52 The Demesne. 1376 — 78. [ch. 



of 3219 winter, summer and autumn diets charged upon the land, 

 1452 diets in 1376-77 and 1722 diets in 1377-78 were no longer 

 available since the tenements from which they had formerly been 

 due had come into the lord's hands ^ or, as in a single instance, were 

 exempt from labour services on account of a payment made by 

 the tenants And some ten to twenty additional works — as from 

 tenements elected to bear the offices of reeve or messor, and thus 

 temporarily freed from labour-rents — could not be demanded ^ 

 Under these circumstances the customary labour of the tenants 

 was no longer sufficient for the cultivation of the demesne, and 

 it is extremely probable that even such services as were due would 

 in many cases have been very unwillingly rendered''. It may be 

 noticed here that the 250 acres which had escheated to the lord, 

 and a large part of which was formerly charged with labour dues, 

 was farmed by the lord to a number of tenants, at money rents 

 for terms of years^ So that about half of the labour rents once 

 due could not henceforth be claimed, since the land upon which they 

 were charged was held by a new tenure, and some 250 acres, a large 

 part of which was once bondland, had now been converted into 

 leasehold. 



With regard to the cultivation of the demesne under these new 

 conditions, several alternatives presented themselves to the lord ; 

 either the demesne might be cultivated under the direction of the 

 bailiff as before, but largely by means of hired labour ; or the lord 

 might give up the cultivation of the demesne, either leasing it to 

 tenants or retaining it as pasture land in his own hands. As a 

 matter of fact, the lord ceased to cultivate the demesne. He let for a 

 term of years 166 J acres of arable^ and the right of pasture on 

 Westwood Ridding''. 



In adopting this new policy of leasing the arable demesne, the 

 lord was probably influenced by the following considerations. As 

 has already been said, if the demesne had been cultivated as formerly 

 under the direction of the bailiff, a large amount of labour must 

 necessarily have been hired. But since the beginning of the century 

 there had been a very considerable rise in the price of labour relative 

 to the price of grains The profits of agriculture would therefore 



^ Appendix IX. Ixii. 



2 'Tenementum Thomae Southauwe,' Ixii., Ixv., Ixvi., cf. p. xliii. 



' Appendix IX. Ixii., Ixiv-lxvi. ^ gee below, pp. 72, 74, 75. 



^ Appendix IX. xliv fF. « Appendix IX. xlix. 



^ Appendix IX. li. 



s For wages, see Appendix IX. Iv., Ivi. and below, p. 56, n. 2. 



