commons or of any one else might the answers already given to their petitions be altered. The king in the former case asked an explanation of the request, but in the latter he replied more at length. "Already the king had by the advice of the magnates replied to the petitions of the commons touching the law of the land, that the laws had and used in times past and the process thereon formerly used, could not be changed without making a new statute on the matter, which the king neither then nor since had for certain causes been able to undertake; but as soon as he could undertake it, he would take the great men and the wise men of the council, and would ordain upon these articles and others touching the amendment of the law by their advice and council, in such manner that reason and equity should be done to all his lieges and subjects, and to each one of them." This answer is in full accord with the policy of the king; it is a plausible profession of good intentions, but an evasive answer to the question put to him.

PART III

MEDIEVAL INSTITUTIONS

CHAPTER I

THE GROWTH OF AN ENGLISH MANOR

In his Introduction to English Economic History and Theory, Professor Ashley has given a clear and concise description of what may be regarded as a typical English manor in the eleventh century. He cautions us, however, not to forget the great divergences from the type to be found in all parts of the country, owing to the immense variety of private arrangements possible. After a careful study of Professor Ashley's chapter, the student will read with peculiar interest the article by Professor Maitland in the English Historical Review on "The Growth of an English Manor." In this article we not only get a detailed description of the arrangements of an actual manor, but we also see the changes that went on from generation to generation until serfdom disappeared and the manor entered upon the modern age.

§ 1. Thirteenth-Century Descriptions of the Manor of Wilburton1

It is not often that one has the good fortune of being able to study a series of medieval documents at one's own time and in one's own house; but this was given to me by the late Mr. O. C. Pell, lord of the manor of Wilburton, in the county of Cambridge. He committed to my care a splendid line of court and account rolls which, though there were some gaps in it, stretched from Ed

The English Historical Review, Vol. IX, 1894, pp. 417 ff. By permission of Professor Maitland and Messrs. Longmans, Green, & Company, Publishers.

ward I to Henry VII, and now, the consent of his successor, Mr. Albert Pell, having been very kindly given, I am able to lay before the readers of this Review a fairly continuous history of a particular English manor during the later Middle Ages; and to me it seems that at the present time we have some need for histories of particular manors, for I am convinced that the time has not yet come when generalities about the English manor and its fortunes will be safe or sound.

The manor of Wilburton, on the edge of the fen, formed part of the ancient estates of the Church of Ely. It is fully described in two "extents," the one made in 1221, the other in 1277. Of these its late lord, who was deeply interested in its history, gave an account in the Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. I shall here speak of them very briefly, for they are but the prelude to those documents which are the theme of this essay. The two extents begin by describing the demesne land that is, the land which is in the lord's own hand. In the extent of 1277 he has 216 acres ("by the lesser hundred and the perch of 16 feet") of arable land, and besides this he has meadow land and a wide expanse of fen. In the next place an account is given of the holdings of the "freeholders" and "hundredors" (de hundredariis et libere tenentibus). Of these there are nine, one with 16 acres de wara, four with 12 acres de wara apiece, two with 6 acres apiece, two with 24 acres apiece. This arrangement remained constant during the half century which elapsed between the two surveys. These "freeholders" and "hundredors" pay small money rents the holder of 12 acres pays 2d. a year; they owe two days' ploughing in Lent and two in winter, for which they receive id. a day; they have to attend the great boon day in autumn. They owe suit to the court of Wilburton and must attend the hundred court, which is in the bishop's hand; hence their designation as hundredarii. In the later extent it is expressly stated that they owe a heriot (best beast, or 32d.), a fine for marrying their daughters (32d.), leyrwite and tallage; the gersuma, or fine for marrying a daughter, is mentioned in the earlier extent.

In the court rolls the existence of freeholders can from time to time be detected. They owe suit of court; they are often amerced for not doing it or compound for it with a small sum of money. There are entries also which show that they still owe ploughing service and that some of them are very lax in performing it. Again, descents and alienations are sometimes presented and the

heriot is still due. But on the whole these freeholders seem to have played only a small part in the manor; the names which occur on the court rolls are chiefly those of customary tenants.

