CHAPTER VI 



FROM THE PEASANT REVOLT TO THE DAYS OF 

 THE STUARTS 



WHEN the peasantry returned to their small farms 

 after the great rising of 1381, the old struggle between 



their class and the lords of the manors was 

 Changes that undoubtedly renewed in many of our 

 revolt 6 English villages. The fixing of wages 



continued arid was ultimately entrusted to 

 the justices of the peace, 1 who retained this power until 

 the beginning of the XlXth century, although it was 

 rarely exercised in later years. The lords' attempts to 

 keep the peasants in their manors and to exact labour 

 on the lord's land instead of money rents was, it is 

 thought by some authorities, renewed in some parts of 

 England, though in other places the commutation of 

 services for cash payments continued. On their side, 

 the peasants organized strikes, whilst other disorders 

 took place in various parts of the country. On certain 

 points the peasants lost ground : a statute the first of 

 the many game laws 2 passed in 1389, laid it down that 

 no one who did not own lands worth 40$. a year was 

 ' to keep a dog to hunt, or use ferrets, netts, nor other 

 engines.' This, if and when enforced, must have meant a 

 very serious loss to the peasantry, for rabbits and other 



1 See Appendix, pp. 167, 168. 2 Ibid. p. 171. 



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