Ill] The Demesne. 1376 — 78. 53 



have been less than in the earlier period. It might indeed be 

 supposed that the increased price of labour would have been felt by 

 the farmer as well as by the lord, and that consequently the rent that 

 the farmer could have afforded to pay would not have exceeded 

 the reduced profits that the lord might have obtained by cultivating 

 the demesne for his own benefit. But it is probable that the increased 

 price of labour affected the profits of the farmer far less than it 

 affected the profits of the lord. The 166 J acres of the arable 

 demesne were leased to two bondmen, who doubtless themselves 

 performed much of the agricultural labour, though they bought 

 from the lord 40 autumn diets. Moreover, other things being 

 equal, the net profit of the tenant farmers would have been greater 

 than that of the lord, since they superintended in person the manage- 

 ment of their estate, and not, as did the lord, through a staff of 

 agents whom it was expensive to maintain and who often sacrificed 

 the lord's interests to their own. It is also possible that the farmers 

 sought immediate profits from the cultivation of the land, avoiding, 

 for example, the expense of manuring the soil ; though such manage- 

 ment would be ruinous in the end, the loss would fall upon the lord 

 of the manor rather than upon the tenant. The diminished popula- 

 tion of the manor, the consequent decay of labour services, the 

 refractory spirit of the tenants and their increased prosperity, the fact 

 that tenants could afford to pay a rent for the demesne that was 

 greater than the net profits to be derived from its cultivation by the 

 bailiff under the new conditions of high wages and relatively low 

 prices, were circumstances that, acting together, brought about the 

 leasing of the arable demesne and the breaking up of the old 

 manorial organization. The date of the adoption of this policy of 

 leasing the arable demesne cannot be exactly determined, but there 

 can be little doubt that it was within the period 13 58-73 \ 



The 30 acres of meadow and the customary labour of the tenants 

 that mowed the meadow were farmed to the two bondmen who had 

 also farmed the arable demesne. 



As a result of the breaking up of the unity of the demesne, the 

 lord had less use than before for labour rents and rents in kind, 

 since there remained in his possession only some of the buildings 

 in the court-yard, part of the pasture and the waste. A few of the 

 labour rents were sold at a profit to one of the farmers of the 



^ The lease in force in 1376-78 was granted in 1373. It is possible that the demesne was 

 first leased somewhat earlier. The court rolls, 1332-58, record no instance of the leasing 

 of land by the lord for terms of yea#s. For the period between 1358 and 1373 the rolls are 

 missing. After 1373, numerous leases by the lord are entered upon the rolls. 



