Chapter V: Manors and Serfdom Under Saxon Rule (1)

I. THE SAXON 'HAMS' AND 'TUNS' WERE MANORS WITH VILLAGE COMMUNITIES IN SERFDOM UPON THEM.

«The _hams_ and _tuns_ were manors.»

Having now ascertained that the open field system was prevalent during Saxon, and probably pre-Saxon times, we have next to inquire whether the 'hams' and 'tuns' to which the common fields belonged were manors--_i.e._ estates with a village community in serfdom upon them--or whether, on the contrary, there once dwelt within them a free village community holding their yard-lands by freehold or allodial tenure.

Let us at once dismiss from the question the word 'manor.' It was the _name_ generally used in the Domesday Survey, for a _thing_ described in the Survey as already existing at the time of Edward the Confessor. The estate called a manor was certainly as much a Saxon institution under the Confessor as it was a _Norman_ one afterwards.

The Domesday book itself does not always adhere to this single word '_manor_' throughout its pages. [p127]

The word _manerium_ gives place in the Exeter Survey to the word _villa_ for the whole manor, and _mansio_ for the manor-house; and the same words, _villa_ and _mansio_, are also used in the instructions[153] given at the commencement of the _Inquisitio Eliensis_. It is perfectly clear, then, that what was called a _manor_ or _villa_, both in the west and in the east of England, was in fact the estate of a lord with a village community in villenage upon it.

In the Boldon Book also the word _villa_ is used instead of manor.

So in Saxon documents the whole manor or estate was called by various names, generally '_ham_' or '_tun_.'

«King Alfred's will.»

In King Alfred's will[154] estates in the south-east of England, including the villages upon them, which by Norman scribes would have been called manors, are described as _hams_ (the _ham_ at such a place). In the old English version of the will given in the 'Liber de Hyda'[155] the word '_twune_' is used to translate 'ham,' and in the Latin version the word 'villa.'[156]

«Parable of the prodigal son.»

In the Saxon translation of the parable of the prodigal son, the country estate of the citizen--the '_burh-sittenden man_'--to which the prodigal was sent to feed swine, and where he starved upon the 'bean-cods' that the swine did eat, was the citizen's '_tune_.'[157]

So that the '_hams_' and '_tuns_' of Saxon times were in fact commonly private estates with villages upon them, _i.e._ manors.

«Grants of whole manors.»

This fact is fully borne out by the series of Saxon [p128] charters from first to last. They generally, as already said, contain grants of _whole_ manors in this sense, including the villages upon them, with all the village fields, pastures, meadows, &c., embraced within the boundaries given. And these boundaries are the boundaries of the _whole village or township_--_i.e._ of the whole estate.

«Saxon words.»

Further, a careful examination of Anglo-Saxon documents will show that the Saxon manors, not only at the time of Edward the Confessor, as shown by the Domesday Survey, but also long previously, were divided into the land of the lord's _demesne_ and the land _in villenage_, though the Norman phraseology was not yet used. The lord of the manor was a _thane_ or '_hlaford_.' The demesne land was the _thane's inland_. All classes of villeins were called _geneats_. The land in villenage was the _geneat-land_, or the _gesettes-land_, or sometimes the _gafol-land_. And further, this _geneat-_, or _gesettes-_, or _gafol-land_ was composed, like the later land in villenage, of hides and yard-lands, whilst the villein tenants of it, as in the Domesday Survey, were divided mainly into two classes: (1) the _geburs_ (villani proper), or holders of yard-lands; and (2) the _cottiers_ with their smaller holdings. Beneath these two classes of holders of _geneat_ land were the _theows_ or slaves, answering to the _servi_ of the Survey. Lastly, there is clear evidence that this was so as early as the date of the laws of King Ine, which claim to represent the customs of the seventh century.

To the proof of these points attention must now be directed. [p129]

II. THE RECTITUDINES SINGULARUM PERSONARUM.

In order to make these points clear, attention must be turned to a remarkable document, the Saxon version of which dates probably from the tenth, and the Latin translation from the twelfth century.[158]

«The '_Rectitudines_,' tenth century.»

It is entitled the '_Rectitudines Singularum Personarum_,' which may be translated '_the services due from various persons_.'

It commences with two general sections, the first relating to the services of the '_thane_,' and the second to those of the '_geneat_.'

«Thane's services.»

«Geneat's or villein's services.»

ÐEGENES LAGU.

Degenes lagu is ꝥ he sy his boc-rihtes wyrðe. ⁊ ꝥ he ðreo ðinc of his lande do. fyrd-færeld. ⁊ burhbote ⁊ bryc-geweorc. Eac of manegum landum mare land-riht arist to cyniges gebanne. swilce is deorhege to cyniges hame. ⁊ scorp to frið-scipe. ⁊ sæ-weard. ⁊ heafod-weard. ⁊ fyrd-weard. ælmes-feoh. ⁊ cyric-sceat. ⁊ mænige oðeremistliceðingc. ►

TAINI LEX.

Taini lex est, ut sit dignus rectitudine testamenti sui, et ut ita faciat pro terra sua, scilicet, expeditionem, burh-botam et brig-botam. Et de multis terris majus landirectum exurgit ad bannum regis, sicut est deorhege ad mansionem regiam et sceorpum inhosticum, et custodiam maris et capitis, et pacis, et elmesfeoh, id est pecunia elemosine et ciricsceatum, et alie res multimode.

THANE'S LAW.

_The thane's law is that he be worthy of his_ boc-rights, _and that he do three things for his land_, fyrd-færeld, burh-bot, _and_ brig-bot. _Also from many lands more land-services are due at the king's bann, as deer-hedging at the king's_ ham, _and apparel for the guard, and_ sea-ward _and_ head-ward _and_ fyrd-ward _and_ almsfee _and_ kirkshot, _and many other various things_. [p130]

GENEATES RIHT.

Geneat-riht is mistlic be ðam ðe on lande stænt. On sumon he sceal land-gafol syllan ⁊ gærsswyn on geare. ⁊ ridan ⁊ auerian ⁊ lade lædan. wyrcan ⁊ hlaford feormian. ⁊ ripan ⁊ mawan. deorhege heawan. ⁊ sæte haldan. bytlian. ⁊ burh hegegian nige faran to tune feccan. cyric-sceat syllan ⁊ ælmes-feoh. heafod-wearde. healdan ⁊ hors-wearde. ærendian. fyr swa nyr. swa hwyder swa him mon to-tæcð. ►

VILLANI RECTUM.

