XX INTBODUCTION 



It has less reference to the actual management of the land 

 itself than to the accounts of the bailiff and the means of 

 checking them. 



The Seneschaucie is even further removed from the 

 details of rural employments ; it deals with the duties of 

 each officer in turn, and describes the functions of the 

 steward, the bailiff, the propositus, and so forth. It reveals 

 a curious division of the labour of superintendence, and 

 sets forth the relations of these officers to one another in 

 some detail. It is more wordy and formal 'than the other 

 writings, and has closer relations than theirs to legal docu- 

 ments, such as those contained in the Statute Book. 



Grosseteste's Rules, though quite as practical as Walter 

 of Henley's Treatise, were intended for a great Countess, 

 who could not possibly look into everything herself. It 

 brings in a side of life which the other treatises leave 

 untouched, as it deals not only with production but con- 

 sumption, and lays down maxims for the management of 

 the household. 



This last work appears to have had but little circulation ; 

 though it deals with many topics, the treatment is some- 

 what slight, and even the great reputation of the author did 

 not prevent it from falling into oblivion. The Seneschaucie 

 ceased to be of much interest as the services of the villans 

 were commuted, and the personal presence of the hayward 

 and others was no longer demanded. As bailiff farming 

 gradually ceased to pay and disappeared, the instructions 

 in the anonymous Husbandry for checking accounts were 

 also out of date. The one treatise which had real vitality 

 was that of Walter of Henley ; his practical hints on the 

 details of rural life had a lasting importance ; it continued 

 to be in frequent use and in wide circulation ; additional 

 matter was incorporated in it as the changed circumstances 

 of agriculture demanded ; it was thought worthy of re-issue 

 from an English printing-press for the guidance of practical 

 men, more than two hundred years after it was written. 1 

 At length it lost its position as the best book on the subject, 

 1 See below, p. xxxix. 



