( 3DtXV ) 



Fruit. — Nuts were grown on several manors, and were apparently 

 included in the Instaurum when not disposed of during the year. Six 

 quarters remained from last year at Meon. During this year nuts were 

 sold from the following manors : — Waltham, 2«. Qd. ; Olere, 3s. lO^rf. ; 

 Itchingswell, 2s. ; Witney, 15s. ; Bitteme, 6s. Qd. ; Meon, 10s. ; Hambledon, 

 2s.; Taunton, 2s. 9\d.; and Wield, Is. Irf. Total value, 2/. lis. The 

 Taunton account includes the dues received for " nutting." The average 

 price of nuts per quarter is about Is. 6rf. 



The total value of honey sold was 8s. lie?, and it was received at 

 Waltham, 2^rf. ; Farnham, 4«. ; Clere (" de consuetudine "), 2s. ; Bitteme 

 ("de purchasiis"), 2s. 0\d. ; and Alresford, 8rf. 



A new orchard was planted at Meon during the year, and the old 

 one at Marwell was cleaned and trimmed. Apples were sold at South- 

 wark, 16s. ; and at Alresford, 2s. 3jd. 



It has been already stated in the Prospectus of this Edition that Method of 

 the work of transcribing and extending the Text, together with the ' ^^' 

 preparation of the Introduction, Index, and Glossary, have been entirely 

 performed by the students of the class in Palaeography, Diplomatic and 

 Historical Sources of the London School of Economics, under the 

 supervision of the Lecturer. This, indeed, must be regarded as an 

 essential feature of an undertaking for which the only merit claimed 

 lies in the value of the practicable experience thus acquired in several 

 of the auxiliary branches of historical study. It will, however, be easily 

 understood that the exigencies of an academic course have imposed strict 

 limitations on the scope of the Editor's researches. The present edition 

 represents, in fact, merely the " practical work " of the weekly seminar, 

 the application of the lecture courses of the past session on the " Seignorial 

 position of the Church in the Middle Ages" to a selected thesis — the 

 manorial system observed in the case of a single church in a given year. 

 The end kept in view throughout the above course was the equipment of 

 the students for the comparative study of the manorial economy in all its 

 bearings throughout the period indicated, and specialization might have 

 been attempted in any other direction for which opportunity served. The 

 subject selected seemed, however, deserving of attention on account of 

 the comparative neglect of this unique series of manorial records. At the 

 same time, although the end has been held to justify the means, it must 

 be admitted that the plan of such an Edition, however systematic in its 

 method, leaves much to be desired in respect of the performance. Great 

 difficulty, for example, has been experienced in securing uniformity in 

 respect of the extension of the Text, and of the procedure employed for 

 the purpose of an analysis of its economic evidence. The systematic and 

 uniform extension of mediaeval official documents is virtually an unknown 

 practice in this country, whilst the number of alternative forms which may 

 be found in mediaeval glossaries increases the difficulty of co-operation by 

 independent workers, and this difficulty has been enhanced in the case 

 of the present MS. by the vagaries of the scribe. 



The method pursued by the Editors may be briefly described as follows : — 



1. The Text has been extended throughout as a matter of principle, to 

 avoid the primitive expedient of "Record type" on the one hand, and the 



