INTRODUCTORY. 3 



person is to be found exceptionally and frequently in Norfolk. 

 Thus Sir John Fastolfe, as my reader will find on referring to 

 the evidence of the price of corn during the first half of the 

 fifteenth century, was engaged extensively in the barley and 

 malt trade with the Continent, and it appears that much of the 

 wealth of Lord Cromwell, one of the richest men of the fifteenth 

 century, was obtained from the same source of gain. But these 

 traders were few, and the calling they pursued was local as well 

 as exceptional. 



It was mentioned in my first volume, that in the fourteenth 

 century the stock of a well-cultivated estate was on an average 

 three times the value of the soil. During the fifteenth century, 

 land greatly increased in value, generally selling for at least 

 twenty years' purchase, though it does not appear that the rent 

 of land was materially raised. Rents were, in point of Jfact, 

 even when land was let for short terms, fixed or customary. 

 Nor is there any evidence of any competition for holdings, 

 though the land is greatly subdivided. It is probable that 

 population was considerably increased during the fifteenth 

 century, a period of almost unbroken agricultural prosperity. 



As the custom of primogeniture was almost universal, the 

 condition of the younger son became greatly deteriorated. 

 Under the old system of landowners' agriculture, all the sons 

 shared in the personal estate of the ancestor, and were therefore 

 abundantly provided for. They were able, with their share of 

 the inheritance, to become the purchasers of land, for it is clear 

 to me, that the practice of entailing larger estates was not 

 general till the great war of succession began, or was imminent, 

 and the great landowners became anxious to protect their 

 estates by the guarantees which the statute De Donis secured. 

 But primogeniture and entail seriously affected the fortunes of 

 the younger sons. The fact may be illustrated by the distri- 

 bution of Church patronage. During the fifteenth century, the 

 great benefices are generally filled by the cadets of the noble 

 houses. In the same period, it appears that the rights of patrons 

 against a reluctant ordinary were successfully vindicated in the 



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