SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



le Street on Monday, 7 June, and the Boldon jury approached him with a 

 pitiful tale. The whole vill was so poor that no one could pay any rent, and 

 no tenant appeared to fine for any land in the lord's hands ; in fact, two of 

 the tenants wished to surrender their lands, but there was no one to receive 

 the surrender. According to the testimony of the coroner only fourteen of 

 the bondi had sowed their land.* This complaint from Boldon, following so 

 closely on the exploit of the neifs, convinced the steward that extraordinary 

 steps must be taken to reassure the frightened peasants. He therefore pro- 

 ceeded to act according to his proclamation of the preceding July, and on 

 Saturday, 19 June, he and the chancellor met together in chancery at Durham 

 and formally decreed that large remissions should be made to the bishop's 

 tenants for the year beginning 20 March, 1350. The manuscript account 

 of the remissions shows signs of not being completed, and most of the re- 

 missions are in respect of the mills, which were often leased to the villagers. 

 At Ryhope, however, a rebate of ^5 os. lod. was allowed on the demesne 

 lands, while the bondi of Bedlingtonshire in Northumberland received a 

 rebate of ^^8 13^. 4^. on their rents for 1350, and even in 1351 the rebate 

 was to be twenty-five per cent, off the rent.^ Later on, in January 1351, 

 certain poor tenants at Middridge were allowed to give up demesne holdings 

 they had taken in more prosperous days until their state should improve. 



When harvest-time came round in 1350 the steward again showed 

 himself considerate. It seems clear that before the Black Death labour 

 services due from the tenants had been generally commuted, but this year 

 the tenants had neither money to commute the lord's claims nor time to 

 work in person. The crops of 1349 had too often rotted as they stood, 

 and if the peasants failed to garner such grain as they had sown for 1350 

 starvation would be their lot. Hence Sir Thomas Gray ordered the lord's 

 bailiffs to reap the crops by hired labour.' As has been pointed out before 

 there was some thought, at least at Auckland Manor, to exact labour services 

 in kind,* and the scarcity of labour and the high wages demanded by the 

 hired labourers were largely responsible for the troubles that arose. At 

 Auckland, Roger de Tikhill managed to exact the autumn works at appa- 

 rently the old rate, but he found he had to pay 9^. i\d. in 1350 for the 

 mowing of a meadow which used to cost only js. bd} The bailiffs of 

 Quarrington, Middridge, and Coatham obeyed the steward. At Middridge 

 reapers and binders got \\d. or b\d. a day,' at Quarrington ^d. or 5^.,^ and 

 at Coatham 5^. or 6^., loaders also receiving 5^.* The increase in cost is 

 evident when we remember that the villeins had been able to commute these 

 autumn works at about \%d. a day, while men could be hired to load hay at 

 I \d. a day before the Black Death.* It is not very probable that the free 

 labourers demanded more from the bishop's bailiffs than from other 

 employers, but even the increased wages were too small, as food rose in 

 price. The distress was particularly acute at Easington, and at the halmote 



' Dur. Curs. No. 1 2, fol. 35 a'. 



' Ibid. fol. 23 </. According to the incomplete list the following vills were affected by the remissions : — 

 Sunderland, Ryhope, Newbottle, Houghton, Easington, Shotton, Cornforth, Sedgefield, Wolsingham, Heigh- 

 ington, Killerby, Ricknall, Middridge, West Auckland, Sadberge, Bedlingtonshire, Whickham. The text is 

 obscure, but probably Chester, Lanchester, Bedburn, and Stockton were affected also. 



' £/. Hatfield's Surv. (Surtees Soc. xxxii), 234. * Ibid. 211. 'Ibid. 206, 214. 



'Ibid. 228. 'Ibid. 234. ' Ibid. 247. '£/. /faj/f^/i/"/ Sarc. (Surtees Soc. xxxii), 206. 



213 