Villani rectum est varium et multiplex, secundum quod in terra statutum est. In quibusdam terris debet dare landgablum et gærsswin, id est, porcum herbagii, et equitare vel averiare, et summagium ducere, operari, et dominum suum firmare, metere et falcare, deorhege cedere, et stabilitatem observare, edificare et circumsepire, novam faram adducere, ciricsceatum dare et almesfeoh, id est, pecuniam elemosine, heafod-wardam custodire et horswardam, in nuncium ire, longe vel prope, quocunque dicetur ei.

GENEAT'S SERVICES.

_The geneat's services are various as on the land is fixed. On some he shall pay_ land-gafol _and_ grass-swine _yearly, and ride, and carry, and lead loads; work and support his lord, and reap and mow, cut deer-hedge and keep it up, build, and hedge the_ burh, _make new roads for the_ tun: _pay_ kirkshot _and_ almsfee: _keep_ head-ward _and_ horse-ward: _go errands far or near wherever he is directed_.

Then follow what really are sub-sections of the latter clause, and they describe the services of the various classes of _geneats_; first of the cottiers.

«Cottier's services.»

KOT-SETLAN RIHT.

Kote-setlan riht. be ðam ðe on lande stent. On sumon he sceal ælce Mon-dæge ofer geares fyrst his laforde wyrcan. oðð .III. dagas ælcre wucan on hærfest.

ne ðearf he land-gafol syllan. Wim ge-byriað [.V.] æceras to habbanne. mare gyf hit on lande ðeaw sy. ⁊ to lytel hit bið beo hit a læsse. forðan his weorc sceal beon oft-ræde. sylle his heorð-pænig on halgan Ðunres dæg. eal swa ælcan frigean men gebyreð. ⁊ werige hid hlafordes inland. gif him man beode. æt sæ-wearde ⁊ æt cyniges deor-hege. ⁊ æt swilcan ðingan swilc his mæð sy. ⁊ sylle his cyric-sceat to Martinus mæssan. ►

COTSETLE RECTUM.

Cotsetle rectum est juxta quod in terra constitutum est. Apud quosdam debet omni die Lune per anni spatium operari domino suo, et tribus diebus unaquaque septimana in Augusto. Apud quosdam operatur per totum Augustum, omni die, et unam acram avene metit pro diurnale opere. Et habeat garbam suam quam præpositus vel minister domini dabit ei. Non dabit landgablum. Debet habere quinque acras ad perhabendum, plus si consuetudo sit ibi, et parum nimis est si minus sit quod deservit, quia sepius est operi illius. Det super heorðpenig in sancto die Jovis, sicut omnis liber facere debet, et adquietet inland domini sui, si submonitio fiat de sewarde, id est de custodia maris, vel de regis deorhege, et ceteris rebus que sue mensure sunt; et det suum cyricsceatum in festo Scĩ Martini.

COTTIER'S SERVICES.

_The cottier's services are what on the land is fixed. On some he shall each Monday in the year work for his lord, and three days a week in harvest._

_He ought not to pay_ land-gafol. _He ought to have_ five acres _in his holding, more if it be the custom on the land, and too little it is if it be less: because his work is often required. He pays_ hearth-penny _on Holy Thursday, as pertains to every freeman, and defends his lord's inland, if he is required, from_ sea-ward _and from king's_ deer-hedge, _and from such things as befit his degree. And he pays his kirkshot at Martinmas_.

Then the services of the _gebur_ or holder of a _yard-land_ are described as follows:--

«Gebur's services.»

«Week-work.»

«Gafol.»

«Bene-work.»

«Gafol-yrth.»

«Outfit of two oxen to yard-land.»

GEBURES GERIHTE.

Gebur-gerihta syn mislice. gehwar hy syn hefige. gehwar eac medeme. on sumen lande is ꝥ he sceal wyrcan to wic-weorce .II. dagas. swilc weorc swilc him man tæcð ofer geares fyrst. ælcre wucan. ⁊ on hærfest .III. dagas to wic-weorce. ⁊ of Candelmæsse oð Eastran .III. gif he aferað ne ðearf he wyrcan ða hwile ðe his hors ute bið. He sceal syllan on Michaeles mæsse-dæig .X. gafol-ƥ. ⁊ on Martinus mæsse-dæg .XXIII. systra beres. ⁊ II. henfugelas. on Eastran an geong sceap. oððe .II. ƥ. ⁊ he sceal licgan of Martinus mæssan oð Eastran æt hlafordes falde. swa oft swa him to-begæð. ⁊ of ðam timan ðe man ærest ereð oð Martinus mæssan he sceal ælcre wucan erian .I. æcer. ⁊ rædan sylf ꝥ sæd on hlafordes berne. to-eacan ðam .III. æceras to bene. ⁊ .II. to gærsyrðe. gyf he maran gærses beðyrfe ðonne earnige [erige?] ðæs swa him man ðafige. His gauol-yrðe .III. æceras erige ⁊ sawe of his aganum berne. ⁊ sylle his heorð-pænig. twegen ⁊ twegen fedan ænne heador-hund. ⁊ ælc gebur sylle .VI. hlafas ðam in-swane ðonne he his heorde to mæs-tene drife. On ðam sylfum lande ðe ðeos ræden on-stænt gebure gebyreð ꝥ him man to land-setene sylle .II. oxan ⁊ .I. cu. ⁊ .VI. sceap. ⁊ .VII. æceras gesawene on his gyrde landes. forðige ofer ꝥ gear ealle gerihtu ðe him to-gebyrigean. ⁊ sylle him man tol to his weorce ⁊ andlaman to his huse. Ðonne him forð-sið gebyrige gyme his hlaford ðæs he læfe. ►

Ðeos land-lagu stænt on suman lande. gehwar hit is swa ic ær cwæð hefigre gehwar eac leohtre. forðam ealle land-sida ne syn gelice. On sumen lande gebur sceal syllan hunig-gafol. on suman mete-gafol. on suman ealu-gafol. Þedeseðe scirehealde ꝥ he wite á hwæt eald land-ræden sy. ⁊ hwæt ðeode ðeaw. ►

GEBURI CONSUETUDINES.

