58 The Demesne. 1400— 1605. [ch. 



1478 this was granted in parcels of 20 and of 5 acres respectively to 

 different tenants to hold at fee farm. In 1438, 30 acres were farmed 

 for 12 years, and in 1474 this piece "jacens pro xxx. acris" was 

 granted in fee farm. 



During the thirty years following the period dealt with in the 

 last chapter, land held by labour services continued to revert to the 

 lord, and to be leased by him at money rents. By 1406 nearly all of 

 the land that had once rendered week-work had thus been converted 

 into leasehold, which finally, as has been shown, came to be held at 

 fee farm rents. In this year, out of the 3219 winter, summer, and 

 autumn diets formerly charged upon the manor, only 195 were 

 available ; and out of the 1 505 winter- works for which the customers 

 had once been accountable, only 45, or less than those formerly due 

 from a single typical customers' tenement, were still owed\ 



We have seen^ that the net profits from the manor were con- 

 siderably less in 1378 than they had been in the thirteenth century. 

 In 1409-10 the manor was let to farm for the yearly rent of £60^. 



A statement of the receipts from the manor in 1527-28'* gives 

 the following particulars : 



1527-8 



£. s. d. 



Rents and farms 55 5 11 



Courts 12 2 4 



Fines from two bondmen 10 o o 



Total receipts ... 77 8 3 



^ An Escheators' Inquisition for 1406 states the number of works due in that year from 

 the manor. The following entry from a Court Roll of 1439 affords further evidence that 

 this land was let to farm: *Jur' praesentant quod omnia terrae et tenementa hujus manerii 

 quae reddere solebant reddita avenarum sunt decasa in manu dominae et dimittuntur 

 parcellatim diversis tenentibus hujus dominii ad firmam pro quibus ofificiarii dominae debent 

 allocari de redditu et servitiis dictorum terrarum et tenementorum causa praedicta.' Since 

 oat-rents were paid by nearly all of the tenements that rendered week-work (see table, 

 pp. 60, 61), it is evident that all or nearly all of these tenements must have been in the 

 lord's hands by 1439. The presentment of the jury in 1433 (see footnote, p. 56) shows that 

 services formerly rendered by customary labour were now performed by hired labour. 



' P- 55. 



'^ ' Firma manerii de Fornsete. Willelmus Rees et Jacobus Billyngford firmarii manerii 

 de Fornesete respondunt de Ix. /. de firma sua ejusdem manerii per litteras Regis patentes 

 eisdem concessas solvendis ad terminos Paschae et Sancti Michaelis.' Min. Acc'ts, 1093/1. 



* Heralds' College. Arundel MSS., no. 49, folio 24. The items regarding the fines of 

 bondmen read as follows: 



' It'm le XXV. iour de Marcz rec' de Wauter Bolyaute de fyn qil ne portera plus d'office 



vers ma dame en la ser[iant]ie de Fornesete, c.s It'm receu de la fyn William Hemyng 



pur avois fait a ma dame, c. s! , 



