v] The Tenants and their Land. 1272 — 1306. 69 



estimated at 875 acres\ The tenants of the 125 acres appear to 

 have been known as customary tenants, the tenants of the 875 acres 

 as sokemen. 



The evidence regarding the number of plough teams owned by 

 sokemen and ' customers ' respectively, supports the conclusion that 

 has been reached regarding the acreage held by these two classes. 

 The customary tenants, as has been said, furnished from 2 to 4^ 

 teams for the demesne ploughing ; the sokemen furnished from 14 

 to 23 teams ; the free tenants, in 1272-3, \6\ teams. The area held 

 by each of these classes cannot be precisely stated on account of the 

 fact that some of the free land had been soiled. It is impossible to 

 determine precisely the quantity of land that had been soiled by 

 1272, but it may be very roughly estimated at about 200 acres^ If 

 this estimate be correct the customary tenants must then have held 

 about 150 acres, including 25 acres * soiled'; the sokemen 1050 acres, 

 and the free tenants 1050 acres. 



The lack of court rolls prevents us from speaking with certainty 

 of the legal tenure by which sokemen held their land during the 

 period dealt with in this chapter ; but by the end of the fourteenth 

 century, at all events, the land that during the thirteenth century 

 had been held by sokemen and by customers was classified as terra 

 iiativa. In the method of conveyance, and in the legal nature of the 

 tenure by which they were held, it does not appear possible to 

 distinguish in the later records between what had been the lightly- 

 burdened tenements of the sokemen and the heavily-burdened 

 tenements of the customers. By 1400 both were 'copyhold.' 



On the important question of the status of the sokemen the 

 documents throw a somewhat uncertain light. The hypothesis that 

 best explains the recorded facts is that there were both free and 

 bond sokemen within the manor=^. 



^ In 1376, some 25 tenements were charged with winter week-work. One of these 

 tenements was 10 acres; the other 17 of which the area is known were either 5 acres or 

 2| acres. Therefore it is probable that the area charged with week-work throughout the year 

 did not exceed 125 acres. From the survey of 1565, we learn that some 1000 acres of bond 

 land, exclusive of former demesne, were held of Forncett manor. Deducting 125 acres from 

 1000 acres we have 875 acres remaining as lightly-burdened bond land. In 1565 free land and 

 'soiled' land together amounted to about 1250 acres. 



2 In 1565 there were about 525 acres of soiled land. 



^ This question is discussed more fully on pp. 83-85. 