Geburi consuetudines inveniuntur multimode, et ubi sunt onerose et ubi sunt leviores aut medie. In quibusdam terris operatur opus septimane, II. dies, sic opus sicut ei dicetur per anni spatium, omni septimana; et in Augusto III. dies pro septimanali operatione, et a festo Candelarum ad usque Pascha III. Si averiat, non cogitur operari quamdiu equus ejus foris moratur. Dare debet in festo Scĩ Michaelis X. đ. de gablo, et Scĩ Martini die XXIII., et sestarium ordei, et II. gallinas. Ad Pascha I. ovem juvenem vel II. đ. Et jacebit a festo Scĩ Martini usque ad Pascha ad faldam domini sui, quotiens ei pertinebit. Et a termino quo primitus arabitur usque ad festum Scĩ Martini arabit unaquaque septimana I. acram, et ipse parabit semen domini sui in horreo. Ad hæc III. acras precum, et duas de herbagio. Si plus indigeat herbagio, arabit proinde sicut ei permittatur. De aratura gabli sui arabit III. acras, et seminabit de horreo suo et dabit suum heorðpenig; et duo et duo pascant unum molossum. Et omnis geburus det VI. panes porcario curie quando gregem suum minabit in pastinagium. In ipsa terra ubi hec consuetudo stat, moris est ut ad terram assidendam dentur ei II. boves et I. vacca, et VI. oves, et VII. acre seminate, in sua virgata terra. Post illum illum annum faciat omnes rectitudines que ad eum attinent; et committantur ei tela ad opus suum et suppellex ad domum suam. Si mortem obeat, rehabeat dominus suus omnia.

Hæc consuetudo stat in quibusdam locis, et alicubi est, sicut prediximus, gravior, et alicubi levior; quia omnium terrarum instituta non sunt equalia. In quibusdam locis gebur dabit hunigablum, in quibusdam metegablum, in quibusdam ealagablum. Videat qui scyram tenet, ut semper sciat que sit antiqua terrarum institutio, vel populi consuetudo.

GEBUR'S SERVICES.

_The Gebur's services are various, in some places heavy, in others moderate. On some land he must work at_ week-work _two days at such work as he is required through the year every week, and at harvest three days for_ week-work, _and from Candlemas to Easter three. If he do carrying he has not to work while his horse is out. He shall pay on Michaelmas Day_ x. _gafol-pence, and on Martinmas Day_ xxiii. _sesters of barley and two hens; at Easter a young sheep or two pence; and he shall lie from Martinmas to Easter at his lord's fold as often as he is told. And from the time that they first, plough to Martinmas he shall each week plough one acre, and prepare himself the seed in his lord's barn. Also_ iii. _acres_ bene-work, _and_ ii. _to_ grass-yrth. _If he needs more grass then he ploughs for it as he is allowed. For his_ gafol-yrth _he ploughs_ iii. _acres, and sows it from his own barn. And he pays his_ hearth-penny. _Two and two feed one hound, and each gebur gives_ vi. _loaves to the swineherd when he drives his herd to mast. On that land where this custom holds it pertains to the gebur that he shall have given to him for his outfit_ ii. _oxen and_ i. _cow and_ vi. _sheep, and_ vii. _acres sown on his_ yard-land. _Wherefore after that year he must perform all services which pertain to him. And he must have given to him tools for his work, and utensils for his house. Then when he dies his lord takes back what he leaves._

_This land-law holds on some lands, but here and there, as I have said, it is heavier or lighter, for all land services are not alike. On some land the gebur shall pay_ honey-gafol, _on some_ meat-gafol, _on some_ ale-gafol. _Let him who is over the district take care that he knows what the old land-customs are, and what are the customs of the people._

Then follow the special services of the beekeeper, oxherd, cowherd, shepherd, goatherd, &c, upon which we need not dwell here; and the document concludes with another declaration that the services vary according to the custom of each district. [p134]

«Correspondence with the Domesday Survey.»

This important document is therefore a general description of the services due from the thane to the king, and from the classes in villenage to their manorial lord. And it might be the very model from which the form of the Domesday Survey was taken. Both, in fact, first speak of the lord of the manor, and then of the villein tenants; the latter being in both cases divided into the two main classes of villani and cottiers; for, as already stated, the Saxon _thane_ answered to the Norman _lord_, the Saxon _gebur_ answered to the _villanus_ of the Survey, and the _cotsetle_ to the cottier or _bordarius_ of the Survey. But these various classes require separate consideration.

III. THE THANE AND HIS SERVICES.

«The thane's 'three needs.'»

The '_Rectitudines_' begins with the thane or lord of the manor; and informs us that he owed his military and other services (for his manor) to the king--always including the three great needs--the _trinoda necessitas_; viz. (1) to accompany the king in his military expeditions, or _fyrd_; (2) to aid in the building of his castles, or _burhbote_; (3) to maintain the bridges, or _brigbote_.

«Thane's 'inland.'»

The lord's demesne land was called the 'thane's inland.' So, too, in a law of King Edgar's already quoted, the tithes are ordered to be paid 'as well on the _thane's inland_ as on _geneat land_,' showing that this distinction between the two was exhaustive.

So also in Scotland, where the old Saxon words were not so soon displaced by Norman terms as in [p135] England, the lord of a manor was long called the _thane_ of such and such a place. In the chronicler Wintoun's story of Macbeth, as well as in Shakespeare's version of it, there are the 'thane of Fyfe' and the 'thane of Cawdor.'

«Scotch example of burhbote.»

And the circumstance which, according to Wintoun, gave rise to Macbeth's hatred of Macduff is itself a graphic illustration of the 'burhbote,' or aid in castle-building due from the thane to his king:--

And in Scotland than as kyng This Makbeth mad gret steryng And set hym than in hys powere A gret hows for to mak off were Upon the hycht off Dwnsynane. Tymbyr thare-till to draw and stane Off Fyfe and off Angws he Gert mony oxin gadryd be. Sa on a day in thare traivaile A yhok off oxyn Makbeth saw fayle, Than speryt Makbeth quha that awcht The yhoke that fayled in that drawcht. Thai awnsweryd till Makbeth agayne, And sayd, 'Makduff off Fyffe the Thane That ilk yhoke off oxyn awcht That he saw fayle in to the drawcht.' Than spak Makbeth dyspytusly, And to the Thane sayd angryly, Lyk all wythyn in hys skin, Hys awyn nek he suld put in The yhoke and gev hym drawchtis drawe.[159]

«The thane as a soldier.»

