Chapter XXVII: Section I: Rural Conditions (1)

1. Villeinage in the Reign of Elizabeth, 1561--2. Customs of the
Manor of High Furness, 1576--3. Petition in Chancery for Restoration
to a Copyhold, c. 1550--4. Petition in Chancery for Protection
against Breach of Manorial Customs, 1568--5. Lease of the Manor of
Ablode to a Farmer, 1516--6. Lease of the Manor of South Newton to a
Farmer, 1568--7. The Agrarian Programme of the Pilgrimage of Grace,
1536--8. The Demands of the Rebels led by Ket, 1549--9. Petition to
Court of Requests from Tenants Ruined by Transference of a Monastic
Estate to lay hands, 1553--10. Petition to Court of Requests to stay
Proceedings against Tenants pending the hearing of their Case by the
Council of the North, 1576--11. Petition from Freeholders of Wootton
Basset for Restoration of Rights of Common, _temp._ Charles I.--12.
Petition to Crown of Copyholders of North Wheatley, 1629--13. An Act
Avoiding Pulling Down of Towns, 1515--14. The Commission of Inquiry
Touching Enclosures, 1517--15. An Act Concerning Farms and Sheep,
1533-4--16. Intervention of Privy Council under Somerset to Protect
Tenants, 1549--17. An Act for the Maintenance of Husbandry and
Tillage, 1597-8--18. Speech in House of Commons on Enclosures,
1597--19. Speeches in House of Commons on Enclosures, 1601--20.
Return to Privy Council of Enclosers furnished by Justices of
Lincolnshire, 1637--21. Complaint of Laud's Action on the Commission
for Depopulation, 1641.

The agrarian changes which attracted attention from the latter part of the fifteenth century to the accession of Elizabeth, and again, to a less degree, at intervals between 1558 and 1660, are a watershed in economic history, separating mediæval from modern England as decisively as did, in other departments of national life, the Reformation and the Tudor monarchy. For the controversial questions surrounding their causes and consequences we must refer the student to the list of books given below. All that can be attempted here is to notice the special points upon which the following documents throw light.

In arranging the documents in this section it seemed best not to group them in strict chronological order, but to place together those relating to similar aspects of the subject. Documents 1 to 6 illustrate the status and tenure of different classes of landholders. By the beginning of the sixteenth century personal villeinage has almost disappeared; only one document therefore (No. 1) is given to it. Nor has it seemed necessary to print documents referring specially to the freeholders who, compared with other classes of tenants, were little affected by the agrarian changes. On the other hand, the position of the customary tenants, and of the lessees who farmed manorial demesnes, raises important questions. Documents 2 to 4 illustrate manorial customs and the way in which cases between lords and copyholders turned upon them (Nos 3 and 4). Without entering into controversial questions with regard to copyhold tenure one may say (_a_) that it is customary or villein tenure to which the courts from the beginning of the fifteenth century, first the court of Chancery--before which both these cases come--and then the Common Law courts, have given protection, (_b_) that what the Courts do is to enforce manorial customs, which vary from place to place. It is, therefore, essential for a tenant who wants, _e.g._, to be protected against eviction (No. 3), or against loss of profitable rights (No. 4) to show that the lord is committing a breach of the custom. Hence the dispute (No. 3) as to whether the land at issue is customary land or part of the lord's demesnes. If it is the former the tenants are likely to be protected by the Courts: if it is the latter, they are not. The position of the capitalist farmer, who played so large a part in the rural economy of the sixteenth century, is illustrated by documents 5 and 6. No. 5 is specially interesting as showing how the earlier practice of dividing up the demesne lands among numerous small tenants was replaced by that of leasing them in a block to one large farmer. Documents 7 to 12 illustrate certain points which have already been mentioned, _e.g._, the importance of manorial customs (Nos. 8, 10 and 12). But their peculiar interest consists in the light which they throw on the grievances of the peasants. They suffer from enclosing (Nos. 7, 8, 10, 11), from excessive fines (Nos. 8, 9, 10, 12), and from rack renting (Nos. 8, 9, 12). They are gravely prejudiced by the land speculation following the dissolution of the monasteries (No. 9). They are too poor and too easily intimidated to get redress even when they have a good case (Nos. 10, 11, 12). The justices who ought to administer the acts against depopulation depopulate themselves (No. 8). The peasants' main resource is the Crown and its Prerogative Courts (Nos. 8, 9, 10, 12). Surely the government will protect men who make good soldiers and pay taxes (No. 12)! Occasionally, however, they have some hope of Parliament, _e.g._, in 1536, when the royal officials are in bad odour in the North (No. 7), and under Charles I (No. 11). The exact date of this last document is uncertain. May it not be 1640-1, when the Long Parliament was going to restore all good customs?

