XVlii INTRODUCTION 



ing, and with bailiff farming as it was organised in the 

 thirteenth century. All four treatises apparently date from 

 this period, though only one of them can be assigned with 

 precision. There must surely have been some remarkable 

 conditions at that time which resulted in the production of 

 these independent treatises, which so met the requirements 

 of the English landlord that no serious attempt was made 

 to supersede them till the sixteenth century. 



Professor Thorold Eogers fixes on the reign of Henry III. 

 as the time when the practice of keeping written accounts 

 on each estate became general ; ' this was another symptom, 

 and a very important symptom, of the increased care which 

 was devoted to the management of estates. Possibly the 

 general political conditions were favourable to rural pro- 

 sperity, but it is also probable that the industrial and com- 

 mercial activity of the twelfth century had begun to react 

 on rural affairs. The Crusaders had given an impulse, under 

 which foreign trade had nourished greatly, and many towns 

 had grown into some importance. There may have been 

 some direct influence in the planting of new monasteries 

 and experience of new settlers, but at any rate the agri- 

 culturist would have new markets, and be tempted to 

 realise his produce more readily; and as the separate 

 estates were drawn more and more into the stream of inter- 

 nal commerce, the difficulty of superintending the manage- 

 ment and checking the servants would increase, unless they 

 were compelled to keep regular accounts. The greater 

 responsibilities of the bailiff, who not only superintended 

 the villans but sold a larger proportion of the produce off 

 the estate, rendered it necessary that accounts should be 

 regularly kept ; and the mere fact that estate management 

 had become more complicated and difficult sufficiently ex- 

 plains why it attracted more attention, and called forth 

 these systematic treatises. 



1 Agriculture and Prices, I. 2. 



