20 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



fight when needed. To be attached to a superior had 

 certain advantages of real value in those troublous 

 times, when a man's life and property were insecurely 

 held. The men received their superior's support if their 

 land title was questioned, if any attack was made on 

 their personal liberty, or if prosecuted for crime ; whilst, 

 on his side, the superior was responsible for the good 

 behaviour of his men. Hundreds of these attached 

 men were to be found in Cambridgeshire. For ex- 

 ample, in the village of Arrington, in King Edward the 

 Confessor's time, there was one who owed allegiance to 

 Eorl Waltheof; another who, whilst owing allegiance 

 to, was also a member of the court of justice of the 

 Abbot of Ely ; a third was the man of ' Robert Wimarc's 

 son,' and a fourth a servant of the lady called * Edith the 

 Fair.' It was through this custom of attachment that a 

 feudal system began to grow, and with this growth the 

 military men secured predominance amongst the peasant 

 farmers and obtained larger holdings and probably the 

 best of the land. 



The effect on village life of the increased burden of 

 taxation has also to be considered. It is easy to imagine 

 that neither the kings nor the sheriffs, who in this matter 

 represented them, would always find it convenient, after 

 the distribution of royal rights, to go behind the local 

 magnates in order to enforce the threefold duty on the 

 men of the villages. And, in fact, the kings began to 

 look more and more to the estate-holders to perform 

 this duty, by providing knights and men-at-arms and 

 by undertaking the repair of bridges and of strongholds. 

 A division of responsibility then arose. 'The large 

 estate-holders, eorls, thegns, bishops and others, under- 

 took the provision of trained soldiers, while the duty of 

 paying king's taxes fell on the peasant farmers. Thus 



