THE MANOR AND THE VILLAGE 4 5 



days free ; and saints' days were so numerous that he 

 must have had on an average one ' holyday ' a week. 



The bondsmen of the second rank, the cotters, either 

 held a plot of land with their cottage or else a few 

 acres, averaging perhaps five, in the common field. 

 These men differed from the villeins in that it was rare 

 for them to have oxen, but they certainly had other 

 stock, and held with their land the usual rights over 

 the commons, woods and wastes, though they do not 

 seem to have shared in the lot meadows. Their services 

 were less in amount than those of the villeins. For 

 example, a Cambridgeshire cotter holding an acre of 

 land, was only bound to provide his manorial lord 

 with a hen at Christmas and five eggs at Easter, and 

 to do a day's work on Monday in each week ; whilst 

 if Monday happened to be a festival he was freed for 

 that day from his obligation. 



The herdsmen, ploughmen, etc., rendered for their 

 land services in looking after the stock, or in ploughing 

 the land or in performing similar duties ; whilst the 

 artisans would pay by work done in their crafts or 

 trades. 



The character of the bondsmen's tenure, and the 

 services, whether traditional or imposed by Norman 

 lords, were as time went on entered in 

 records* 1 manorial records. The recording of titles 

 was of benefit to those tenants who had 

 better rights than the mere holding * at the will of the 

 lord ' ; for their rights were set down on their entry into 

 their holdings, and it became a custom towards the middle 

 of the XHIth century to supply the tenant with a 

 copy of the record of such entry or 'admission.' These 

 men so supplied with a copy of the record are later on 



