SELF-SUFFICING FAEMIXG 15 



1444 the wages of agricultural labourers doubled : harvests 

 were plentiful ; beef, mutton, pork, became their food • 

 sumptuary laws against extravagance of dress and diet 

 attest their prosperity : the standard purity of the coinage 

 was steadilv maintained, and the number of shilling's into 

 which the pound was coined varied only between thirty 

 and thirty-five. Fortescue attributes the success of the 

 English against the French to the superiority of their diet. 

 ' The people,' he says, ' be wealthye, and have al thynges 

 necessary to the sustenaunce of nature, wherfor thay be 

 mighty, able to resyste the adversaries of the realme, and 

 to bett other realmes that do or will do them wrong.' 



A concrete instance illustrates mediaeval practices and 

 the progress of the labouring classes. The Domesday Sur- 

 vey of the manor of Castle Combe in Wiltshire shows 

 that the manor consisted of meadow, pasture, and arable 

 land. The meadow was divided into strips held by the 

 peasantry. The pasture, which was rough and wooded, 

 was held in common. One thousand acres were under the 

 plough, of which 400 acres were the lord's demesne, culti- 

 vated by thirteen serfs and labour-rents ; the remainder 

 was held by villeins, boors, and cottagers. The arable 

 land was divided into two fields, North field and South 

 field, among which were scattered twenty-five parcels of 

 demesne land called ' dooles,' each comprising about four 

 acres. There were no free tenants. In 1340 there were 

 ten free tenants whose services were commuted for money 

 payments, and who held between them 233 acres of arable 

 land. The remainino" tenants were still in bondagfe. 

 Fifteen were customary tenants, holding 625 acres, pai-tly 

 by money rent and partly by labour services. Eleven other 

 tenants held fifteen acres each by agricultural services ; but 

 in addition they held crofts, for which they paid rent in 



