SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



younger man to take over his interest in the land and allow Alan to live with 

 him and to enjoy the produce of one rood of land in each of the three fields 

 for the rest of his life.' 



It was quite agreeable to mediaeval notions that the bishop or prior 

 should be the legal owner of the estate in which a peasant had a conditional 

 life interest. The tenant, if a free man, took the messuage and a number of 

 acres that went with it, a bondage as it was called, upon two well-defined 

 conditions : he would pay to the lord the usual services and rent ; and he 

 would do to his lord and neighbours the things incumbent. These condi- 

 tions became a formula and when the bargain had been ratified by the tenant's 

 payment of a fine of varying amount, called a gersuma or gressom, the tenant 

 was secure for life so long as he kept the terms. Practically he became a 

 life leaseholder, but the nature of his tenure was made clear when we find 

 that without the lord's consent he could not cut down a tree even if it grew 

 in his own garden,^ he could not alienate or exchange a single rig of his 

 land,' nor could he prevent the lord's lessees from digging for coal under his 

 land, although the lord did allow him compensation for his loss.* The 

 utmost power of alienation that the tenant had was in the case of a widow 

 or an infirm man, who were allowed to sublet their holding to a more able 

 peasant for their own life.^ However, when Robert Felow allowed William 

 son of Elena to take four crops off a rood of his land, without the lord's 

 consent, the land was taken into the hands of the lord.* If Robert had no 

 further use for the land he must surrender it to the lord in court. Then his 

 responsibility for the firm and rent ceased, and if the near relatives of Robert 

 did not care to fine for it, the steward let it to a satisfactory applicant, who 

 was sometimes certified by the jury.^ In any case the tenant must find two 

 sureties or pledges. There are instances, however, in which the outgoing 

 tenant was bribed to surrender his holding,* and so by collusion an outsider 

 could obtain land. When the increase of population just before the Black 

 Death rendered holdings valuable, we find freemen tempting serfs to escape 

 by flight that they may obtain the vacant holding.^ 



When a tenant died the village priest obtained his best beast by way of 

 mortuary,-" and in, some cases, at least, the lord received a sum of money as 

 heriot," although the -latter custom died out early. If the deceased left a 

 widow she came into court and claimed her late husband's holding by widow- 

 right. This claim was always recognized, but there was only one stipulation — 

 she might not take a second husband without the lord's licence, for which 

 of course she had to pay a fine, the reason being that the second husband 

 often became joint tenant with his wife and put in a claim to the land on 

 her death. The widow's right was superior to that of the eldest son or 

 nearest relative, but failing her the nearest relative succeeded upon paying the 

 usual or perhaps a slightly increased gersuma and firm, as, so far as our 

 evidence goes, ' rents ' showed a slight tendency to rise before the Black 



' Dur. Halmote R. (Surtces Soc. Ixxxii), lo. ' Ibid. 109. 



' Ibid. 80 ; Dur. Curs. No. 12, fols. 63, 80, 297 </. * See 5/. Hatfield's Suw. under ' Whickham.' 



''Dur. Halmote R. (Surtees Soc. Ixxxii), 1 1. * Ibid. 14. ' Ibid. 3 



* Ibid. 4, 8, 17, &c. ' Dur. Curs. No. 12, fol. 3. 



'" Dur. Halmote R. (Surtees Soc. Ixxxii), 151. 



" Heriot generally occurs wi connexion with free land, but the cases in Dur. Halmote R. (Surtees Soc^ 

 Ixxxii), 4, 5, probably refer to bondages. 



2 201 26 