Documents 13 to 21 illustrate the policy of the government towards the agrarian problem. The government tried to stop depopulation partly for financial and military reasons, partly through a genuine dislike of economic oppression. Its main instruments were four, namely:--(_a_) Statutes (Nos. 13, 15, 17, 18, and 19). Between 1489 and 1597 11 Acts were passed which had as their object the prevention of depopulation, viz., 4 Hen. VII, c. 19, 6 Hen. VIII, c. 5, 7 Hen. VIII, c. 1, 25 Hen. VIII, c. 13, 27 Hen. VIII, c. 22, 5 and 6 Ed. VI, c. 5, 2 and 3 Phil. and Mary, c. 2, 5 Eliz. c. 2, 31 Eliz. c. 7, 39 Eliz. c. 1, 39 Eliz. c. 2,. All these were repealed by 21 James I, c. 25, except the last, which was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act of 1863. (For a summary of these Acts see Slater, _The English Peasantry and of the Enclosure Common Fields, App. D._) (_b_) Royal Commissions. The first (No. 14) was appointed in 1517: 6 others followed, in 1548, 1566, 1607, 1632, 1635, and 1636 (No. 21). (_c_) Intervention by the Privy Council (Nos. 16 and 20). (_d_) The Prerogative Courts; viz., the Court of Requests (Nos. 9 and 10), the Court of Star Chamber (No. 21), the Council of the North (No. 10), and the Council of Wales (Acts of the Privy Council, New Series, Vol. XXX, pp. 36-7). How far their intervention was successful is an open question, for a discussion of which reference must be made to the books mentioned below.

AUTHORITIES

The more accessible of the modern writers dealing with agrarian
conditions from 1485-1660 are:--Cunningham, _English Industry and
Commerce, Early and Middle Ages_, and _ibid._, _Modern Times_, Part
I; Ashley, _Economic History_, Vol. I, Part II; Nasse, _The Land
Community of the Middle Ages_; Gonner, _Common Land and Inclosure_;
Page, _The End of Villeinage in England_; Hasbach, _The English
Agricultural Labourer_; Prothero, _Pioneers and Progress of English
Agriculture_, and _A History of English Farming_; Johnson, _The
Disappearance of the Small Landowner_; Tawney, _The Agrarian Problem
in the Sixteenth Century_; Russell, _Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk_;
Leadam, _The Domesday of Inclosures_, and in Trans. R.H.S. New
Series, Vol. VI; Gay, in Trans. R.H.S., New Series, Vols. XIV and
XVIII, and in _The Quarterly Journal of Economics_, Vol. XVIII;
Leonard, Trans. R.H.S., New Series, Vol. XIX; Savine in _The
Quarterly Journal of Economics_, Vol. XIX. A useful summary of the
principle Statutes against Depopulation is given by Slater, _The
English Peasantry and the Enclosure of the Common Fields_, App. D.

Full bibliographies of this subject are given in _Two Select
Bibliographies of Mediæval Historical Study_, by Margaret E. Moore,
and in _A Classified List of Printed Original Materials for English
Manorial and Agrarian History_, by Francis G. Davenport. The
following list of sources does not pretend to be exhaustive.

(1) Documents relating to agrarian history are printed in the
following works:--Northumberland County History; Baigent, Crondal
Records; Surveys of Lands belonging to William, first Earl of
Pembroke (Roxburghe Club); Topographer and Genealogist, Vol. I,
Surveys of Manors Belonging to the Duke of Devonshire; Chetham
Society, Survey of the Manor of Rochdale (ed. by Fishwick);
Davenport, History of a Norfolk Manor; Scrope, History of the Manor
and Barony of Castle Combe; Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials; Selden
Society, Select Cases in the Court of Star Chamber and Select Cases
in the Court of Requests (both edited by Leadam); Leadam, The
Domesday of Enclosures; Tawney, The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth
Century, App. I; Cunningham English Industry and Commerce, Modern
Times, Vol. I, App. B.

(2) The principal contemporary literary authorities are as
follows:--J. Rossus (Rous), Historia regum Angliæ (about 1470, edited
by T. Hearne); More, Utopia (1516); Starkey, A Dialogue between
Cardinal Pole and Thomas Lupset (about 1537, Early English Text
Society, England in the Reign of King Henry VIII); Forest, The
Pleasant Poesy of Princely Practice (1548, _ibid._); Fitzherbert,
Surveying (1539), and Book of Husbandry (1534); Select Works of
Crowley (Early English Text Society); Lever's Sermons (Arber's
Reprints); The Common Weal of this Realm of England (about 1549,
edited by E.M. Lamond); Certain causes Gathered Together wherein is
shewed the Decay of England only by the great Multitude of Sheep
(Early English Text Society); Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good
Husbandry (1572); Stubbes, Anatomy of the Abuses in England (1583);
Harrison, The Description of Britain (1587, most accessible in
Furnivall's Elizabethan England); Trigge, The Humble Petition of Two
Sisters (1604); Norden, The Surveyor's Dialogue (1607); Standish, The
Common's Complaint (1612), and New Directions of Experience to the
Common's Complaint (1613); Bacon, The History of King Henry VII
(1622); Powell, Depopulation Arraigned (1636); Fuller, The Holy and
Profane State (1642); Halhead, Enclosure Thrown Open, or Depopulation
Depopulated (1650); Moore, The Crying Sin of England in not Caring
for the Poor (1653); and A Scripture Word Against Enclosure (1656);
Pseudonismus, Considerations Concerning Common Fields and Enclosures
(1653); Lee, A Vindication of a Regulated Enclosure (1656).

1. VILLEINAGE IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH _[Tingey. Selected Records of Norwich, Vol. VI, p. 180_], 1561.

Robert Ringwood brought in a certain indenture wherein Lewis Lowth was bound to him to serve as a prentice for seven years, and Mr. John Holdiche came before the Mayor and other Justices and declared that the said Lewis is a bondman to my Lord of Norfolk's grace, and further that he was brought up in husbandry until he was xx years old. Whereupon he was discharged of his service.[254]

[Footnote 254: The above case is remarkable as illustrating (_a_) the survival of villeinage as a working reality into the reign of Elizabeth; (_b_) the use of Statute law (growing since the first Statute of Labourers) to supplement the (legally) almost extinct jurisdiction of lord over villein.]