But the military service was by far the most important of 'the three needs' or services due from the thane to the king. The thane was a _soldier_ first of all things. The very word _thane_ implies this. In translating the story of the centurion who had soldiers under him, the Saxon Gospel makes the [p136] 'Hundredes ealdor' say, '_I have thanes_ under me' (ic hæbbe þegnas under me).[160] And though the text of the translation may not be earlier than the tenth century, yet, as the meaning of words does not change suddenly, it shows that the military service of the thane dated from a still earlier period.

And just as in Norman times the barons and their Norman followers (_Francigenæ eorum_) were marked off from the population in villenage as companions or associates of the king or some great earl, or as they might now be called 'county men,' so the Saxon thanes 400 years before the Norman Conquest were 'Gesithcundmen,' in respect of their obligation to 'do fyrd-færeld,' _i.e._ to accompany the king in his royal expeditions. But this association with the king did not break the bond of _service_. By the laws of King Ine[161] the _gesithcundmen_ were fined and forfeited their land if they neglected their 'fyrd:'--

LI. Gif gesiðcund mon land-agende forsitte fyrde geselle .c.xx. scill. ⁊ þolie his landes.

51. If a gesithcund man owning land neglect the _fyrd_, let him pay cxx. shillings and forfeit his land.

«As a landlord.»

But the 'gesithcund' thanes were landlords as well as soldiers. And King Ine found it needful to enact laws to secure that they performed their landlord's duties. They must not absent themselves from their manors without provision for the cultivation of the land. When he _færes_, _i.e._ goes on long expeditions, a gesithcundman may take with him on his journey his reeve, his smith to forge his weapons, and his child's fosterer, or nurse.[162] But if he have xx. hides of land, he must show xii. hides at least of [p137] gesettes land on his manor; if he have x. hides, vi. hides of gesettes land; and if he have iii. hides, one and a half hides of gesettes land before he absents himself from his manor.[163]

«The _geneat_, _geset_, or _gafol_ land.»

That 'geset land' was a general and rather loose term meaning the same thing as 'geneat land' is clear from a charter of A.D. 950, which will be referred to hereafter, wherein a manor is described as containing xxx. hides, ix. of inland and xxi. of 'gesettes land,' and the latter is said to contain so many yard-lands ('gyrda gafol-landes'). This instance also helps us to understand how _gafol land_, and _gesettes land_, and _geneat land_ were all interchangeable terms--all, in fact, meaning 'land in villenage,' to the tenants on which we must now turn our attention.

IV. THE GENEATS AND THEIR SERVICES.

«_Geneat_ land was land in villenage.»

It has been shown that the Saxon thane's estate or manor was divided into _thane's inland_ or demesne land, and _geneat land_ or _gesettes land_, answering to the land in villenage of the Domesday Survey. Let us now examine into the nature of the villenage on the geneat land under Saxon rule.

'Gesettes land' etymologically seems to mean simply land set or let out to tenants. In the parable of the vineyard, the Saxon translation makes the '_wíngeardes hlaford[164] gesette_' it out to husbandmen (gesette þone myd eorð-tylion) before he takes his journey into a far country, and the husbandmen are to pay him as tribute a portion of the annual fruits. [p138]

«Need of husbandmen.»

In early times, when population was scanty, there was a lack of husbandmen.

King Alfred, in his Saxon translation of Boethius, into which he often puts observations of his own, expresses in one of the most often quoted of these interpolations what doubtless his own experience had shown him, viz., that 'a king must have his tools to reign with--his realm must be well peopled--full manned.' Unless there are priests, soldiers, and workmen--'_gebedmen_, _fyrdmen_, and _weorcmen_'--no king, he says, can show his craft.[165]

We are to take it, then, that population was still scanty, that a thane's manor was not always as well stocked with husbandmen as the necessities of agriculture required. The nation must be fed as well as defended, and both these economic needs were imperative. How, then, was a thane to plant new settlers on his 'gesettes-land'?

«_Settene stuht_, or outfit of _geburs_.»

We have seen the Kelso monks furnishing their tenants with their outfit or '_stuht_'--the two oxen needful to till the husbandland of two bovates; also a horse, and enough of oats, barley, and wheat for seed. The '_Rectitudines_' shows that in the tenth century this custom had long been followed by Saxon landlords. It further shows that the new tenants so created were settled on _yard-lands_, and called _geburs_.

«Two oxen to yard-land.»

It states that in some places it is the custom that in settling the _gebur_ on the land, there shall be given to him 'to _land setene_' (_i.e._ as 'stuht' or outfit) two oxen, one cow, six sheep, and seven acres sown on his _yard-land_ or virgate. Then after the first year [p139] he performs the usual services. Having been supplied by his lord, not only with his stuht, but also even with tools for his work and utensils for his house, it is not surprising that on his death everything reverted to his lord.

The gebur here answers exactly to the villanus of post-Domesday times.[166] His normal holding is the _yard-land_ or virgate. His _stuht_, which goes with the yard-land 'to setene,' or for outfit, is two oxen, one cow, &c.; _i.e._ one ox for each of the two bovates which made up the yard-land.

That this was the usual outfit of the yard-land, and that the yard-land at the same time was the one-fourth part of the _sulung_ or full plough-land, in still earlier times than the date of the '_Rectitudines_,' receives clear confirmation from an Anglo-Saxon will dated A.D. 835, in which there is a gift of '_an half swulung_,' and 'to ðem londe iiii oxan & ii cy & 1 scepa,' &c.[167] The _half-sulung_ being the double of the yard-land, it is natural that the allowance for outfit in [p140] the bequest of oxen and cows should be just double the outfit assigned by custom to the yard-land. It is obvious that the allotment to the whole _sulung_ would be a full team of eight oxen.

«Services.»

The gebur, then, having been 'set' upon his yard land by his lord, and supplied with his _setene_ or 'stuht,' had to perform his services.

What were these services?

An examination of them as stated in the '_Rectitudines_' will show at once their close resemblance to those of the holders of virgates in villenage in post-Domesday times.

They may be classified in the same way as these were classified.

«Gafol.»

Some of them are called _gafol_; _i.e._ they were _tributes_ in money and in kind, and in work at ploughing, &c., in the nature rather of rent, rates, and taxes than anything else. They were as follows:

«_Gafol-yrth._»

At _Michaelmas_ x. gafol-pence.