In the extents the description of the freehold tenements is followed by the heading De Operariis et Plenis Terris. The full land (plena terra) consists of 12 acres de wara. Of this thorny phrase de wara I will here say nothing - its interest lies in a remote past save this, that as a matter of fact the full land at Wilburton really consisted of 24 acres. Of these full lands there are 15. The holder of such a tenement pays 19d. a year -12d. as wite penny, 6d. as sedge silver, id. as ward penny. From Michaelmas to Hokeday he does two works a week, according to the earlier survey, three according to the later; from Hokeday to Lammas three works a week; from Lammas to Michaelmas five works a week; and besides all this there is a good deal to be done which is not computed as part of the regular week work. On the whole the services, which are more elaborately described in the later than in the earlier of the two surveys, and which perhaps have become heavier during the interval, are of the familiar type.

Then there are 10 cottage tenements, which even in Henry VII's day still preserved a relic of the Domesday terminology in the name "cossetles." The holder of each such tenement paid 7d. a year4d. for wite pound, 2d. for sedge silver, Id. for ward penny- and did two works in every week. The holders of the full lands and the cottiers owe suit to the lord's mill, a fine for marrying their daughters, leyrwite and tallage; they cannot sell colt or ox without the lord's leave.

We already see that a basis has been fixed for the commutation of labor into money. Every "work" in autumn is, as we are told, worth one penny, and out of autumn every work is worth a halfpenny; we also see that one half-cotaria is held by a tenant who "at the will of the lord" pays 2s. a year in lieu of his labors; but the profit of the manor is reckoned mainly in "works." In the way of money rents the lord draws but 315. a year from the manor, besides some small dues; on the other hand 3773 "works" are owed to him, by a "work" being meant the work of one man for one day.

From 1221 down to the very end of the Middle Ages the manor seems to have kept with wonderful conservatism what we may call its external shape that is to say, at the end of this period the distribution of the customary tenements into "full lands" and

"cossetles," or cottier tenements, was still preserved, though the “full land” was often broken into two "half-lands."

2. The Sale and Discharge of Works

At the beginning of the fourteenth century we see that some of the "works" were done in kind, while others were "sold to the homage." Thus there is an account for seventeen weeks in the winter of 1303-1304 during which the temporalities of the See of Ely were in the king's hand; in this the bailiff and reeve, after charging themselves with the rents of assize (i.e. the fixed money rents), proceed to account for 10s. 10d. for "260 winter works sold to the homage at the rate of a halfpenny per work." In a later part of the account we see how this number of "works" is arrived at the officers account for 1385 works arising from 15 “full lands" and 10 cottier tenements; they then set against this number the 260 works sold to the homage, 355 works sold to the executors of the late bishop, 57 works excused to the reeve and reaper, 38 works excused to the smith, 19 works due from a half-cotaria which has been let at a fixed rent, 14 works excused on account of the Christmas holiday, 363 works the amount of ploughing done, 258 works the amount of harrowing done, 20 works in repairing the ditch around the park at Downham, thus getting out the total of 1385 works.

A little later comes a series of accounts for some consecutive years in Edward II's reign. The basis of these accounts, so far as works come in question, is that 2943 winter and summer works, valued at a halfpenny apiece, are due, and 845 autumn works valued at a penny. These numbers seem subject to some slight fluctuations, due to the occurrence of leap years and other causes. Then the accountants have to show how in one way or another these works have been discharged, and in the first place they must account for "works sold." In the year ending at Michaelmas, 1322, the accountants charged themselves with the value of 1213 winter and summer works and 60 autumn works which have been "sold," in the next year with the value of 1297 winter and summer works and 170 autumn works; in the next year with the value of 1496 winter and summer works and 149 autumn works; in the next year with the value of 1225 winter and summer works and 218 autumn works; in the next year with the value of 1023 winter and summer works and 247 autumn works; in the next year with the value of 1381 winter and summer works and 631

M