iv. 4. f. 52, b: '(Curia 7 Edw. II)... dicunt quod quidam Robertus Heth pater dictorum R. W. et J. tenuit de conventu per virgam in villa de Berton magna... Et quia dedixerunt cepisse dictam terram per virgam ideo potest seisiri dicta terra in manum domini.' Registr. album vestiarii abbatiae S. Edmundi, Cambridge Univ., Ee. iii. 60, f 188, b: 'Tenentes de mollond... tenent per virgam in curia.' Eynsham Cartulary, Christ Church MSS., No. 97:
'Ricardus W. tenet unum cotagium et duas acras terrae campestres per rotulum curie pro 3 sol.' Cf 12, a.
113. Note-book of Bracton, pl. 1237.
114. Ely Register, Cotton, Claudius, C. xi. f iii. b: 'Habebit duas pugillatas avene ex gratia, ut juratores dicunt, per longum tempus usitata.'
115. Warwickshire Roll. Exch. Q.R. No. 29, f. 94, b: 'Servus....
cum fecerit exennium.... comedet cum domino.'
116. Christ Church, Canterbury, Cartulary, Add. MSS. 6159, f 22, b. Cf Gloucester Cartulary (Rolls Series), iii. 203.
117. Custumal of Battle Abbey (Camden Ser.), 30: 'Et debet herciare per duos dies.... pretium operis iiij. d. Et recipiet de domino utroque die repastus pretii iij d. Et sic erit dominus perdens j.d. Et sic nichil valet illa herciatio ad opus domini.'
118. Coram Rege, Pasch., 14 Edw. I, Lege, 18: 'Villani circulare (sic) non consueverunt nisi ex voluntate.'
119. Glastonbury Inqu. (Roxburghe Series), 82: 'Sed non debet carriare nisi dominus prestaverit suum plaustrum.'
120. Cotton MSS., Claudius, C. xi, f 30, b: 'Sed juratores dicunt quod nunquam hoc fecerunt nec de iure facere debent.'
121. Rot. Hundred. ii. 758, a: 'Servi... nec potest filiam maritare nec uxorem ducere sine licencia domini; debet et salvo contellemento suo talliari et ad omnia auxilia communia scottare et lottare secundum facultatem suam,' etc.
Free Peasantry I the heading of this chapter may not be misunderstood. It would be difficult to speak of free peasantry in the modern sense at the time with which we are now dealing. Some kind or form of dependence often clings even to those who occupy the best place among villagers as recognised free tenants, and in most cases we have a very strong infusion of subjection in the life of otherwise privileged peasants. But if we keep to the main distinctions, and to the contrast which the authorities themselves draw between the component elements of the peasant class, its great bulk will arrange itself into two groups: the larger one will consist of those ordinarily designated as villains; a smaller, but by no means an insignificant or scanty one, will present itself as free, more or less protected by law, and more or less independent of the bidding of the lord and his steward. There is no break between the two groups; one status runs continuously into the other, and it may be difficult to distinguish between the intermediate shades; but the fundamental difference of conception is clearly noticeable as soon as we come to look at the whole, and it is not only noticeable to us but was noticed by the contemporary documents.
In very many cases we are actually enabled to see how freedom and legal security gradually emerge from subjection. One of the great movements in the social life of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is the movement towards the commutation of services for money rents. In every survey we find a certain number of persons who now pay money, whereas they used to do work, and who have thus emancipated themselves from the most onerous form of subjection.(1*) In the older documents it is commonly specified that the lord may revert to the old system, give up the rents, and enforce the services.(2*) In later documents this provision disappears, having become obsolete, and there is only a mention of certain sums of money. The whole process, which has left such distinct traces in the authorities, is easily explained by England's economic condition at that time.