At _Martinmas_ xxiii. sesters of barley and ii. hens.[168]

At _Easter_ a young sheep, or ii.d.

Of gafol-ploughing (_gafol_-yrð) to plough three acres, and sow it from his barn.

The hearth-penny.

With another gebur to feed a hound.

Six loaves to the swineherd of the manor, when he takes the flock to pasture.

In some places the gebur gives _honey-gafol_, in some _mete-gafol_, and in some _ale-gafol_.

«_Bene_-work.»

Next there were the _precariæ_ or _bene-work_, extra special services:

To plough three acres 'to bene' (_ad precem_), and two to 'gærsyrðe.'[169] [p141]

«Week-work.»

Lastly, the chief services were the regular _week-work_ (wic-weorc), generally limited to certain days a week according to the season.

'He shall work for week-work two days at such work as he is bid throughout the year, each week; and in August three days' week-work, and from Candlemas to Easter three days.'

«Thirty acres in yard-land; ten in each field.»

These were the services of the _gebur_ or _villanus_, and we may gather that his yard-land embraced the usual thirty acres or strips, _i.e._ ten strips in each of the three common fields of his village. This seems to follow from the fact that his outfit included '_seven acres sown_.' These seven acres were no doubt on the wheat-field which had to be sown before winter. It was seven acres, and not ten, because the crop on the other three counted as 'gafolyrð' to his lord, and this was not due the first season. The oats or beans on the second or spring-sown field he could sow for himself. The third field was in fallow. The only start he required was therefore the seven acres of wheat which must be sown before winter.

So much for the _gebur_; now as to the _cottier_.

«Cottier's holding of five acres, and his services.»

The cottier tenant, in respect of his five acres (more or less), rendered similar services on an humbler scale. His week-work was on Mondays each week throughout the year, three days a week at harvest. He was free from land-gafol, but paid hearth-penny and church-scot at Martinmas. The nature of his work was the ordinary service of the geneat as [p142] required by his lord from time to time; only, having no oxen, he was exempt from ploughing, as he was also after the Norman Conquest.

V. THE DOUBLE AND ANCIENT CHARACTER OF THE SERVICES OF THE GEBUR--GAFOL AND WEEK-WORK.

Returning to the services of the gebur, stress must be laid upon their double character. Like the later _villanus_ he paid a double debt to his lord in respect of his yard-land and outfit, or '_setene_'--(1) _gafol_; (2) week-work.

«Laws of King Ine.»

This is a point of great importance at this stage of the inquiry; for it gives us the key to the meaning of an otherwise almost unintelligible passage in the laws of King Ine[170], which bears directly upon the matter in hand.

«Geset-land.»

This passage immediately follows those already quoted, requiring one-half or more of the land of the absentee landlord to be 'gesettes land.'

It follows in natural order after this requirement, because it evidently relates to the process of increasing the number of tenants on the gesettes land, so introducing new geburs or villani, with new yard-lands or virgates, into the village community. The clause is as follows:

«Yard-land.»

«_Gafol_ and _weorc_.»

BE GYRDE LONDES.

Gif mon geþingað gyrðe lander oþþe mære to pæðe-gafole. ⁊ geereð. gif se hlaforð him pile ꝥ lanð aræran to weorce ⁊ to gafole. ne þearf he him onfón gif he lum nan botl ne selð. . . .

OF A YARD OF LAND.

If a man agree for a yard-land or more at a fixed _gafol_ and plough it, if the lord desire to raise the land to him _to work and to gafol_, he need not take it upon him, if the lord do not give him a dwelling. . . . [p143]

The meaning of it apparently is that if a man agree for a yard-land or more to 'ræd-gafol' (_i.e._ at such gafol payments as have been described), and plough it, still the lord cannot put the new holding '_to weorce_ and _to gafole_,' that is, make the holder completely into a _gebur_ or villanus, owing both gafol and week-work to his lord, unless the lord also supply the homestead ('botl').

That the 'botl' or homestead was looked upon as the essential part of a man's holding is shown by another law of King Ine:--

LXVIII. Gif mon gesiðcundne monnan adrife. fordrife þy botle. næs þære setene. ►

68. If a gesithcund man be driven off, it must be from the _botl_, not the _setene_.

«The manor and serfdom in seventh century.»

Now the importance of these passages can hardly be exaggerated; for, if we may trust the genuineness of the laws of King Ine,[171] they show more clearly than anything else could do, that in the seventh century--400 years before the Domesday Survey--the manor was already to all intents and purposes what it was afterwards. They show that at that early date part of the land was in the lord's demesne and part let out to tenants, who when supplied by the lord with everything--their homestead and their yard-land--owed, not only customary tribute or _gafol_, but also '_weorc_' or service to the lord; and how otherwise could this 'weorce' be given then or afterwards [p144] except in the shape of labour on the lord's demesne, as is described in the '_Rectitudines_'?

It is worth while to notice that while the double debt of both gafol and week-work was due from the _gebur_ or _villanus_ proper, and the week-work was the most servile service, yet even the mere payment of gafol was the sign of a submission to an overlordship. It had a servile taint about it, as well it might, being paid apparently part in kind and part in work. As the class of free hired labourers had not yet been born into existence under these early Saxon economic conditions, in times when the _theows_ were the servants, so the modern class of farmers or free tenants at a rent of another's land had not yet come into being. It was the 'ceorl' who lived on 'gafol land,'[172] and to pay gafol was to do service, though of a limited kind.

«_Gafol_ a servile _tribute_.»

The Saxon translators of the Gospels rendered the question, 'Doth your master pay tribute?'[173] by the words '_gylt he gafol?_' And they used the same word _gafol_ also in translating the counter question, 'Of whom do kings take _tribute_, of their own people or of aliens?'

«Bede.»

So when Bede described the northern conquest of Ethelfred, king of the Northumbrians, over the Britons in A.D. 603, and spoke of the inhabitants as being either exterminated or subjugated, and their lands as either cleared for new settlers or _made tributary_ to the English, King Alfred in his translation expressed [p145] the latter alternative by the words 'set to gafol'--_to gafulgyldum gesette_.[174]

No doubt the Teutonic notion of a subjugated people was that of a people reduced to serfdom or villenage. _They_--the conquerors--were the nation, the freemen. The conquered race were the aliens, subjected to _gafol_ and servitude.

