II THE GREAT PLAGUE AND ITS RESULTS 23 



because the dues paid in kind to the lord in return became 

 with the rise in price of commodities more valuable than 

 the boon service itself. 1 However this may be, as early 

 as the thirteenth century at least we find villeins on some 

 manors 'buying' their works. 2 Mr. Thorold Rogers no doubt 

 exaggerated the extent to which commutation had advanced 

 by the middle of the fourteenth century, 3 but Mr. Page 4 

 has shown that in the period 1325-50, out of 81 

 manors selected at hazard, in 6 manors services had 

 been entirely commuted; in 9, most; in 22, half; in 44 

 the team work had been commuted but none of the hand 

 work. Moreover there were many cottagers who held no 

 land, and eked out a living by labour at wage, while in 

 many manors the ploughing was done not by the villeins, 

 but by men, perhaps cottagers, specially employed for the 

 purpose. 



Thus at the date of the Plague there were three classes 

 of villeins : 



1. Those who had commuted all their services for a fixed 



money payment. 



2. Those who had commuted some but not all their 



labour services. 



3. Those who still owed services at the will of the lord. 

 Finally the system of leasing lands, often to the bailiff or 

 reeve himself, had already begun. 



Under these circumstances the effect of the Great 

 Plague was different on different manors. In all, the 

 sudden reduction of the numbers of the villeins by one- 



1 Vinogradoff, Villeinage, p. 175. 



2 Maitland, Hist. Eeview, ix, p. 419 ; Cheyne, English Hist. 

 ;view, xv. 33 ; Transactions Royal Hist. Soc. xiv. 125. 



8 Th. Rogers, Hist. Agriculture and Prices, i. 81. 



4 Page, Villeinage, p. 45 Cunningham, English Industry, i. 518, 



5. 



