vii] The Tenants and their Land, 1400 — 1575. 81 



inclosing tenants, John Skilman, paid for license to have a fold 

 for 100 sheep. The records, then, give the impression that in the 

 later fourteenth century there were many more sheep on the manor 

 than there had been in the early part of the same century. During 

 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the tenants continued to inclose 

 their lands\ From the Survey of 1565 it appears that at that time 

 from one-third to one-half of the fields of Forncett vill lay within 

 inclosures. Nearly all of these inclosures were between three and 

 fifteen acres in area. The records from 1422 to 1565 afford no clear 

 evidence that during this period sheep-raising was carried on to any 

 very considerable extent. Certainly even by 1565 the sheep-raising 

 industry had by no means become of overwhelming importance. 

 Less than half of the acreage of the fields was in inclosures, and 

 these inclosures were, at least for the most part, arable^ The area 

 which they included is described in the survey as terra^ not 2a pastura, 

 and, as a rule, the inclosed land was divided into separate strips, 

 which were held by many different tenants by different tenures and 

 of different manors. Even when the whole close was in the hands 

 of a single tenant the old division into strips was sometimes 

 maintained ^ 



To what extent was there a development in the direction of 

 larger tenancies during the period 1401 to 1565 ? The court rolls 

 are silent as to freehold. The following table, covering the period 

 from 1401 to 1565, shows the amount of copyhold (including under 

 this head ' soiled ' land and fee farm) held at the time of their 

 death by such tenants as died seized of 15 acres or more held 

 by this tenure. 



1 1438. M. vi^. d. Jur' infra praesentant quod Thomas Cullyng includit terrain suam in 

 campis per quod tenentes domini non possunt habere viam ad terras suas. Ideo ipse in 

 misericordia. Et praeceptum est deponere dictum inclausum citra proximam curiam sub 

 poena yXd. 



1 44 1. Jur' dicunt quod Robertus Dosy includit communem pasturam de Hylgate et 

 custodit illam communem pasturam pro sua separali pastura in prejudicium dominae. Ideo 

 ipse in misericordia ut in capite, etc. Et praeceptum est illam retro aperire citra proximam 

 sub poena. 



2 The different steps in the process of inclosing the open fields for tillage are set forth 

 in Mr W. J. Corbett's paper on "Elizabethan Village Surveys," Transactions, Royal Historical 

 Soc, XI. 79-87. Conditions at Forncett were closely similar to those on the Norfolk manors 

 described in this paper. 



3 e.g. Forncett St Peter, VIII. 4, and X. 10. *£• A. tenet totum iHud inclausum continens 

 X. acras terrae jacentes in diversis peciis libere,' 