«Parable of 'the unjust steward.'»

Thus, recurring to the Saxon translation of the parable of 'the unjust steward,' one may recognise how perfectly naturally everything seemed to the translators to transfer itself to a Saxon thane's estate, and to translate itself into Saxon terms.[175]

The '_hlaford_' of the '_tun_' or manor had his '_tun-gerefa_' or reeve, just as the Saxon thane had. The land in villenage was occupied not by mere trade debtors of the lord, as our version has it, but by '_gafol-gyldan_'--tenants to whom land and goods of the lord had been entrusted, as Saxon tenants were entrusted with their 'setene,' and who, therefore, paid _gafol_ or tribute in kind. The natural _gafol_ of the tenant of an olive-garden would be so many 'sesters' of oil. The tenant of corn land would pay for _gafol_, like the English tenant of a yard-land _inter alia_ so [p146] many 'mittan' of wheat; and it was the duty of the unrighteous 'tun-gerefa,' or reeve of the manor, to collect the _gafol_ from these tenants, as it was the duty of the Saxon thane's reeve to gather the dues from his servile tenants.

How many otherwise free tenants hired yard-lands without becoming _geburs_, and rendering the full _week-work_ as well as _gafol_, we do not know. Except in the Danish district they seem to have left, as we have seen, no trace behind them on most manors in the Domesday Survey. The fact already mentioned, that the yard-lands of _geburs_, who owed both gafol and services, were sometimes called '_gyrda gafollandes_,' shows how completely the _gafol_ and the services had become united as coincidents of a common villein tenure. All villein tenants were apparently 'geneats' and paid 'gafol,' and there is a passage in the laws of King Edgar which states that if a _geneat-man_ after notice should persist in neglecting to pay his lord's _gafol_, he must expect that his lord in his anger will spare _neither his goods nor his life_.[176]

«Completeness of the evidence to the seventh century.»

On the whole, leaving out of notice doubtful and exceptional tenants, as well we may, we are now in a position to state generally what were the main classes of villein tenants in early Saxon times, and what were their holdings on the land in villenage, whether it were known as _geneat_, or _geset_, or _gafol_ land.

_First_, the '_Rectitudines_,' of the tenth century, describes, as we have seen, these tenants as all _geneats_ or villeins, and records their services in general terms. [p147] It then divides them into classes, just as the Domesday Survey does. And the two chief classes of the geneats are the _geburs_ and the cottiers. These two classes are evidently the _villani_ and the _bordarii_ or cottiers of the Domesday Survey.

_Secondly_, the same document describes the holdings of these two classes. It speaks of the cottiers as holding mostly five acres each--sometimes more and sometimes less--in singular coincidence with the Domesday Survey and later evidence. And it describes the _gebur_, as we have seen, as holding a _yard-land_ or _virgate_, the typical holding of the Domesday villanus, and as having allotted to him as 'outfit' two oxen, just as was the case with the Kelso husbandmen.

_Thirdly_, the laws of King Ine bring back the evidence to the seventh century by their incidental mention of the _yard-land_ as a typical holding on _geset-land_; and also of _half-hides_[177] and _hides_, as well as of _geneats_[178] and _geburs_,[179] with their _gafol_ and _weorc_.

When this concurrence of the evidence of the tenth and the seventh century is duly considered, it will be seen how complete is the proof that in the seventh century the West Saxon estate, though called a '_tun_' or a '_ham_,' was in reality a _manor_ in the Norman sense of the term--an estate with a village community in villenage upon it under a lord's jurisdiction. [p148]

VI. SERFDOM ON A MANOR of KING EDWY.

The evidence hitherto given on the nature of the serfdom on Anglo-Saxon manors has been of a general character.

We are fortunately able to confirm and illustrate it by reference to actual local instances.

«Manor of Tidenham.»

The first example is that of the manor of _Tidenham_, and it derives a more than ordinary value from its peculiar geographical position.

The parish of Tidenham comprises the wedge-shaped corner of Gloucestershire, shut in between the Wye and the Severn, where they join and widen into the Bristol Channel; while to the north-east, on its land side, it was surrounded by the Forest of Dean.

In the belief of local antiquaries, the Roman road from Gloucester to Caerleon-upon-Usk--the key to South Wales--passed through it as well as the western continuation of the old British road of Akeman Street from the landing-place of the Severn, opposite Aust (where St. Augustine is said to have met the Welsh Christians) to the further crossing-place on the Wye. Lastly, upon it was the southern end of _Offa's Dyke_, the mysterious rampart which, commencing thus at the mouth of the Wye, extended to the mouth of the Dee.[180]

«Saxon since A.D. 577,»

The manor probably has been in English hands ever since about the time when, according to the Saxon Chronicle, after Deorham battle in A.D. 577, Bath, Gloucester, and Cirencester were wrested from [p149] the Welsh by Ceawlin, king of the West Saxons. According to the Welsh legends of the _Liber Landavensis_[181] this was about the time when the diocese of Llandaff was curtailed by the Wye instead of the Severn becoming the boundary between the two kingdoms. It may therefore have been for nearly five centuries before the Norman Conquest the extreme corner of West Saxon England on the side of South Wales.

«was a royal manor,»

Conquered probably by Ceawlin, or soon after the year 577, the manor of Tidenham seems to have remained folkland or _terra regis_ of the West Saxon kings, till Offa conquered it from them and gave his name to the dyke upon it. One of its hamlets bore, as we shall find, the name of _Cinges tune_, and Tidenham Chase remained a royal chase till after the Norman Conquest.

«given by King Edwy, A.D. 956, to the Abbey of Bath.»

The manor itself was granted by King Edwy in A.D. 956 by charter[182] to the Abbot of Bath, under whose name it is registered in the Domesday Survey. It is in this charter of King Edwy that the description of the manor and of the services of the tenants is contained. The services must be regarded, therefore, as those of a royal manor before it was handed over to ecclesiastical hands.

«The boundaries still to be traced.»

The boundaries as appended to the charter are given below,[183] and may still, with slight exceptions, be traced on the Ordnance Survey. [p150]

The northern limit on the Severn is described as _Astege pul_, now, after a thousand years, known as _Ashwell Grange Pill_, the _puls_ of 1,000 years ago and the present _pills_ being the little streams which wear away a sort of miniature tidal estuary in the mudbanks as they empty themselves into the Severn and the Wye. Numbers of pills are marked in the Ordnance map, and as many 'puls' are mentioned in the boundaries of Saxon charters and those inserted in the _Liber Landavensis_.

