A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



had no doubt improved, but this could not satisfy the sons and grandsons of 

 independent cultivators. On the other hand the vi^ealth drawn by the lord 

 from the soil was much greater. The income of Bury Abbey doubled during 

 the 14th century, and it was mainly derived from rent.'" 



A couple of illustrations, one drawn from the history of a manor, and 

 the other from that of an individual, will give point to these generaliza- 

 tions. The manor of Hawstead had on it, as we have seen, in 1280, a dozen 

 villeins with about two hundred acres among them. In 1358 there were 

 146 acres held by eleven villeins, of whom only one had a full holding of 

 30 acres, while four had half holdings, six had quarter holdings, and all of 

 them were paying the full value of their land in money rent of 8d'. or (^d. an 

 acre. They owed, it is true, between them forty-two days of mowing and 

 sixty days of reaping, but these works were reckoned of no value by the 

 lord's bailiff, because they need not be done unless an equivalent was given 

 in money and produce, which included all the milk of the manor for one 

 day. In 1388 the villein tenants have almost disappeared. Two-thirds of 

 their holdings have fallen back into the lord's hands. The harvesting is done 

 by hired labour at ^d. and A^d. a day with food, the head reaper getting 6j. 8d'. 

 for the season. The total rent paid has increased nearly fifty per cent, since 

 1358. The dairy produce brings in nearly as much as the crops. The old 

 communal arrangements linger somewhere in the background no doubt, but 

 the bailiffs accounts show little sign of them. The Hawstead of 1388 is 

 already in essentials a modern village." 



A chance glimpse into the affairs of a typical individual reveals no less 

 vividly the progress of change. Whatever may have been the grievance or 

 the ambition of Thomas Sampson of Harkstead who led the rising in south- 

 east Suffolk, he was no mediaeval peasant confined within the manor that 

 reared him and obliged to till the soil of his lord on servile conditions. 

 When his property fell into the hands of the king he was found to be 

 farming land which is almost unmistakably an aggregate of half a dozen 

 peasant holdings of 30 acres each. One of these was at Freston, two at 

 Kersey, and four at Harkstead where he lived. The crops of corn, peas, 

 oats, and barley standing on these holdings at the time of his death were 

 such as would have been sown in the common course of cultivation by the 

 original customary tenant, and part of the stock in each case was such as 

 the ordinary peasant holder would possess ; the teams of two, four, and 

 six oxen respectively, each ox worth loj., the cart-horses worth 5J. apiece, 

 the tumble-down cart worth zs. 6d., the plough worth is., the half-dozen 

 pigs at IS. apiece, a stack of hay, and a couple of quarters of wheat and 

 malt. No doubt Thomas Sampson had managed to free the tillage of these 

 holdings from some of the old communal restrictions, but in any case tillage 

 was becoming a secondary part of his farming. At Freston he had a herd of 

 fifteen cows, with a bull grazing, and a hundred hogs fattening. At Hark- 

 stead a fine flock of 300 sheep worth £1 ^ was producing wool for the 

 neighbouring clothiers. Nor was this the full extent of Sampson's enter- 

 prise. When he had sold his wool and produce at Ipswich market he did 



" y.C.H. Suff. ii, 68-9. 



" These particulars are obtained from a transcript of an Extent of Hawstead for 1358, and a Compotu* 

 Roll kindly lent me by Mr. Edgar Powell. 



654 



