autumn works. In these and in the later accounts it is not usual to state to whom or in what manner these "works" were "sold"; but there can be little doubt that they were sold to those who were bound to do them—that is to say, when the lord did not want the full number of works he took money instead at the rate of a halfpenny for a winter or summer work and of a penny for an autumn work. The phrase "works sold to the homage," which occurs in the accounts of Edward I's time, may perhaps suggest that the whole body of tenants were jointly liable for the money which thus became due in lieu of works.

It will be seen that the number of "works sold" does not amount to half the number of works due. How were the rest discharged? In the first place some were released; thus the reeve, the reaper, and the smith stood excused; and then again holidays were allowed on festivals; thus the occurrence of the feasts of St. Lawrence and St. Bartholomew serves to discharge a certain number of the autumn works. But very many of the works were actually done; thus in one year 203 "diets" of ploughing between Michaelmas and Hokeday discharge 406 works; in the previous year 377 works had been discharged in similar fashion; in the year before that 406; in the year before that 420. Ploughing, mowing, harrowing and the like are always wanted; other works are accounted for now in one fashion, now in another. In one year 26 works were spent on the vineyard at Ely, in another 3 works were spent in catching rabbits; but on the whole the opera are laid out in much the same manner in each successive year.

83. The Manorial Accounts in Edward II's Day

I have examined the accounts for the last six years of Edward II's reign; their scheme is as follows: The accountant is the reeve; his year runs from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. He begins by debiting himself with the arrears of previous years. The next item consists of "Rents of Assize." These are the old money dues payable by freeholders and customary tenants; they amount to no great sum, about 27., but show a slight tendency to increase, owing to the "arrentation" of some of the minor services; for instance, 19d. is accounted for in respect of a release of the duty of collecting sticks in the park at Somersham. Next comes "Farm of Land," a single item of 325. in respect of 24 acres of demesne land which have been let at a rent. By far the most important item is "Sale of Crops," a very variable item, fluctuat

ing between 87. and 541. Then follows "Sale of Stock." Then comes "Issues of the Manor" (Exitus Manerii). Under this head the reeve accounts for the number of "works" that have been "sold," also on occasion for the price of fowls and turf. The "Perquisites of the Court" comprise not only the amercements, but also the fines payable on alienation of the customary tenements and the like. The last item consists of "Sales accounted for on the back of the Roll"; these seem to consist chiefly of sales of malt. The total income varies between very wide limits, rising to 66l., falling to less than 20l.

On the credit side the first heading is "Allowances" or "Acquittances." A sum of 3d. has to be allowed because the reeve is excused that sum from his rent. Under "Custus Carucarum” stands the cost of making and repairing ploughs, shoeing horses, and so forth. About 5s. per annum is spent in paying 2d. per plough per day for every one of the sixteen ploughs of the tenants engaged in the "boon ploughing" for winter seed and for spring seed. The "Cost of Carts" is sometimes separately accounted for; the cost of "Repairs of Buildings" is by no means heavy. Under "Minute Necessaries" fall the price of various articles purchased, also the wages of the only money-wage-receiving laborers who are employed on the manor namely, a swineherd at 45. 4d. per annum and an occasionally employed shepherd at 5s. a year. "Threshing and Winnowing" are paid for as piece work. "Purchase of Corn" and "Purchase of Stock" are headings that need no comment. Under "Mowing and Harvesting" (Falcatio et Autumpnus) we find no heavy charge; all that has to be paid for is the tenant's harvest dinner, and the wages during harvest of the reeve and the "repereve." Sometimes under the head of "Forinsec" (or Foreign) "Expenses" occur a few small sums not expended directly on the manor.

The reeve then accounts for the money that he has paid into the Exchequer at Ely, and then the account is balanced and generally leaves him in debt. Apparently the annual profit of the manor varies between very wide limits. The reason of this fluctuation is to be found chiefly in the sales of corn. The highest prices of the wheat sold in these six years are as follows:

Such figures as these, though they may be familiar enough to economists, are worth notice, for they show us that however stable an institution the manor may have been from century to century, agriculture involved a very high degree of risk.

On the back of the account roll the reeve proceeds to account for the produce of the manor and the "works" of the tenants. First comes Compotus Grangie ("Barn Account"). The reeve has received so many quarters of wheat from the barn; so many have gone in seed, so many in provender for the manorial servants, so many remain in the barn. Rye, barley, pease, oats, and malt have to be similarly accounted for; the account is checked by tallies between the reeve, the reaper, and the barnkeeper. There are four ploughmen and one shepherd who are famuli manerii and in receipt of corn, each of them getting one quarter per week during some twelve weeks of the year. Next comes Compotus Stauri ("Account of Live Stock"), under which heading the horses, oxen, and pigs are enumerated. Then under Compotus Operum ("Account of Works") the reeve has to show, as explained above, how some 3700 works have been discharged, the autumn works, worth a penny apiece, being distinguished from the winter and summer works, worth a halfpenny.