«_Inland_ and _gesettes_ land.»

After the boundaries, under the heading '_Divisiones et consuetudines in Dyddanhamme_,'[184] the document proceeds to state that 'at Dyddanhamme are xxx. hides, ix. of _inland_ and xxi. of _gesettes land_.' The manor was therefore in the tenth century divided into demesne land and land in villenage.

Next are stated separately the contents of each hamlet on the manor, as follows:--

«Yard-lands.»

«_Hæc-_ and _cyt-_ weirs.»

At _Stræt_ are xii. hides--xxvii. gyrda gafollandes, and on the Severn xxx. cytweras.

At _Middeltun_ are v. hides--xiiii. gyrda gafollandes, xiiii. cytweras on the Severn, and ii. hæcweras on the Wye.

At the _Cinges túne_ are v. hides--xiii. gyrda gafollandes, and i. hide above the dyke, which is now also gafolland; and that outside the hamme is still part inland and part gesett to gafol to 'scipwealan.' At the Cinges túne on the Severn are xxi. cytweras, and on the Wye xii.

At the _Bishop's túne_ are iii. hides, and xv. cytweras on the Wye.

At _Landcawet_ are iii. hides and ii. hæcweras on the Wye, and ix. cytweras.

«The hamlets.»

Thus this manor, like the Winslow manor, had hamlets or small dependencies upon it, and these are [p151] still traceable on the map. _Street_ is still _Stroat_ on the old Roman street--the _Via Julia_ (?)--from Gloucester to Caerleon. The _Cinges túne_, now _Sudbury_, lay on the high wedge-shaped southern promontory above the cliffs, between the Wye and Severn where they join; and it lies as it did then, part on one side and part on the other side of Offa's Dyke, as if the dyke had been cut through its open fields. Its fisheries were naturally some on the Severn and some on the Wye. The '_Bishop's túne_' is still traceable in _Bishton_ farm. Lastly, _Llancaut_, the only hamlet on this Saxon manor 900 years ago with a Welsh name, bears its old name still. This hamlet is surrounded almost entirely by a bend of the Wye, and its situation backed by its woods (_coit_ = _wood_) may well have protected it from destruction at the time of the Saxon conquest.

Next, it is clear that the _geset land_ in the open fields round each 'túne' or hamlet, except at _Llancaut_ and _Bishop's tune_, was divided, as usual, into yard-lands--_gyrda gafollandes_. These yard-lands and the open fields have long since been swept away by the enclosure of the parish.

«The fishing _weirs_.»

Besides the yard-lands there were belonging to each hamlet the numerous fisheries--_cytweras_ and _hæcweras_--some on the Severn and some on the Wye. What were these '_cyt_' and '_hæc_' weirs?

They certainly were not the ancient dams or banks across the river which are now called 'weirs,' over which the tidal wave sweeps, thus--

'Hushing half the babbling Wye.'

It is impossible that there can have been so many of these as there were _cytweras_ and _hæcweras_ 900 [p152] years ago--as many as thirty together at Street, fourteen at Middletune, and twenty-one at Cingestune. The fact is that the old Saxon word _wera_ meant any structure for entrapping fish or aiding their capture. And no doubt arrangements which would not be called 'weirs' now were so called then. The words _cyt_ and _hæc_ weras seem to point rather to wattled basket and hedge weirs than to the solid structures now called weirs.

But the best illustration of what they were may be derived from the arrangements now at work for catching salmon in the Wye and Severn.

«Cytweras.»

«Hæcweras.»

The stranger who visits this locality will find here and there across the muddy shore of the Severn structures which at a distance look like breakwaters; but on nearer inspection he will find them to be built up of rows two or three deep of long tapering baskets arranged between upright stakes at regular distances. These baskets are called _putts_ or _butts_ or _kypes_, and are made of long rods wattled together by smaller ones, with a wide mouth, and gradually tapering almost to a point at the smaller or butt end. These _putts_ are placed in groups of six or nine between each pair of stakes, with their mouths set against the outrunning stream; and each group of them between its two stakes is called a 'puttcher.' The word 'puttcher' can hardly be other than a rapidly pronounced _putts weir_, _i.e._ a weir made of _putts_. If the baskets had been called 'cyts' instead of 'putts,' the group would be a _cytweir_. So, _e.g._, the thirty _cytweras_ at Street would represent a breakwater such as may be seen there now, consisting of as many puttchers. This use of what may be called basket weirs [p153] is peculiar to the Wye and the Severn, and has been adopted to meet the difficulty presented by the unusual volume and rapidity of the tidal current.

Then as to the _hæcweras_ there is nothing unusual in the use of barriers or fences of wattle, or, as it is still called, _hackle_, to produce an eddy, or to entrap the fish. Thus a statute (1 Geo. I. c. 18, s. 14) relating to the fisheries on the Severn and the Wye uses the following words: 'If any person shall make, 'erect, or set any bank, dam, _hedge_, stank, or net across the same,' &c.

These wattled hedges or hackle-weirs are sometimes used to guide the fish into the puttchers, but generally in the same way as more permanent structures on the Wye, now called _cribs_, to make an eddy in which the fish are caught from a boat in what is called a _stop-net_.

«Salmon fisheries.»

This mode of fishing is also peculiar to the Wye and Severn. The boat is fixed by two long stakes sideways across the eddy, and a wide net, like a bag with its open end stretched between two poles, is let down so as to offer a wide open mouth to the stream which carries the closed end of the bag-net under the boat. When a salmon strikes the net the open end is raised out of the water, and the fish is taken out behind. This clumsy process of catching salmon is the ancient traditional method used in the Wye and Severn fisheries, and so tenaciously is it adhered to that the fishermen can hardly be induced to substitute more efficient modern improvements.

So much for the _cytweras_ and the _hæcweras_.

The fisheries are now almost exclusively devoted to salmon. About the date of the Norman Conquest [p154] the manor of Tidenham was let on lease by the Bishop of Bath to Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury,[185] and as a portion of the rent reserved was 6 porpoises (merswin) and 30,000 herrings, it would seem at first sight that the main fisheries there were for herrings rather than salmon, but it is more probable that the lease was a mutual arrangement whereby the archbishop's table was provided with salmon from the west, and the monks of Bath with herrings from the east.

