Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) EditionReilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) Edition
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
The villein and his wife and children worked from daybreak to dusk in
the fields, except for Sundays and holydays. He had certain land to farm
for his own family, but had to have his grain milled at his lord's mill
at the lord's price. He had to retrieve his wandering cattle from his
lord's pound at the lord's price. He was expected to give a certain
portion of his own produce, whether grain or livestock, to his lord.
However, if he fell short, he was not put off his land. The villein, who
worked the farm land as his ancestor ceorl had, now was so bound to the
land that he could not leave or marry or sell an ox without his lord's
consent. If the manor was sold, the villein was sold as a part of the
manor. When his daughter or son married, he had to pay a "merchet" to
his lord. He could not have a son educated without the lord's
permission, and this usually involved a fee to the lord. His best beast
at his death, or "heriot", went to his lord. If he wanted permission to
live outside the manor, he paid "chevage" yearly. Woodpenny was a yearly
payment for gathering dead wood. Sometimes a "tallage" payment was taken
at the lord's will. The villein's oldest son usually took his place on
his land and followed the same customs with respect to the lord. For an
heir to take his dead ancestor's land, the lord demanded payment of a
"relief", which was usually the amount of a year's income but sometimes
as much as the heir was willing to pay to have the land. The usual aids
were also expected to be paid.
A large village also had a smith, a wheelwright, a millwright, a tiler
and thatcher, a shoemaker and tanner, a carpenter wainwright and carter.
Markets were about twenty miles apart because a farmer from the
outlying area could then carry his produce to the nearest town and walk
back again in the daylight hours of one day. In this local market he
could buy foodstuffs, livestock, household goods, fuels, skins, and
certain varieties of cloth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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