So The Tenants and their Land. 1400 — 1575. [ch. 



this period one tenant — a bondman — accumulated a holding that 

 compared with the holdings of succeeding and of preceding periods 

 was of extraordinary size\ Possibly the high rentals of the period 

 are to be connected with the extension of sheep raising. There are 

 several indications that in the late fourteenth century this industry 

 was assuming a new importance in Forncett. Thus, while from 1272 

 to 1306 there had been no sheep on the demesne, in 1378 the 

 demesne was stocked with 200 sheep, and Westwood Ridding, 

 which had been arable in the early fourteenth century, was leased 

 as pasture. In 1394 three tenants paid fines for having folds for 

 100 sheep, and the one extant court roll of that year contains a 

 memorandum to inquire at the next court who have folds within the 

 manor, and who of those who have paid fines for having folds have 

 more than 100 sheep without license. Early in the fifteenth century 

 come the first complaints in the extant rolls regarding inclosures. 

 By 1404 a considerable number of tenants had inclosed their lands 

 in the open fields 2, and it is of interest to note that in 1401 one of the 



1401 to 1405, we count 122 transfers that appear to be sales. It would not as a rule be 

 possible to assert with regard to any given conveyance that it was based upon a bond fide sale. 

 But it has seemed safe enough to assume that the conveyances were sales unless they were 

 transfers of property to the heir or near kinsman. Since * farms' of land, inheritances, and 

 certain other transfers of land have not been counted as sales, the number of ' transfers that 

 appear to be sales ' is for a given period considerably less than the number of conveyances. 

 The average amount that passed by means of these 122 conveyances was if acres. (This 

 does not include the transfer of 50 acres in Redlyngfeld, Hethel. As stated below the 

 relation of this land to the manor of Forncett was peculiar. It was held of other manors 

 as well.) From 1406-10 there were 103 probable sales averaging i^ acres. From 149 1-5, 

 some 79 sales averaged nearly i\ acres. From 1551— 1555, 32 probable sales averaged 

 nearly 4^ acres. P>om 1556 — 1560 there were 66 probable sales averaging nearly five acres^ 

 The following table shows more clearly than the averages the tendency towards an 

 increasing proportion of comparatively large sales. 



Area sold. 

 Under 5 a. 5 a.-5f a. 6 a.-io a. 10 a. -20 a. 20 a.-25 a. 50 a. + 

 1401-10 207 sales 12 3 3 00 



1551-60 80 sales 16 7 22 



1 See below, p. 82. 



2 The following entries appear in a court roll of 1404: 



Misericordia \\s. \\d. Ricardus Horn (xii^.) Robertus May (ii</.) Ricardus Cullynge (iii^.) 

 Walterus Colman (vi^.) Galfridus Cullynge (iii^.) fecerunt clausuras de terris suis propriis 

 infra dominium et villam de Multone contra consuetudinem dominii per quod tenentes domini 

 communam suam ibidem habere non possunt, videlicet a festo Sancti Michaelis usque festum 

 Purificationis Beatae Mariae Virginis prout de jure habere debuerint et ex antiquo habuerunt. 

 Ideo, etc. 



Misericordia iii^. viii^. Et quod Willelmus Florauns (iiii^.) Ricardus Welyard (vi^^.) 

 Thomas Berd (vi^.) Robertus Dosy (vi^.) Johannes Skylman {\'\d.) Willelmus dil Hil, 

 capellanus {s\d.) Robertus Sergeante (vi^.) Robertus Baxtere (iii/.) et Johannes Drylle (iioT.) 

 fecerunt similiter infra villam de Fornessete contra consuetudinem dominii. Ideo, etc. 



Misericordia ii^. Et quod Prior de Thetforde (xii^.) et Robertus de Parke (xii^.) fecerunt 

 similiter infra villam de Aslaktone contra consuetudinem dominii. Ideo, etc. 