2. CUSTOMS OF THE MANOR OF HIGH FURNESS [_R.O. Duchy of Lancaster; Special Commissions; No. 398_], 1576.

[_Presentment of customs of the manor._]

For the Queen.

3. That the jury ought to present at the court after every tenant's death or alienation, and who is his heir, and which tenant hath aliened, and to whom, and what, and who ought to be admitted tenant to the same, which presentment and admittance ought to be made in open court and be entered by the steward ... in this form.

_Ad hanc curiam juratores presentant quod C.D. tenens customarius hujus manerii, seisitus in dominico suo ut de feodo secundum consuetudinem manerii unius messuagii etc, post ultimam curiam alienavit tenementa predicta cuidam H.F. habenda et tenenda eidem H.F. et heredibus suis secundum consuetudinem manerii, per quod predictus H.F. per consuetudinem manerii debet solvere dominae Reginae pro ingressu suo inde habendo 20s._

4. No person shall hereafter sell his customary tenement or any part of it, before he first be admitted tenant or come to court, and require to be admitted ... offering his fine for the same.

The purchaser of any tenement shall publish the sale at the next court after the purchase, and cause it to be entered on the rolls, that her Majesty may be duly answered of the fines, forfeitures and duties as well of the seller as the purchaser [penalty 20s.]. Any purchaser not so coming to the second court after the purchase shall forfeit 40s., and the lands purchased shall be seized by the steward.

5. As heretofore dividing and portioning of tenements hath caused great decay chiefly of the service due to her Highness for horses, and of her woods, and has been the cause of making a great number of poor people in the lordship, it is now ordered that no one shall divide his tenement or tenements among his children, but that the least part shall be of the ancient yearly rent to her Highness of 6s. 8d., and that before every such division there shall be several houses and ousettes for every part of such tenement.

Provided always that it be lawful for any one, who has bought any tenement or farmhold under the yearly rent of 6s. 8d. having houses and ousette upon it, which has been used as a dwelling house, [to leave it] to which of his children he thinks best.

And no person holding any part of any tenement shall bargain or put it away to any person except that person who is tenant of the residue of the tenement, if he will buy it at a reasonable price. If not, the tenant may sell it to any other customary tenant of the manor.

10. Every customary tenant and occupier shall uphold his houses according to our custom, forfeiting 6s. 8d. _toties quoties_.

11. No person shall fell timber without delivery of the bailiff, who shall deliver necessary timber to every tenant or occupier according to our custom.

12. No tenant or occupier shall sell underwood, etc., nor cut down any other man's wood in the lordship. Penalty 3s. 4d., half to her Highness, half to the party grieved. Every tenant so grieved may have his action for damages in the court of the lordship.

13. No tenant is to stop any common way nor turn aside a beck. Penalty 6s. 8d.

For the tenants.

1. Any tenant, lawfully seised of a messuage or tenement in fee to him and his heirs according to the custom of the manor, might and may lawfully give or sell the same by writing, and that the steward or his deputy ought to be made privy to it at or before next court under penalty of 20s.

The tenant may without the privity of the steward give his tenement in writing by his last will to which of his sons he thinks best, or any other person. If any customary tenant die seised of an estate of inheritance without a will or devise, then his eldest son or next cousin ought to have the tenement, as his next heir, according to the custom of the manor.

2. If any customary tenant die seised of a customary tenement, having no sons but a daughter or daughters, then the eldest daughter being unpreferred in marriage shall have the tenement as his next heir, ... and she shall pay to her younger sister, if she have but one sister, 20 years' ancient rent, as is answered to her Majesty; and if she have more than one sister, she shall pay 40 years' ancient rent to be equally divided among them.

3. The widow of any customary tenant having any estate of inheritance ought to have her widowright, viz., one-third of the same, as long as she is unmarried and chaste, according to our custom.

4. For the avoiding of great trouble in the agreements with younger brothers, it is now ordered that the oldest son shall pay to his brothers in the form following:--

If there is but 1 brother, 12 years' ancient rent.

If there are 2 brothers, 16 years' ancient rent, to be equally divided.

If there be 3 or more, 20 years' ancient rent, to be equally divided.

Provided that any father being a tenant may make a will dividing the money among his sons as he think best, provided he exceed not these sums and rates.

5. Whereas great inconvenience has grown by certain persons that at the marriages of sons or daughters have promised their tenements to the same son or daughter and their heirs according to the custom of the manor, and afterwards put the tenement away to another person, it is ordered, that whatever tenements a tenant shall promise to his son or daughter being his sole heir apparent at the time of his or her marriage, the same ought to come to them according to the same covenant, which ought to be showed at the next court.

6. If a tenant has a child, not his heir, an idiot or impotent, and die without disposition of his tenement, the same child shall be sustained out of the said tenement by direction of the steward or his deputy and 4 men sworn in court.

7. Finally be it agreed that no bye-law shall be any way prejudicial to her Majesty.

3. PETITION IN CHANCERY FOR RESTORATION TO A COPYHOLD [_Record Commission. Chancery Proceedings, Ed. VI_], c. 1550.

Richard Cullyer and John Cullyer _v._ Thomas Knyvett, esquire.

