaching completion.[162] It lingered on,
and Fitzherbert lamented in Elizabeth's reign the continuance of
villeinage as a disgrace to England; but it had then nearly
disappeared, and was unheard of after the reign of James I.[163]
Seven years after the Peasants' Revolt another attempt was made to
regulate agricultural wages by the statute 12 Ric. II, c. 4, which
stated that 'the hires of the said servants and labourers have not
been put on certainty before this time', though we have seen that the
Act of 1351 tried to settle wages. In the preamble it is said that the
statute was enacted because labourers 'have refused for a long season
to work without outrageous and excessive hire', and owing to the
scarcity of labourers 'husbands' could not pay their rents, a sentence
which shows the general use of money rents.
The wages were as follows, apparently with food:--
s. d.
A bailiff annually, and clothing once a year 13 4
A master hind, without clothing 10 0
A carter, " " 10 0
A shepherd, " " 10 0
An ox or cow herd " " 6 8
Swine herd or female labourer, without clothing 6 0
A plough driver, without clothing 7 0
The farm servants' food would be worth considerably more than the
actual cash he received; a quarter of wheat, barley, and rye mixed
every nine weeks was no unusual allowance, which at 4s. 4d. would be
worth about 25s. a year. He would also have his harvest allowance,
though the statute above forbids any perquisites, worth about 3s., and
sometimes it was accompanied by the gift of a pig, some beer, or some
herrings.[164] His wife also, at a time when women did the same work
as the men, could earn 1d. a day, and his boy perhaps 1/2d. If his
wages were wholly paid in money, we may say that in the last half of
the fourteenth century the ordinary labourer earned 3d. a day, so that
as corn and pork, his chief food, had not risen at all, he was much
better off than in the preceding 100 years.
Cullum, in his invaluable _History of Hawsted_, gives us a picture of
harvesting on the demesne lands in 1389 which shows an extraordinarily
busy scene. There were 200 acres of all kinds of corn to be gathered
in, and over 300 people took part; though apparently such a crowd was
only collected for the two principal days of the harvest, and it must
be remembered that the towns were emptied into the country at this
important season. The number of people for one day comprised a carter,
ploughman, head reaper, cook, baker, brewer, shepherd, daya
(dairymaid); 221 hired reapers; 44 pitchers, stackers, and reapers
(not hired, evidently villeins paying their rents by work); 22 other
reapers, hired for goodwill (_de amore_); and 20 customary tenants.
This small army of men consumed 22 bushels of wheat, 8 pennyworth of
beer, and 41 bushels of malt, worth 18s. 9-1/2d.; meat to the value of
9s. 11-1/2d.; fish and herrings, 5s. 1d.; cheese, butter, milk, and
eggs, 8s. 3-1/2d.; oatmeal, 5d. salt, 3d.; pepper and saffron, 10d.,
the latter apparently introduced into England in the time of Edward
III, and much used for cooking and medicine, but it gradually went out
of fashion, and by the end of the eighteenth century was only
cultivated in one or two counties, notably Essex where Saffron Walden
recalls its use; candles, 6d.; and 5 pairs of gloves 10d.[165]
The presentation of gloves was a common custom in England; and these
would be presented as a sign of good husbandry, as in the case of the
rural bridegroom in the account of Queen Elizabeth's visit to
Kenilworth who wore gloves to show he was a good farmer. Tusser bids
the farmer give gloves to his reapers. The custom was still observed
at Hawsted in 1784, and in Eden's time, 1797, the bursars of New
College, Oxford, presented each of their tenants with two pairs, which
the recipients displayed on the following Sunday at church by
conspicuously hanging their hands over the pew to show their
neighbours they had paid their rent. In this account of the Hawsted
harvest the large number of hired men and the few customary tenants is
noteworthy as a sign of the times, for before the Black Death the
harvest work on the demesne was the special work of the latter.
In the fourteenth century the long series of corn laws was commenced
which was to agitate Englishmen for centuries, and after an apparently
final settlement in 1846 to reappear in our day.[166] It was the
policy of Edward III to make food plentiful and cheap for the whole
nation, without special regard to the agricultural interest: and by 34
Edw. III, c. 20, the export of corn to any foreign part except Calais
and Gascony, then British possessions, or to certain places which the
king might permit, was forbidden. Richard II, however, reversed this
policy in answer to the complaints of agriculturists whose rents were
falling,[167] and endeavoured to encourage the farmer and especially
the corn-grower; for he saw the landlords turning their attention to
sheep instead of corn, owing to the high price of labour. Accordingly,
to give the corn-growers a wider market, he allowed his subjects by
the statute 17 Ric. II, c. 7, to carry corn, on paying the duties due,
to what parts they pleased, except to his enemies, subject however to
an order of the Council; and owing to the interference of the Council
the law probably became a dead letter, at all events we find it
confirmed and amended by 4 Hen. VI, c. 5.
The prohibition of export must have been a serious blow to those
counties near the sea, for it was much easier to send corn by ship to
foreign parts than over the bad roads of England to some distant
market.[168] Indeed, judging by the great and frequent discrepancy of
prices in different places at the same date, the dispatch of corn from
one inland locality to another was not very frequent. Richard also
attempted to stop the movement, which had even then set in, of the
countrymen to the growing towns, forbidding by 12 Ric. II, c. 5, those
who had served in agriculture until 12 years of age to be apprenticed
in the towns, but to 'abide in husbandry'.
