A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



is an even better photograph of the permanent than of the temporary 

 changes wrought in Durham by the Black Death. In the case of Quarring- 

 tonshire we see that by 1380 all works had been commuted, but at a some- 

 what higher rate than before. For instance, works of ploughing were 

 valued at i6d. instead of izd., averrepes (reaping) at 6d. instead of 4!^., and 

 autumn works, which in 1350 were commuted for <)d. from each household, 

 were now valued at izd., but to save the lord from loss every additional 

 member of the peasant's household paid izd., if over fifteen, and 6d. if under 

 fifteen.^ 



Hatfield's Survey preserves us a few interesting notes of other lettings at 

 penyferme, such as at Heighington ^ and Boldon.* The process seems to 

 have been general, and John de Heron, who was steward in the last year of 

 Hatfield's life, continued it when in office under Bishop Fordham. We hear 

 in Hatfield's Survey of a nova dimissio or new letting of the demesne and 

 bondlands to the Boldon tenants at a money rent, and the manuscript Langley's 

 Survey* of 141 8 shows that the arrangement was renewed in Fordham's 

 time by John de Heron and was maintained in the fifteenth century. The 

 peasants of Boldon were plainly copyholders by Langley's time, and it is 

 certain, despite the unfinished condition of the survey, that they were not in 

 a unique position. 



As the prior's rolls are defective for this period we have little informa- 

 tion as to the arrangements made in his vills, but there is frequent mention ' 

 of lettings at penyferme in the later rolls. Indeed it is difficult to see what 

 other arrangement could have been made when one man was responsible for 

 two or more bondages and could not afford to perform labour services for 

 each, even had he been willing.' It is uncertain to what extent the bishop 

 or the prior really did try to obtain actual work from the tenants. Apparently 

 week-work was not insisted upon, but at Wolviston, West Rainton, and 

 Dalton we find cases where men paid the fine of \2d. rather than perform 

 the reaping works in autumn.^ This spirit of defiance among the peasantry 

 was very marked in the latter half of the fourteenth century. Numerous 

 cases occur in which the by-laws were broken * and the village officials 

 defied,* and as a matter of course services admittedly due to the lord, such as 

 carriage, were systematically neglected or shamefully performed.^" Sometimes 

 we read of a riot as a protest against unpopular demands, as when the men of 

 Stanhope in 1360 fired the thatch of the local mill and refused to re-roof it." 



When the tenants had made their bargain with the lord either in- 

 dividually or collectively for the commutation of their works, there often 

 arose some difficulty within the vill itself as to payment. Just before the 

 Black Death a new village officer, the collector, was created, who, as his 

 name implies, gathered in the lord's rents and commutation money. His task 

 was not a pleasant or popular one, but it was a grave offisnce to give him a 



' Cf. Bp. Hatfield's Surv. (Surtees Soc. xxxii), 147 and 232. Perhaps we may understand 'pro quolibet 

 famulo ultra etatera xvj annorum . . . . 1 2d. et pro quolibet pagetto infra etatem predictam 6d.' to mean that 

 for every ii bovates a peasant had, he kept a man and a lad to assist him. 



* Bj>. HatfieWs Surv. (Surtees Soc. xxxii), 19. ' Ibid. loj. 



• In P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. fol. 88. 



' Dm: Halmote R. (Surtees Soc. Ixxxii), 30, 35, 89, 122, 160, &c. ^ Ibid. 114. 



' Ibid. 72, 108, 162. * Dur. Curs. No. 12, fol. 45 et seq. ' Ibid. fol. 4; J. 



'° Ibid. No. 12, fol. 143 ; Ibid. No. 13, fol. 124 ; Dur. Halmote R. (Surtees Soc. Ixxxii), 67, 140. 

 " Dur. Curs. No. 12, fol. 258 ./. 



218 



