OUR LEGAL HERITAGE

S >> S. A. Reilly, Attorney >> OUR LEGAL HERITAGE

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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. There
was enough grain to store so that the population was no longer
periodically decimated by famine. The population grew and all
arable land in the nation was under the plough. The acre was
standardized. 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 up and drove up
the prices of all other goods correspondingly.

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 1/2d. 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 plouging 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 Ding 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 license 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.

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 soap, garlic, coal, fish, nails,
grindstones, iron, salt, shovels, brushes, pails, oil, honey,
pots, pans, horses, and pack-saddles. 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].

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. 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.

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 40 s.
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, a certain 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 indifferent 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 given
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 battle 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. Some churches now had stained-glass windows. 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". The tailors' guild
and the skinners' guild are extant now.

When guilds performed morality plays based on Bible stories at
town festivals, there was usually a tie between the Bible story
and the guild's craft. For instance, the story of the loaves and
fishes would be performed by the Bakers' or Fishmongers' Guild.
The theme of the morality play was the fight of the Seven
Cardinal Virtues against the Seven Deadly Sins for the human
soul, a life-long battle.

A borough was run by a mayor elected usually for life. By being
members of a guild, merchant-traders and craftsmen acquired the
legal status of burgesses and had the freedom of the borough.
Each guild occupied a certain ward of the town headed by an
alderman. The town aldermen made up the town council, which
advised the mayor. Often there were town police, bailiffs,
beadles [messengers], a town cryer, and a town clerk. In the
center of town were the fine stone houses, a guildhall with a
belfry-tower, and the marketplace - a square or broad street,
where the town cryer made public announcements with bell or horn.
Here too was the duckingstool for scandalmongers and the stocks
which held offenders by their legs and perhaps their hands to be
scorned and pelted by bystanders with, for instance, rotten
fruit and filth. No longer were towns dominated by the local
landholders.

In London by this time there was a wall with four towers
surrounding the White Tower, and this castle was known as the
Tower of London. Another wall and a moat were built around it
and it has reached its final form. Hovels, shops, and waste
patches alternated with high walls and imposing gateways
protecting mansions. The mansions had orchards, gardens,
stables, brewhouses, bakeries, guardrooms, and chapels. London
streets were paved with cobbles and sand. Each citizen was to
keep the street in front of his tenement in good repair. Later,
each alderman appointed four reputable men to repair and clean
the streets for wages. Prostitutes were expelled from the city
because the street with their bawdy houses had become very
noisy.

London had twenty four wards. The aldermen for the first time
included a fishmonger in 1291. The Fishmongers were the only
guild at this time, besides the weavers, which had independent
jurisdiction, as they had transferred control of their weekly
hall moot from a public official to themselves. Craftsmen began
to take other public offices too. Other city offices were:
recorder, prosecutor, common sergeant, and attorneys. Each ward
chose certain of its inhabitants to be councilors to the
aldermen. This council was to be consulted by him and its advice
to be followed. Admission to freedom of the city [citizenship]
was controlled by the citizens. Apprentices had to finish their
terms before such admission. Craftsmen had to have sureties from
their crafts as of 1319. No longer could one simply purchase
citizenship. Only freemen could sell wares in the city, a custom
of at least two hundred years.

In 1275, a goldsmith was chief assay-master of the King's mint
and keeper of the exchange at London. The King gave the
Goldsmiths' Company the right of assay [determination of the
quantity of gold or silver in an object] and required that no
vessels of gold or silver should leave the maker's hands until
they had been tested by the wardens and stamped appropriately.
In 1279, goldsmith William Farrington bought the soke of the
ward containing the goldsmiths' shops. It remained in his family
for 80 years. A patent of 1327 empowered the guild to elect a
properly qualified governing body to superintend its affairs, and
reform subjects of just complaint. It also prescribed, as a
safeguard against a prevailing fraud and abuse, that all members
of the trade should have their standing in Cheapside or in the
King's exchange, and that no gold or silver should be
manufactured for export, except that which had been bought at the
exchange or of the trade openly.

There was a problem with malefactors committing offenses in
London and avoiding its jurisdiction by escaping to Southwark
across the Thames River. So Southwark was put under the
jurisdiction of London for peace and order matters by grant of
the King. London forbade games being played because they had
replaced practice in archery, which was necessary for defense.

Exports and imports were no longer a tiny margin in an economy
just above the subsistence level. Exports were primarily raw
wool and cloth, but also grain, butter eggs, herring, hides,
leather goods such as bottles and boots, embroideries,
metalware, horseshoes, daggers, tin, coal, and lead. Imported
were Wine, silk, timber, furs, rubies, emeralds, fruits,
raisins, currents, pepper, ginger, cloves, rice, cordovan
leather, pitch, hemp, spars, fine iron, short rods of steel,
bow-staves of yew, tar, oil, salt, cotton (for candle-wicks), and
alum (makes dyes hold). Ships which transported them had one or
two masts upon which sails could be furled, the recently
invented rudder, and a carrying capacity of up to 200 tuns. Many
duties of sheriffs and coroners were transferred to county
landholders by commissions. In coastal counties, there were such
commissions for supervising coastal defense and maintaining the
beacons. Ports had a vigilant coastguard and well-maintained
harbors, quays, and streets.

Women could inherit land in certain circumstances. Some tenants
holding land in chief of the King were women.

Regulation of trade became national instead of local. Trade was
relatively free; almost the only internal transportation tolls
were petty portages and viages levied to recoup the expense of a
bridge or road which had been built by private enterprise.
Responsibility for the coinage was transferred from the
individual moneyers working in different boroughs to a central
official who was to become Master of the Mint. The round half
penny and farthing [1/4 penny] were created so that the penny
needn't be cut into halves and quarters anymore.

Edward called meetings of representatives from all social and
geographic sectors of the nation at one Parliament to determine
taxes due to the Crown. He declared that "what touches all,
should be approved by all". He wanted taxes from the burgesses
in the towns and the clergy's ecclesiastical property as well as
from landholders. He argued to the clergy that if barons had to
both fight and pay, they who could do no fighting must at least
pay, and compelled them to renounce all Papal orders contrary to
the King's authority. He offered to give up the royal right to
tax merchandise for a new tax: customs on exports. He got an
agreement for an "aid" of one-fifteenth on other moveables. This
new system of taxation began the decline of the imposition of
feudal aids, scutages, and carucage. The aids of the boroughs,
counties, and church had been negotiated by the Exchequer with
the reeves of each town, the sheriff and shire courts of each
county, and the archdeacons of each diocese, the area under a
bishop's control.

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