144 RECEIPT ROLL OF THE PEAK JURISDICTION OF 



instance, in the Peak, if A. B. died possessed of a liorse and a 

 cow, no mortuary on the beast would hold good, and it would 

 simply be levied on his wearing apparel. If A. B. died possessed 

 of a horse, cow, and calf, the church laid clairn to the cow, for the 

 first claim or heriot was due to the lord of the manor, and the 

 church only obtained the second best, save from tenants on glebe 

 land or in certain other exceptional cases. The merciful provision 

 of no mortuary beast being taken save when there were three, did 

 therefore secure to the survivor a single beast. It is necessary to 

 bear this in mind in studying the following mortuary roll, 

 for, with this explanation, it affords a remarkable proof of the 

 prosperity of the inhabitants of the Peak in the T4th 

 century, a prosperity that compares most unfavourably with the 

 cottagers and labourers of the same district of to-day. 



The death roll for the year 1339 must have been a heavy one, 

 for the 105 names on the mortuary list are exclusive of all 

 children, of sons and daughters not householders, as well as of all 

 servants and lodgers. From thirty-one of these names a cow was 

 the mortuary, proving in each case the possession of at least three 

 cows, or a horse and two cows ; from seventeen others an ox was 

 taken ; from twelve a heifer {juvenca, bovetta) ; from five a stirk 

 {sttrketd) ; and from two a calf. There seems to have been no 

 death this year of a man of substance or position, but in two 

 cases there is a mention of horses, once when a white horse was 

 valued at 9s., and again when a colt [piilliim equinuvi) is named. 

 Very probably, however, as has been already suggested, some of 

 those from whom the church claimed a cow had already yielded 

 up a horse to the lord. In other mortuary lists of the Peak, 

 though not so long as this one, we have found more frequent 

 mention both of the equus or horse for riding, and of the affrus or 

 small breed of cart horses, which were occasionally used, especially 

 in hilly country, as a substitute for the ox at plough.* 



With regard to the wearing apparel mentioned in this list, 

 chiefly from the wives of householders, it should be borne in 

 mind that the five or six male householders who yield a mortuary 



* In a 1379 Mortuary List of the Peak, a horse sold for 30s. 