To quiet Plaintiff in possession of certain land holden of the manor
of Cromwell in Wymondham by copy of court roll, according to the
custom of the said manor.

To the right honorable Sir Richard Rich, knight, lord Rich and lord
Chancellor of England.

In most humble wise sheweth and complaineth unto your lordship your daily orators, Richard Cullyer of Wymondham in the county of Norfolk, yeoman, and John Cullyer his son, that where one Edmund Mychell was seised in his demesne as of fee of and in twenty acres of land lying in Wymondham aforesaid, holden of the manor of Cromwell, in Wymondham aforesaid, by copy of court roll at will of the lord of the said manor, according to the custom of the said manor, which twenty acres of land have used to be demised and demittable by copy of court roll for term of life, lives, or in fee, to be holden at will of the lord of the said manor by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor time out of remembrance of man; and the said Edmund Mychell, so being seised of the said twenty acres, for a sum of money to him paid by the said Richard Cullyer, the father, did surrender the said twenty acres according to the custom of the said manor, by the name of twenty acres of bond land enclosed in a close called Reading, in Brawyck, in Wymondham aforesaid, into the hands of the lords of the said manor by the hands of William Smythe, in the presence of Geoffry Symondes and John Love, being then copyholders of the said manor, to the use of your said orators, their heirs and assigns: By force whereof your said orators, after that they had paid the accustomable fine due for the same to the lords of the said manor, were admitted tenants thereof, to hold the same, to them and their heirs, at will of the lord of the said manor by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor, and from the time of the said surrender which was made, as is aforesaid, thirty years past; and continued seised of the said twenty acres in their demesne as of fee, as tenants at will, by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor; and have received and taken the profits thereof, doing and paying the rents, customs and services of the same to the lords of the same manor, according to the custom of the said manor; and at their great travail, costs, and charges have stubbed, drained, and dyked the premises, whereby they have improved the said twenty acres and made it much better than it was at the time that the same was surrendered to them as is aforesaid: And now so it is, right honorable lord, that the moiety of the said manor is descended to one Thomas Knyvett esquire, as son and heir to Sir Edmund Knyvett, knight, deceased, who, of a covetous mind, contrary to the mind and without the assent of one John Flowrdew, gentleman, who is tenant in common with him of the said manor land, of late claimed ten acres of the said twenty acres to be the demesnes of the said manor, and have prohibited your said orators to occupy the same ten acres; and because your said orators doth not leave the occupation thereof, the said Thomas Knyvett hath divers times disturbed the possession of your orators in the premises by taking of divers distresses, and now of late have taken and distrained in the said close four steers and one bull of the value of five pounds, of the goods and chattels of the said John Cullyer, one of your said orators; which the said Thomas did impound and withhold from your said orators until deliverance was made to him thereof by virtue of the King's majesty's writ of _replevin_; which writ of _replevin_ is removed into the King's court of his common pleas at Westminster, by a writ of _recordere facias [sic]_, where the said suit doth yet depend undetermined; and forasmuch as your said beseechers have no better estate in the premises but as copyholders according to the custom of the said manor, and that the court rolls of the said manor, whereby your beseechers should prove the said twenty acres to be an ancient copyhold land, do remain in the possession of the said Thomas Knyvett, and for that also that your orators be poor men and the said Thomas Knyvett a gentleman of great worship, your said poor orators be most like to lose their said land, and to be clearly without remedy in the premises, unless your lordship's favour be to them shewed in that behalf: In consideration whereof, it may please your lordship to grant the King's most gracious writ of _subpoena_, to be directed to the said Thomas Knyvett, commanding him by virtue thereof personally to appear before your lordship in the King's most honorable court of Chancery at a certain day, and under a certain pain, by your lordship to be appointed, then and there to answer the premises, and further to abide to such order therein as shall seem to your lordship agreeing to equity and good conscience; and your poor orators shall daily pray for the prosperous estate of your good lordships in honour long to continue.

_Answer._

The answer of Thomas Knivet, esquire, to the bill of complaint of
Richard Cullyer and John Cullyer, plaintiffs.

