The economic position of the customary tenants was becoming worse by the operation of natural laws, for not only was the subdivision of the virgates reaching its limits, but common rights were being continuously diminished by enclosure. Large numbers of the Havering virgaters in 1307 were occupying quite small holdings, while the purprestures, or encroachments on the waste, were becoming formidable. These considerations suggest that early manorial history can best be studied by investigations into the extent of enclosure in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and that concentration on the unprogressive nucleus of the manor, on villeinage and customary tenure, may well blind the student to the greater economic significance of the developments outside the common fields. It thus appears probable that the visitation of the Black Death will fall into place as an incident rather than an epoch. The documents given below attempt to illustrate manorial history in both its praedial and its personal aspects. The essential features of the manor, in its legal aspect, namely, the customary court, customary tenure, and customary services, are shown in the Extent (No. 1) and the extracts from a Court Roll (No. 2), while the common-field system and the distribution of strips appear in Nos. 3 and 4. The commutation of service for rent (Nos. 1, 8, 9) and the transition from customary to leasehold tenure (Nos. 7, 10) show natural forces at work undermining the traditional economy; while the leasing of customary holdings (No. 7) or of a whole manor to all the tenants in common (No. 5) or to a farmer (No. 10), the grant of manors to the tenants at fee farm in perpetuity (No. 6), and the enclosure of waste (Nos. 1, 11, 12, 13), illustrate the wide range of variety possible in the actual management of the agricultural unit. There appears to be little doubt that the villeins suffered a considerable depression as the result of the Norman Conquest; their refusal, however, to acquiesce permanently in the changed conditions is clear from their continued efforts to rise out of their disabilities and to improve their social and economic status, a movement which begins by the attempts of individuals to climb in the scale by flight (No. 2), by claims to be on the king's ancient demesne (Nos. 14, 15), and by the bringing of actions before the justices of assize, a procedure open only to freemen (Nos. 17-22), and gathers force in the fourteenth century until it culminates in the "great fellowship" which organised a self-conscious class revolt throughout the country (No. 29). No. 16 is an instance of the little writ of right, one of the privileges of the favoured tenants on ancient demesne. Manumission was always a possible method of achieving freedom (No. 23), and it may be that the grant of a bondman (No. 24) was a stage in the process of emancipation. Manumission became common at a time when the demand for English wool was