72 The Tenants and their Land, 1376 — -78. [ch. 



muted, was a little more than 2s. an acre\ This fact, even when 

 taken by itself, would sufficiently explain why the customers should 

 abandon their holdings. 



It is not possible to state even approximately the number of 

 sokemen's tenements that by 1378 had escheated. Many of these 

 tenements had been divided and part of a tenement might fall into 

 the lady's hands, while another part might continue to be held on 

 the old terms. However, we may very roughly estimate the area 

 originally included within sokemen's tenements but by 1378 fallen 

 into the lady's hands, as between 20 and 25 °\^ of- the entire area 

 originally included within the tenements of the sokemen. But of the 

 area included within the tenements of the customers some ^6 °/.^ had 

 escheated. 



Of the sokemen's tenements or fractions of tenements that had 

 reverted to the lady, ten had escheated after the death of tenants 

 and five had been waived I Why these lands should have been 

 waived is not obvious, for most of them were very lightly burdened 

 and the tenants of some of them were not serfs^, though the tenants 

 of others may have been. 



Though the material likely to contain evidence of the flight of 

 serfs from the manor is very scanty for the period from 1350 to 

 1400^ yet the few court rolls that remain show that many of the 

 serfs were seeking to improve their economic or legal status through 

 flight. Thus in a roll of the year 1373 eight bondmen and bond- 

 women are named as having * withdrawn ' from the manor. It is 

 ordered to ' attach ' these and ' all other bondmen and bondwomen 

 who have withdrawn I' The same roll contains a memorandum to 

 inquire whether a certain serf, not one of the eight named elsewhere 



1 Autumn works might be commuted for \d. an acre, but in 1376-8, 40 of these works 

 were let to one of the farmers of the demesne for ^d. apiece. If the other works were worth 

 triple the price for which they might be commuted, the actual value of the rent of these 

 customary tenants in case all the services due from them were performed, was 3^. 9^. 

 an acre. 



'^ Nos. 6, 33, 54, 62, and 63. Both nos. 6 and 62 were probably parts of tenement 

 Coleman. 



2 How light were the burdens imposed on these tenements is shown by the fact that the 

 money rent for which they were let in 1378 was greater than the money value of the dues with 

 which they had been charged, estimated at the rate at which those dues might be commuted. 

 See columns 18-22, table pp. 60, 6r. 



Thus Sir William Germyn, and probably Coleman and Smith were not serfs, but 

 Schacheloke and Raven may have been. 



* Between 1350 and 1400 from 200 to 250 manor courts must have been held at Forncett, 

 but the rolls of only ten of these courts remain. 



^ * Praeceptum est attachiare Johannem Baxtere de Multone, et Matthaeum Baxtere fratrem 