The said defendant saith, that the said bill of complaint is uncertain and untrue in itself, and insufficient in the law to be answered unto, and that the matters therein contained be untruly surmised by the said complainants to the only intent to put the said defendant to vexation, trouble and cost, and is grounded of malice, they the said complainants having no colour of right, title, nor interest unto the said land mentioned in the said bill of complaint; and he, the said defendant, to the matters contained in the same bill, doth think that he by the order of the right honorable court shall not be compelled any further to answer, but be dismissed out of the same for the insufficiency thereof, with his reasonable costs and charges by him sustained in that behalf; Yet nevertheless, if he, the said defendant, shall be compelled any further to answer to the same bill, then he, the same defendant, for further answer saith that the said land, lying in Brawyck Reading mentioned in the said bill of complaint, is and have been time out of mind parcel of the demesnes of the said moiety of the said manor of Cromwell, in Wymondham; and he, the said defendant, for further answer saith, that one Sir Edmund Knyvett, father to the said defendant, and all his ancestors of long time before him, have been seised of one estate of inheritance of the moiety of the said manor, and one-half of the said manor of Cromwell, and that the said Sir Edmund, and all his ancestors, of long time have been seised of the premises with the appurtenances as parcel of the said manor, in their demesne as of fee, and had the possession thereof, and so seised, died thereof by protestation seised; after whose death the premises descended and came and of right ought to descend and come unto the said defendant, as to the son and next heir of the said Sir Edmund, by force whereof he, the same defendant, entered into the premises, and was and is thereof seised in his demesne as of fee, and the same complainants, claiming the premises by force of a surrender made unto them, the said complainants, by one Edmund Mychell in the time of one [_blank_] being guardian of the said Sir Edmund, and having the custody of the body and lands of the said Sir Edmund during his minority, where nothing in right nor law can pass by the same surrender, but the same is utterly void to bind the said defendant, did enter; upon whom the said defendant did re-enter, as it was lawful for him to do, without that the said Edmund Mychell was lawfully seised in his demesne as of fee, of the lands mentioned in the said bill by copy of court roll at will of the lord according to the custom of the said manor, as in the said bill is untruly alleged, or that the said Edmund Mychell had any lawful interest in the same, or could lawfully make any good or effectual surrender of the same to the said complainants, or that the premises have been used to be demitted or be demittable by copy of court roll for term of life or lives, or in fee, to be holden at the will of the lord by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor time out of mind, as in the said bill of complaint is also untruly alleged, for he, the said defendant, saith that by divers ancient precedents and court rolls ready to be shewed to your honourable court it may appear that the same hath been letten for term of years by the lords of the said manor after the time being unto them, by whom the said complainants claim; or that the same Edmund Mychell for a sum of money to him paid by Richard Cullyer, their father, did surrender the premises, as in the same bill is also untruly alleged, for he, the said defendant, saith, that he the same Edmund had no right nor lawful interest to surrender the same; and if any such surrender were, yet the said defendant saith that the same is verily void in law; or that the said complainants paid any fine for the premises, or were admitted tenants to hold at the will of the lord, as in the same bill is also untruly alleged. And if any such were, yet the same being paid unto his father's said guardian, and their admission by the said guardian, the premises being of the demesnes of the said manor, ought not in no wise to bind him; and without that any other thing mentioned in the said bill of complaint here in this answer not sufficiently confessed, and avoided, traversed, or denied, is true or material to be answered unto, all which matters the said defendant is ready to aver and prove, as this right honorable court shall award. Whereupon the said defendant prayeth to be dismissed out of this right honorable court with his reasonable costs and charges by him sustained in that behalf.

REPLICATION

The replication of Richard Cullyer and John Cullyer, to the answer of
Thomas Knyvett esquire.

The said complainants by protestation that the said answer is insufficient in the law for further replication say that the said bill of complaint is certain and sufficient in the law to be answered unto, and for further replication say that the said twenty acres mentioned in the said bill is ancient copyhold land, and have been used to be demised by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor of Cromwell time out of remembrance of man, as is alleged in the said bill, and say also that the said twenty acres lieth now enclosed and have lien enclosed by the space of sixty years or thereabout with other lands and tenements holden by copy of court roll of the manor of Gresshawgh in Wymondham aforesaid, which said twenty acres about the first or second year of the reign of King Henry the Seventh, before that time with other of the said lands then also enclosed did lie open as fields, and in the time of the reign of King Edward the Fourth the said twenty acres were holden, used, and occupied by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor, to one Edmund Cullyer and his heirs, by the name of the third part of one enclose called Reading, being bond or customary land in Wymondham aforesaid, to hold the same to the said Edmund and his heirs by copy of court roll, at will of the lord of the said manor according to the custom of the said manor; upon which grant the said Edmund paid a fine to the lord of the said manor and was admitted tenant thereof, by force whereof the said Edmund Cullyer was seised of the said twenty acres in his demesne as of fee by copy of court roll at will of the lord of the said manor, according to the custom of the said manor, and the said Edmund so being seised of the said twenty acres, the same did surrender according to the custom of the said manor to one Thomas Plomer and his heirs, by virtue whereof the said Thomas Plomer was admitted tenant of the said twenty acres, according to the custom of the said manor, and was seised of the said twenty acres in his demesne as of fee according to the custom of the said manor, and paid the accustomable fine thereof for the same to the lord of the said manor, and did the other services and paid the rents thereof according to the custom of the said manor; and the said Thomas Plomer so being seised of the said twenty acres the same did surrender according to the custom of the said manor to the said Edmund Mychell named in the said bill, by virtue whereof the said Edmund Mychell was lawfully admitted tenant to the premises, according to the custom of the said manor, and was seised thereof in his demesne as of fee according to the said custom, and paid the accustomable fine for the same to the lord of the said manor, and did the services and paid also the rents thereof accordingly, and the said Edmund Mychell so being seised of the premises according to the custom of the said manor, the same according to the said custom did surrender to the said complainants, as is alleged in the said bill; by virtue whereof the said complainants were admitted tenants of the premises and paid the fine thereof, and have done all services, and paid the rents and customs pertaining thereto, according to the custom of the said manor of Cromwell, and hath bestowed great costs upon the same, whereby the said twenty acres be much better than they were at such time as the said complainants were admitted tenants thereto, as in the said bill it is further alleged. And the said complainants do further reply and say in all and everything as they before in their said bill have said, without that,[255] that the said land lying in Brawicke Reading mentioned in the said bill is and have been time out of mind of man parcel of demesnes of the moiety of the said manor of Cromwell, or that the said Sir Edmund had the possession of the said twenty acres, or were seised thereof, otherwise than by the payment of the rents of the same by the said complainants and others, that did hold the same by copy of the said Sir Edmund; and without that the said Sir Edmund died seised thereof, or that the same did descend to the said defendant as demesnes of the said manor discharged of the said tenure, by copy of court roll according to the custom of the said manor; for the said complainants say that the said Sir Edmund during all his life did permit and suffer the said complainants to enjoy the premises according to the custom of the said manor, without let or gainsaying, which the said Sir Edmund would not have done if the said complainants had not had a just right and title to have had the same; without that, that the said complainants did claim the premises only by a surrender made to the said Mychell by the guardian of the said Sir Edmund during his minority, or that the surrender made by the said Mychell during the minority of the said Sir Edmund is void by the law or that the law is that nothing can pass by a surrender made during the said minority, or that a surrender made then is void, or that the premises have been letten for years as is alleged in the said bill; and the said complainants for replication do reply and say in all and every thing, matter, and sentence as they before in their said bill have said; without that, that any other things in this replication not sufficiently replied unto, denied, traversed, or confessed and avoided is true, all which matters the said complainants are ready to verify as this honorable court will award, and pray as they before have prayed.

