44 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



period, of eggs, poultry, or ale were required. The land held 

 by the villein remained intact generation after generation. Upon 

 his death it went to one son ; the others sought positions else- 

 where, as craftsmen in the towns, servants in the lord's house- 

 hold, and sometimes as soldiers. Under the manorial system 

 there were considerable numbers of freeholders occupying a 

 position somewhat above that of the villein, but as time went 

 on the difference between these two classes became an uncer- 

 tain one and tended to disappear. 



Origin of the manor. The process by which this transforma- 

 tion of a village community into a manor came about is some- 

 what complicated. In a general way it may be said to have been 

 the result of three practices : ( i ) Even under the community sys- 

 tem the king had certain rights in the way of taxation or serv- 

 ices from the village. He sometimes granted these rights to a 

 monastery as a convenient way of endowing it, or to a private 

 individual as a mark of favor. (2) In those turbulent times 

 it was not always easy for a plain tiller of the soil, untrained in 

 the profession of arms, to protect himself against marauders 

 or more formidable invaders. His safest plan was frequently 

 to put himself under the protection of some expert fighter or 

 powerful leader, agreeing to pay him certain services or rents 

 in return for his protection. (3) It became the practice for a 

 time to buy off, by gifts of money, the Danes who were har- 

 assing the country. It was necessary to raise this money by 

 taxation, under the name of Danegeld. It was useless to try to 

 collect it directly from the common villagers ; it was collected 

 rather from the monasteries and the lords, who in turn found 

 ways of getting it out of the men under them, being, in fact, 

 given considerable authority in the matter. Thus the power 

 and authority of the lords grew, and the liberty of the villagers 

 dwindled until we find them in the position of the villeins, as 

 just described. 



