ii] The Demesne. 1270 — 1307. 25 



to year to act as officers of the lord. These were a reeve {praepositus), 

 several beadles or messors {bedelli, messores), a cart-reeve, a reap-reeve, 

 and one or more collectors of rents. 



By far the most important of these officers were the reeve and the 

 messor of Forncett. They were serfs, apparently appointed by the lord 

 to these onerous and responsible positions^ It was they who rendered 

 the yearly accounts- of all receipts and expenditures, whether of money, 

 grain, or stock, connected with the manorial administration, and hard 

 might be their lot if they failed to produce evidence in the shape of 

 talliae, brevia, or billae sufficient to convince the auditors of the 

 correctness of their returns=^. The duties of the praepositjis seem to 

 have consisted largely of the care and sale of stock and grain ^. 



The terms bedelli and niessores are used interchangeably in the 

 rolls. Besides the messor of Forncett, there were messors of Moultdn, 

 Carleton, and Stratton. It has been shown that the manor of 

 Forncett extended into these vills, and the groups of tenants, or 

 homage, from Carleton, Stratton, and probably from Moulton, present 

 in the Forncett manor court, severally chose the messor for their own 

 vill. The beadles or messors were prominent in connection with the 

 courts Conveyances of bond land were made through their hands ; 

 they received complaints, made attachments and answered for amerce- 

 ments*^. They also answered for receipts from the sale of 'works,' 

 rents in kind, and agistment". 



1 This appears from the facts that the surnames of most of the reeves and messors are 

 recognisable as the surnames of servile families; and that, in the extant Court Rolls dating 

 from before 1350, no election of reeve or of messor of Forncett is recorded, although for the 

 year 1332-3 the series of rolls is complete. Since the offices were held by the same persons 

 in successive years they could not have been filled by rotation. From the fact that autumn- 

 works and averagia, but not winter- works, were 'allowed' to these officers, it may perhaps be 

 inferred that they were selected from among the bond sokemen rather than from among the 

 customers. See below, p. ^d ff. 



^ The heading of the compotus rolls varies from year to year, but the typical formula runs 

 as follows : 



*M. N. praepositus et M. N. messor... reddunt com potum... tempore M. N. ballivi.' 



^ Thus, in 1300 (Min. Acc'ts, 935/14) Roger of the Hill, reeve in 1294 'sought allowance' 

 of £"1- 7s. ^d. charged against him by the accountant in 1294, because Roger had sold grain 

 to that value without a writ. Roger states that the steward had enjoined the bailiff and him 

 ' sub immensa poena ' to sell the grain in order to raise money for part of the expenses of the 

 Earl and Countess at Bungay. 



In the same account roll, Simon Herberd, reeve in 1296, 'sought allowance' of 

 ^■3. 6s. Sd. charged against him for grain sold to Reginald of Shottisham. Reginald would 

 not pay because he claimed fhat this debt had been discharged by services performed by him 

 for the Earl. Two other similar petitions were made by former reeves of the manor in 1300. 

 In 1303 the claim of Simon Herberd for the sum paid by him in 1296 was allowed. 



^ See Walter of Henley, pp. 96, 98 et passim , for an account of the reeve's duties. 



^ Cf. below, p. 75, n. 2. '* Appendix IX., Ixx., Ixxi. 