[Footnote 255: _i.e._ Not admitting.]

4. PETITION IN CHANCERY FOR PROTECTION AGAINST BREACH OF MANORIAL CUSTOMS [R.O. _Chancery Proceedings; Series II, Bundle 196, No. 25_], 1568.

To the right honorable Sir Nicholas Bacon, knight, Lord Keeper of the
Great Seal of England.

In most humble wise sheweth and complaineth to your good Lordship your daily orators John Wyat, John Blake, John Whittington, Thomas Knight, Thomas Ellis, Thomas Moris, Richard Cooke, Symon Lucas, and Richard Blake, with divers other poor men to the number of forty, customary tenants of the manor of Slindon in the County of Sussex.[period? or comma?] That where they and their ancestors and those whose estate they have in the said customary tenements, parcel of the said manor (time out of memory of man) have been seised to them and to their heirs for ever according to the custom of the said manor, all and every which customs of late one Anthony Kempe esquire, lord of the said manor, hath diversely, contrary to conscience and equity, devised and imagined by divers indirect means to break, annihilate, and infringe, and your said orators hath diversely vexed and troubled by the order of the common laws and menaceth to expel your said orators out of their several tenements unless they will pay other customs and services than they of right ought to do by the customs of the said manor. For where by the custom of the said manor your Lordship's said orators and those whose estate they or any of them have in the premises, have been lawfully and quietly seised of the said tenements customary in their demesne as of fee according to the custom of the said manor for the several services thereupon due and accustomed, clearly discharged of all day works, licences of marriage or fines for the same, and having always free liberty to let all and singular the premises aforesaid without any licence beforehand to be obtained of the lords of the said manor for the time being, neither have further at any time done any manner of services whatsoever out of the said manor: And also where after the death of every of the said customary tenants, having a whole yardland, there hath been due for heriot only the best beast, and if such have no beast, then 10s. in money only; and after the death of every tenant holding half a yardland 6s. 8d. for relief only, and after the death of every cottager 6d. only, and at every alienation of a yardland 10s. in money, and at every alienation of a half yardland 6s. 8d. in money, and at the alienation of every cottage 6d., and at the death and alienation of every tenant one whole year's rent only for and in the name of a fine, over and besides the only heriot or relief aforesaid, and suit of court and other services in this bill specified: And where by the further custom of the said manor the lords of the said manor for the time being by the custom of the said manor should make no seizure or forfeiture for waste done in their cottages customary, unless the same be severally presented at the several Courts to be holden one half year after another, and the same yet then not reformed within one month after; And where the cutting down of any the woods standing and growing upon their several tenements customary for house-bote, fire-bote, plough-bote, cart-bote, gate-bote and hedge-bote, and such like hath not heretofore been taken for waste but always as lawful to do by the custom of the said manor; And where also by the further custom of the said manor, where any forfeiture is committed, perpetrated or done for any offence whatsoever whereby there is given cause of seizure and forfeiture to the lord of the manor for the time being, yet by the custom of the same manor, the said forfeiture notwithstanding, they to whom the same so forfeited should descend, remain, come, or grow after the death of such tenant so offending, should and may lawfully claim all and singular such tenements so forfeited or seized after the death of such offender, as though no such forfeiture had been made; And where by the custom of the said manor all and every the tenants of the said manor should and ought to have from time to time in the woods of the lord of the said manor sufficient timber for reparations of their said tenements customary at the assignment of the lord or his officers, and if the lord the same refuse to do upon reasonable request being thereof made to the said lord or his steward of his court for the time being, if then their said tenements decay, or fall down in default of reparations, there shall nor ought any forfeiture or seizure to be made for any such waste; And where the widows of the tenants customary of the said manor should and ought by the custom of the said manor have their widow's estate for one penny only; And where by their further custom the eldest son, brother or next cousin, male or female, should inherit and have the said customaries and after the decease of their ancestors only; And where by the custom of the said manor it is lawful for the said tenants as aforesaid to assign and demise the several tenements for years to any person or persons at their will and pleasure, yet nevertheless by the custom of the said manor it hath been lawful for the lord of the said manor misliking the said undertenant upon one year's warning to expel and put out such tenant, after which it shall be lawful for the said tenants that so did demise or let their tenements to re-enter and the same to enjoy as before, and after to let the same as before to any person or persons in manner and form aforesaid, until such person shall be by the lord misliked and expulsed as aforesaid; And where by the further custom of the said manor the said tenants and every of them and their heirs and assigns should and ought to have the masting of their own hogs in the time of mast in the north woods of the said manor of Slindon, and likewise the pasturing of their cattle and sheep in the said woods and in all other the lord's commons of the said manor, paying for the ovissing[256] and masting of every hog 2d. only; And whereas by the further custom of the said manor the tenants aforesaid have and may at their will and pleasure surrender into the hands of two tenants of the said manor out of the court, or into the hands of the lord or his steward in the court, to the use of any person or person of such estate as they shall declare and limit upon the said surrender, yet nevertheless by the custom of the said manor it is not lawful for any tenant of the said manor to convey, surrender or alienate any one part, parcel or piece of their tenement customary, unless he give and surrender the whole to the use of one only person in possession; And where the youngest tenant of any customary tenement for the time being ought to be crier in the lord's court by the custom of the said manor: All which customs are not only to be proved to be the old and ancient customs of the said manor, but also now of late the said Anthony Kempe hath by his deed indented declared the same to be true in manner and form as it is before alleged; And where by the said Indenture the said Anthony Kempe hath further, for and in consideration of a further and a new rent of eight pounds to him granted, and for and in consideration of twenty pounds to him paid, and for and in consideration to make a perpetual and final end of all controversies heretofore moved and after to be moved, doth further covenant and grant in the said indenture that it shall be lawful for the customary tenants and copyholders of the said manor to enclose, and sever, and severally to hold to them and to their heirs and assigns forever six score acres of land, parcel of the wastes of the lords of the said manor, wherein they now have common, in such place convenient to be limited before the feast of Easter next coming, by consent of two persons to be named by the said Anthony Kempe and two other persons by the said tenants; All the which premises notwithstanding, the said Anthony Kempe doth against all conscience utterly deny unto your Lordship's said orators their said customs and the aforesaid further agreement according to the said indenture, and doth daily vex your said orators quietly to have and enjoy their said customary tenants [_sic_] with their appurtenances according to the customs aforesaid. May it therefore please your good lordship the premises favourably tendering to grant the Queen's Majesty's writ of _subpoena_ to be directed to the said Anthony Kempe commanding him thereby personally to appear in this honourable Court at a day certain in the said writ of _subpoena_ mentioned, then and there upon his corporal oath to answer to the premises and to abide such order therein as to your Lordship shall upon the truth of the matter appearing seem according to equity; and your said poor orators shall daily pray to God for the continual preservation of your honor.

