Hebe begins the book op the office of seneschal. 



The seneschal of lands ought to be prudent and faithful 

 and profitable, and he ought to know the law of the realm, 

 to protect his lord's business and to instruct and give assur- 

 ance to the bailiffs who are beneath him in their difficulties. 

 He ought two or three times a year to make his rounds and 

 visit the manors of his stewardship, and then he ought to 

 inquire about the rents, services, and customs, hidden or 

 withdrawn, and about franchises of courts, lands, woods, 

 meadows, pastures, waters, mills, and other things which 

 belong to the manor and are done away with without 

 warrant, by whom, and how: and if he be able let him 

 amend these things in the right way without doing wrong 

 to any, and if he be not, let him show it to his lord, that 

 he may deal with it if he wish to maintain his right. 



The seneschal ought, at his first coming to the manors, 

 to cause all the demesne lands of each to be measured by true 

 men, and he ought to know by the perch of the country 

 how many acres there are in each field, and thereby he can 

 know how much wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, beans, and 

 dredge one ought by right to sow in each acre, and thereby 

 can one see if the provost or the hayward account for 

 more seed than is right, and thereby can he see how many 

 ploughs are required on the manor, for each plough ought 

 by right to plough nine score acres, that is to say : sixty 

 for winter seed, sixty for spring seed, and sixty in fallow. 

 Also he can see how many acres ought to be ploughed 

 yearly by boon or custom, and how many acres remain to 

 be tilled by the ploughs of the manor. And further he can 