Turning from the fisheries to the services, they are described as follows:[186]--

«General services of _geneats_.»

Of Dyddanhamme gebyreð micel weorcrǽden.

Se geneát sceal wyrcan swá on lande, swá of lande, hweðer swá him man byt, and ridan and auerian, and láde lǽdan, dráfe drífan, and fela óðra þinga dón.

To Tidenham belong many services.

The geneat shall work as well on land as off land, whichever he is bid; and ride, and carry and lead loads, and drive droves, and do other things.

And after thus stating, to begin with, the general services of all _geneats_, the document proceeds, like the '_Rectitudines_,' to describe the special services of the _gebur_, or holder of a yard-land.

«Services of _geburs_.»

«Week-work.»

Se gebúr sceal his riht dón.

He sceal erian healfne æcer tó wíceworce, and ræcan sylf ðæt sæd on hláfordes berne gehálne tó cyrcscette, sá hweðere of his ágenum berne.

Tó werbolde xl. mæra oððe án foðer gyrda; oððe viii. geocu byld. iii. ebban tyne. Æcertyninge xv. gyrda, oððe díche fiftyne; and dície i. gyrde burhheges, ripe óðer healfne æcer, máwe healfné; on oðran weorcan wyrce, á be weorces mæðe.

The gebur shall do his '_riht_.'

He shall plough a half-acre as week-work, and himself prepare the seed in the lord's barn ready for kirkshot, or else from his own barn.

For weir-building 40 large rods or 1 load of small rods, or build 8 yokes and wattle 3 ebbs. Of acre-fencing 15 yards, or ditch 15; and ditch 1 yard of burh-hedge, reap 1 acre and a half, mow half an acre. At other work, work as the work requires. [p155]

These are the various details of his _week-work_. Then follow the _gafol_-payments.

«Gafol.»

Sylle vi. penegas ofer éstre, healfne sester hunies tó Hlafmæssan. vi. systres mealtes tó Martines mæsse, an cliwen gódes nettgernes. On ðam sylfum lande stent seðe vii. swýn hæbbe ðæt he sylle iii. and swá forð á ðæt teoðe, and ðæs naðulæs mæstenrǽdene ðonne mæsten beó.

Pay 6d. after Easter, half a sester of honey (or mead?) at Lammas. 6 sesters of malt at Martinmas, 1 clew of good net-yarn. On the same land, if he has 7 swine, he pays 3, and so forth at that rate, and nevertheless give mast dues if there be mast.

It will be observed that in their _week-work_ the geburs of Tidenham, in addition to strictly agricultural services, had to provide the materials for the puttchers and hedge-weirs, as well as other requisites for the fisheries.

What the eight _geocu_ to be built may have been is doubtful; but the tyning or wattling of three ebbs was at once explained on the spot by the lessee of the fisheries, who pointed out that when hackle weirs were used, three separate wattled hedges would always be needed, as, owing to the very various heights of the tide, the hedge must be differently placed for the spring tides, the middle tides, and the neap tides respectively.

The '_week-work_' was shown by the '_Rectitudines_' to be the chief service of the gebur, and this _work_, added to the _gafol_, made the holder of the yard-land into a _gebur_, according to the laws of Ine.

«No limitation of week-work to three days.»

Two things are very striking about the week-work on the manor of Tidenham. (1) There is no limit to three days a week more or less, as in the '_Rectitudines_.' (2) There is a clear adaptation of the week-work [p156] to local circumstances. In particular the fisheries have a prominent regard in its arrangement. As described in the '_Rectitudines_,' the work varied according to the customs of each place.

So much for the 'week-work.'

«No _bene-work_.»

Next, there were at Tidenham no '_precariæ_,' or '_bene_' works, which formed so prominent a feature in the later services. When the week-work was not limited to some days only, clearly there was no need or room for these additional services.

Lastly, as to the _gafol_--this formed a prominent feature of the _weorc-ræden_ of the Tidenham yard-land.

«_Gafol_ chiefly in produce: honey, &c.»

It consisted mainly of the produce of the land, like the gafol of the _gafolgylders_ in the Saxon translation of the parable of 'the unjust steward.' Honey and malt, or ale, and yarn and pork--these, as we shall see by-and-by, were the chief products of this and the adjoining districts of Wales.

These, then, were the services of the geburs of Tidenham in respect of their yard-lands in A.D. 950, while the manor was still in royal hands just before it was handed over to the Abbot of Bath.

«Comparison of services in the thirteenth century.»

Now let us compare these services with the services on the same manor 350 years afterwards, in the time of Edward I. An _Inquisitio post mortem_ of the 35th year of Edward I. enables us to make this comparison.[187]

The following is an abstract of the services of a tenant who held a messuage and xviii. acres of land in villenage (probably a half-virgate). [p157]

His _week-work_ was--

5 days in every other week for xxxv. weeks in the year from Michaelmas to Midsummer, except the festival works of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost; 87½ works.

2½ days every week for 6 weeks from Midsummer to Gules of August; 15 works.

3 days every week for 8 weeks from Gules of August to Michaelmas; 24 works.

And of this week-work between Michaelmas and Christmas, 1 day's work every other week was to lie ploughing and harrowing a half-acre. Each ploughing was accounted for a day's work.

Then as to his _precariæ_,--

He made 1 _precaria_ called 'cherched,' and he ploughed and harrowed a half-acre for corn, and sowed it with 1 bushel of corn from his own seed; and in the time of harvest he had to reap and bind and stack the produce, receiving one sheaf for himself on account of the half-acre, 'as much as can be bound with a binding of the same corn, cut near the land.'

And he had to plough 1 acre for oats, and this was accounted for 2 days' manual work.

And he made another _precaria_, ploughing a half-acre with his own plough for winter sowing with as many oxen as he possessed, so that there should be a team of 8 oxen. But if he had no oxen he did not plough.

And he made [several other _precariæ_ of various kinds].

Lastly came his _gafol_, &c.

He gave i. hen, which was called 'wodehen,' at Christmas.

And 5 eggs at Easter.

And 1D. for every yearling pig, and ½d. for those only of half-year, by way of pannage.

He paid . . . for every horse or mare sold.

And viii. gallons of beer at every brewing.

And he could not marry his daughter without licence.