EDWARD FENNER.

[Footnote 256: _i.e._ Pasturing.]

5. LEASE[257] OF THE MANOR OF ABLODE TO A FARMER [_Rolls Series. Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Gloucestriæ, Vol. III, pp. 291-5_], 1516.

This indenture made on the 5th day of October in the seventh year of King Henry VIII between William ... Abbot of St. Peter ... of the one part and Richard Cockes and Catharine his wife ... and William and John, sons of the said Richard and Catharine, of the other part, witnesseth, that the aforesaid Abbot and Convent ... have leased, demised, and to farm let to Richard, Catharine, William, and John, the site of their Manor of Ablode, situated in the county of Gloucester, with all its houses, buildings, arable lands, meadows, feedings and pastures, dovecotes, weir, waters, fishpools, and rabbit warrens, with all and everything thereto pertaining. And the said abbot and convent have leased to the aforesaid ... divers goods and chattels, moveable, and immoveable, pertaining to the said manor. ... Moreover the said abbot and convent have leased to the said ... 320 sheep remaining for stock on the said manor, priced per head at 16d., which amounts in all to the sum of 21l. 6s. 8d., together with their meadows, pastures and all easements ... needed for the support of the said sheep.... Furthermore the said abbot and convent have leased to the aforesaid ... divers lands and demesne meadows belonging to the said manor, when the reversion thereof shall in any way have occurred, which lands and demesne meadows are now occupied by the customary tenants of the lord, as is plain from the rental drawn on the back of the present indenture.... And it shall be lawful for the aforesaid Richard, Catharine, William and John, or any of them to introduce at their pleasure new tenants on all those demesne lands aforesaid, now in the hands of the tenants there, whenever the aforesaid reversion shall have fallen in.

[Footnote 257: The most interesting clauses in the lease are (_a_) that which relates to the leasing of the stock of the manor ("Stock and land lease"); (_b_) the last, which shows how the practice of leasing a manor to one large farmer replaced the earlier practice of leasing parts of it to numerous small tenants.]

6. LEASE OF THE MANOR OF SOUTH NEWTON TO A FARMER [_Roxburghe Club, Surveys of the lands belonging to William Earl of Pembroke_], 1568.