Now, glancing at the manor as a whole, we see that to a very large extent it is still dependent on the labors of its villeins. The whole amount received by way of rent is but 2l. 10s., or thereabouts, while the price of works sold brings in some 37. or 41. Almost all the regular agricultural work, with the exception of threshing and winnowing, is done for the lord by his tenants. He is as yet no great "employer of labor" in the modern sense; wages are a comparatively trifling item in his accounts. He generally employs a hired swineherd and a hired shepherd, and during some part of the year he has ploughmen, who are paid in grain. But the main part of his ploughing, reaping, mowing, harrowing, is done by those who are bound to do it by status or tenure.

§ 4. The Manor at the Close of the Fourteenth Century

From the reign of Edward III there are no accounts; but turning to those of Richard II's time we find that the theory of the account, so far as "works" are concerned, is still the same. It is now reckoned that there are 2970 winter and summer works, worth a halfpenny apiece, and 813 autumn works worth a penny

apiece, to be accounted for. Some of these works are "sold," some not sold; thus in the year ending Michaelmas, 1393, we find 183 works of the one class and 93 of the other class accounted for as sold. The number of works sold varies much from year to year.

Many hundred works are still done in kind; but the number so done has been diminished, because no less than four full lands and nine cottier tenements "are in the lord's hand" and have been let out at money rents. This has introduced into the account a new element namely, "Rent of Bond Land" (Firma Terre Nativa) or (Firma Terre Nativorum), which brings in about 9l. a year. A large number of opera has, therefore, to be subtracted on this score, e.g. 528 winter and summer works in respect of the said 4 full lands and 836 similar works in respect of the said 9 cottier tenancies.

Exactly when or how the change occurred the extent accounts do not show. Already in the first year of Richard II there were 3 full lands and 8 cottier tenements, let at a rent for short terms of years and doing no work. But by connecting the accounts with the court rolls we are enabled to infer that these lands were vacated by villeins who fled late in the reign of Edward III; thus the first full land on the list is that of John Thorold, who fled in 1376 or thereabouts, and of whose flight the court rolls continue to talk for the next forty years.

Turning, therefore, to the court rolls, we find many entries which seem to show that during the last half of the fourteenth century and the first quarter of the fifteenth the lord had great difficulty in keeping and finding customary tenants on the old

terms. . . .

At the very end of the fourteenth century many of the old "works" were exacted. In some years more were "sold," in some less. In the year ending Michaelmas, 1397, only eight out of 2970 winter and summer works were sold; some 800 were actually done, many of the others were discharged by the fact that four of the full lands and no less than ten of the cottage tenements had fallen into the lord's hand and had been let by him either permanently or temporarily at money rents. And on the whole the economy of the manor is far from being an economy of cash payments. The lord is no great payer of wages. For the regular field work he has no need of hired laborers; his only permanent wage-receiving hind is a shepherd; but there are ploughmen who receive allowances of grain.

§ 5. The Manor in the Fifteenth Century

Passing on now to Henry IV's reign, we find that the old mode of reckoning is still preserved. There are still 2970 winter and summer works due, but 5 full lands and 10 cottier tenements have faller into the lord's hand and bring in nothing but money; more than 10l. has now to be accounted for as "Rent of Bond Lands," and a proportionate number of works has to be subtracted. Of the other works some are sold; in one year 204 of the winter and summer works are sold, while 114 have been discharged by harrowing. In 1407, however, the basis of the account was changed; it became a recognized fact that 6 full lands were no longer in opere, and the total number of winter and summer works to be accounted for was reduced to 1188 and that of autumn works to 378.

A great change seems to have taken place soon after this, during a period for which we have no accounts. In the first year of Henry VI (1423) the "Rent of Bond Lands" has risen to 22l. All the "works seem now to be released (relaxantur custumariis domini) except the boon ploughing: 76 "diets" of ploughing due from the customers whether free or bond. Very shortly after this, in or about 1426, another great change was made. The demesne of the manor, containing 246 acres of arable land and 42 acres of meadow, was let to farm at a rent of 81., and the demise of the land which had been actually in the lord's hand seems to have carried with it the right to the ploughing service; that service, therefore, no longer concerns the bishop while the lease lasts. The demesne land is let cum operibus et consuetudinibus omnium customariorum operabilium. This soon leads to a great simplification and abbreviation of the accounts, an abbreviation to be measured in feet. The receipts are now the old assize rents, the rent of the demesne, the rents of the bond lands, the perquisites of the court; the opera are no longer brought into the account, and the purchases and sales of stock and crops disappear, for these, of course, concern the firmarius, not the lord. The firmarius, it may be noted, is just one of the men of the vill, one of the copyholders, as we may now call them; in the first instance he is the same man who is acting as reeve.

Thenceforward the bishop seems to have been able to keep the demesne land in lease, now one, now another of the copyholders taking it for a term of years: thus under Edward IV it was let for