One of the most unjust customs of the Middle Ages was that which bade
the tenants of manors, except those who held the _jus faldae_, fold
their sheep on the land of the lord, thus losing both the manure and
the valuable treading.[169] However, sometimes, as in Surrey, the
sheepfold was in a fixed place and the manure from it was from time to
time taken out and spread on the land.[170]
In the same district horses had been hitherto used for farm work, as
it was considered worthy of note that oxen were beginning to be added
to the horse teams. The milk of two good cows in twenty-four weeks was
considered able to make a wey of cheese, and in addition half a gallon
of butter a week; and the milk of 20 ewes was equal to that of 3 cows.
On the Manor of Flaunchford, near Reigate, the demesne land amounted
to 56 acres of arable and two meadows, but there must have been the
usual pasture in addition to keep the following head of stock: 13
cows, who in the winter were fed from the racks in the yard; 4 calves,
bought at 1s. each; 12 oxen for ploughing, whose food was oats and
hay--a very large number for 56 acres of arable, and they were
probably used on another manor; 1 stott, used for harrowing; a goat,
and a sow.
£ s. d.
In 1382 the total receipts of this manor were 8 1 9-1/2
The total expenses 7 0 5
--------------
Profit £1 1 4-1/2
==============
Among the receipts were:--
For the lord's plough, let to farmers (perhaps
this accounts for the large team of oxen kept) 6 8
14 bushels of apples 1 2
5 loads of charcoal 16 8
A cow 10 0
Among the payments:--
For keeping plough in repair, and the wages of a
blacksmith, one year by agreement 6 8
Making a new plough from the lord's timber 6
Mowing 2 acres of meadow 1 0
Making and carrying hay of ditto, with
help of lord's servants 4
Threshing wheat, peas, and tares, per quarter 4
" oats, per quarter 1-1/2
Winnowing 3 quarters of corn 1
Cutting and binding wheat and oats, per acre 6
On the Manor of Dorking the harvest lasted five weeks as a rule; the
fore feet only of oxen used for ploughing, and of heifers used for
harrowing, were shod. For washing and shearing sheep 10d. a hundred
was the price; ploughing for winter corn cost 6d. an acre, and
harrowing 1/2d. 30-1/2 acres of barley produced 41-1/2 quarters; 28
acres of oats produced 38-1/2 quarters; 13 cows were let for the
season at 5s. each. In the same reign, at Merstham, the demesne lands
of 166-1/2 acres were let on lease with all the live and dead stock,
which was valued at £22 9s. 3d., and the rent was £36 or about 4s. 4d.
an acre, an enormous price even including the stock.
FOOTNOTES:
[149] Smyth, _Lives of the Berkeleys_, ii. 5. There is no doubt the
lease system was growing in the thirteenth century. About 1240 the
writ _Quare ejecit infra terminum_ protected the person of a tenant
for a term of years, who formerly had been regarded as having no more
than a personal right enforceable by an action of covenant.
Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 330; but leases for lives and
not for years seem the rule at that date.
[150] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 175.
[151] See _Domesday of S. Paul_, Introduction.
[152] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, i. 25.
[153] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 195.
[154] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 586.
[155] Banyd, afflicted with sheep rot.
[156] Eden, _State of the Poor_, i. 55.
[157] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 182. Another instance of the difference in
value between arable and tillage. At the inquisition of the Manor of
Great Tey in Essex, 1326, the jury found that 500 acres of arable land
was worth 6d. an acre rent, 20 acres of meadow 3s. an acre, and 10
acres of pasture 1s. an acre. _Archaeologia_, xii. 30.
[158] Medley, _Constitutional History_, p. 52.
[159] Cunningham, _op. cit._ i. 328, and 335-6.
[160] _Domesday of S. Paul_, p. lvii.
[161] _Hist. Angl._, Rolls Series, i. 455. The other political and
social causes of the revolt do not concern us here. The attempt to
minimize its agrarian importance is strange in the light of the words
and acts above mentioned.
[162] Page, _op. cit._ p. 77.
[163] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 402, 534; _Transactions
of the Royal Historical Society_, New Series, xvii. 235. Fitzherbert
probably referred more to villein status, which continued longer than
villein tenure.
[164] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, i. 278,
288.
[165] Harrison, _Description of Britain_, p. 233, says the produce of
an acre of saffron was usually worth £20.
[166] Exportation of corn is mentioned in 1181, when a fine was paid
to the king for licence to ship corn from Norfolk and Suffolk to
Norway.--McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, i. 345. As early as the
reign of Henry II, Henry of Huntingdon says, German silver came to buy
our most precious wool, our milk (no doubt converted into butter and
cheese), and our innumerable cattle.--Rolls Series, p. 5. In 1400, the
_Chronicle of London_ says the country was saved from dearth by the
importation of rye from Prussia.
[167] Hasbach, _op. cit._. p. 32.
[168] Lord Berkeley, about 1360, had a ship of his own for exporting
wool and corn and bringing back foreign wine and wares.--Smyth, _Lives
of the Berkeleys_, i. 365.
[169] Nasse, _Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages_, p. 66.
[170] Customs in some Surrey manors in the time of Richard II,
_Archaeologia_, xviii. 281.