Cities and towns -- Great Britain; Great Britain -- History, Local; Great Britain -- Social conditions; Villages -- Great Britain
11. Then in the ordinary country vill there was the =faber=, or smith;
the =mason=; the =pundar=, or man who looked after the fences and
hedges and drove stray cattle into the pound. The simple ordinary
trades were found in the country villages then, as they are now; but
the craftsmen, the most skilled workmen, had become for the most part
dwellers in the towns. Even in very early times we find craftsmen in
towns formed into trades' unions or =guilds=, to protect their special
trades.
12. Now the land was shared amongst the villeins and cottiers in
strips, usually containing an acre or a half-acre, in the common fields
of which we have heard before. The villein did not have all the strips
belonging to his holding set out side by side--they lay in different
parts of the great open field. Crops had to be sown according to the
custom of the vill or tun, and according to a fixed order. Wheat and
rye would be sown one year on a part of the great field; barley, oats,
and beans the next year; and the third year the land must be left
fallow. The lord's land had to be treated in the same way.
13. On the pasture-land and in the meadows the villein and cottier had
the right to turn out a certain number of cattle, according to the size
of their holdings. The crops, whether of hay or corn, had to be cleared
from the fields by certain fixed days, so that cattle might be turned
out to graze. You will still find, in some towns, that certain of the
freeholders, or burgesses, have the right to turn a certain number of
cattle on certain lands for a part of the year between fixed dates.
14. Then, on the rough commons or heaths, there were also grazing
rights for the lord and his tenants. The tenants might "top and lop"
the trees growing there at certain times, but they might not cut the
trees down--that was the lord's right. There were also rights of
cutting turf and heather, and the turning of hogs into the forest; all
these rights were ruled by "custom", which bound both the lord and the
tenants.
15. The lord, or steward, or reeve, held =courts= or meetings at
regular intervals. At first these took place in the open air, like the
old folk-moots; but in time they came to be held in a court-house.
The court was a meeting, presided over by the lord or his steward, to
see that the customs of the place were kept up; to call to account
those tenants who had failed to do their share of the work; to put new
tenants into the places of those who had removed or died; and to punish
offenders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account