John Rabbett holds to himself and his assigns, by an indenture dated November 28 in the fourth year of Elizabeth, at a fine of £120, the whole site of the farm of the Manor of South Newton in the county of Wilts., all its demesne lands, meadows, marshes, pastures, commons, fisheries, and the customary works of the tenants in South Newton, Stovord, and Childhampton, with all and singular their appurtenances in the above-mentioned South Newton belonging to the site and the farm or of old demised to farm with the above-mentioned site, as fully as Lewis ap Jevan had and occupied it, and also one virgate of land and one ham of meadow, lying in the afore-mentioned South Newton, called the Parson's yardland and ham with a sheep pasture, ... excepted and altogether reserved to the lord and his heirs the advowson of the vicarage there; the said John Rabbett and his assigns to have and to hold the aforesaid ... from Michaelmas before this indenture for the full term of 21 years, paying thence yearly to the lord for the aforesaid farm and site with its appurtenances

per bs. 12d. 4l.
10 quarters of wheat
prec. cap. 4d. 6s. 8d.
20 capons,

per bs. 8d. 106s. 8d.
29 quarters of barley,
prec. cap. 4d. 6s. 8d.
20 pigeons,

per bs. 3d. 26s. 8d.
[_sic_]
10 quarters of oats
prec. cap. 4d. 4s.
12 great fish called great Trouts.

and for the aforesaid virgate of land ... 13s. at the usual terms, with all other clauses and agreements, as is set forth at length in the indenture placed in the register. And be it known that the grain, capons, and pigeons and fish are valued at the rate written above the head of each kind. And there belong to the farm of arable land 55 acres in Middlefield, 60 acres in Westfield, and 60 acres in Eastfield, and one meadow called Long Ham lying in a close and containing 11-1/2 acres, and the cropping of one meadow called Duttenham lying in the west part of Wishford containing 10-1/2 acres, one meadow called Beymeade containing 4-1/2 acres lying on the north-west side of South Newton, and one curtilage near the barn containing 2 acres, and a hill called the Down estimated to contain 100 acres, and it is able to keep 500 sheep, 36 cattle, and 12 horses. And there belong to the aforesaid virgate of land, called the Parson's Yardland, of arable land in Southfield 6-1/2 acres, in Middlefield 8-1/2 acres, in Northfield 6 acres, and one ham of meadow, pasture for 10 cows, 1 bull, and 120 sheep with the farmer, 14s.

4l.
Wheat 10 qrs.
106s. 8d.
Barley 20 qrs.
26s. 8d.
Oats 10 qrs.
6s. 8d.
Capons 20.
6s. 8d.
Pigeons 20.
4s.
Fish 12.

7. THE AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE [_Gairdner, Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII, Vol_. xi, 1246], 1536.

9. That the lands in Westmoreland, Cumberland, Dent, Sedbergh, Furness, and the abbey lands in Mashamshire, Kyrkbyshire, Notherdale, may be by tenant right, and the Lords to have, at every change, 2 years rent for gressum, according to the grant now made by the Lords to the Commons there. This is to be done by Act of Parliament.

13. The statute for enclosures and intacks to be put in execution, and all enclosures and intacks since 4 Hen. VII to be pulled down, except mountains, forests, and parks.

8. THE DEMANDS OF THE REBELS LED BY KET [_Harl. MSS. 304, f. 75. Printed by Russell, Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk, p. 48_], 1549.

We pray your grace that where it is enacted for enclosing that it be not hurtful to such as have enclosed saffron grounds, for they be greatly chargeable to them, and that from henceforth no man shall enclose any more.[258]

We certify your grace that whereas the lords of the manors hath been charged with certe free rent, the same lords hath sought means to charge the freeholders to pay the same rent, contrary to right.

We pray your grace that no lord of no manor shall common upon the commons.

We pray that priests from henceforth shall purchase no lands neither free nor Bondy, and the lands that they have in possession may be letten to temporal men, as they were in the first year of the reign of King Henry the VII.

We pray that reed ground and meadow ground may be at such price as they were in the first year of King Henry the VII.

We pray that all marshes that are holden of the King's Majesty by free rent or of any other, may be again at the price that they were in the first year of King Henry VII.

We pray that all bushels within your realm be of one stice, that is to say, to be in measure viii gallons.

We pray that [priests] or vicars that be [not able] to preach and set forth the word of God to his parishioners may be thereby put from his benefice, and the parishioners there to choose another, or else the patron or lord of the town.

We pray that the payments of castleward rent, and blanch farm and office lands, which hath been accustomed to be gathered of the tenements, whereas we suppose the lords ought to pay the same to their bailiffs for their rents gathering, and not the tenants.

We pray that no man under the degree of a knight or esquire keep a dove house, except it hath been of an old ancient custom.

We pray that all freeholders and copyholders may take the profits of all commons, and there to common, and the lords not to common nor take profits of the same.

We pray that no feodary within your shires shall be a councillor to any man in his office making, whereby the King may be truly served, so that a man being of good conscience may be yearly chosen to the same office by the commons of the same shire.

We pray your grace to take all liberty of let into your own hands whereby all men may quietly enjoy their commons with all profits.

We pray that copyhold land that is unreasonably rented may go as it did in the first year of King Henry VII, and that at the death of a tenant or at a sale the same lands to be charged with an easy fine as a capon or a reasonable [sum] of money for a remembrance.

We pray that no priest [shall be chaplain] nor no other officer to any man of honour or worship, but only to be resident upon their benefices whereby their parishioners may be instructed with the laws of God.

We pray that all bond men may be made free, for God made all free with his precious blood-shedding.

We pray that rivers may be free and common to all men for fishing and passage.

We pray that no man shall be put by your escheator and feodary to find any office unless he holdeth of your Grace in chief or capite above xl._l_ by year.

We pray that the poor mariners or fishermen may have the whole profits of their fishings as porpoises, grampuses, whales or any great fish, so it be not prejudicial to your Grace.