138 AUGUST 



The freemen of the village community owned a 

 lord, indeed, but he was hardly better than primus 

 inter pares, and had his recognised duties side by 

 side with his recognised rights. To understand the 

 position it is necessary to bear in mind the sparse- 

 ness of the population. The county of Middlesex, 

 for instance, so lately as eight hundred years ago was 

 estimated to contain only 2, 289 souls. The patches of 

 cultivated ground in a village in Saxon days would 

 be infinitesimal in comparison with their surround- 

 ing expanses of folk land. A lord might slice off 

 for himself any choice portions, and yet leave for 

 the community more than they could use of the 

 desolate areas of waste or forest in which they had 

 their rights. In later times the permission of the 

 King was necessary for this sort of appropriation, 

 and I find in the twelfth century a writ of Henry I. 

 which refers to this parish. The King had here 

 a huntsman called Crook ; it is to " Croco vena- 

 tori " that he addresses his mandate, requiring him 

 to permit the monks of Abingdon to break up 

 certain waste land in the parish. The monks had 

 a settlement here, and it would be beneficial to all 

 sections of the community that they should bring 

 under cultivation a part of the waste tract, which was 

 practically valueless because there was a great deal 

 too much of it. The people were few ; their pro- 

 perty was almost illimitable. The breaking up of 

 more land would represent an increase of food and 

 employment for the inhabitants. So Crocus Venator 

 was told to put no hindrance in the way of the 

 monks, who were doubtless inspired by benevolence 

 in their agricultural intentions. 



