302 ENGLISH FIELD SYSTEMS 



the area sown was about two-thirds of the total, the part left 

 fallow had a distinct value as pasture, presumably because it was 

 enclosed. At Throwley, for example, the no acres that were 

 sown from a total of i6o were each valued at 6d., but the re- 

 mainder bore pasturage worth 2 d. the acre.^ Similarly, at 

 Brabourn the demesne arable when sown was worth 6 d., but when 

 unsown the pasturage of each acre was worth 3 d. from Easter 

 to All Saints.2 



Most interesting and most significant, however, are the some- 

 what numerous Kentish manors on which in the middle of the 

 fourteenth century all the acres of the demesne were sown 

 yearly, — " possunt seminari quolibet anno." They were so 

 sown on nearly all the manors of Giles de Badlesmere in 12 Ed- 

 ward III. Under these conditions the value of an acre often 

 became 12 d} Occasionally it did not rise above 6 d. or ?> d., but 

 this was in the down-country of the east.'* Such annual tillage of 

 the entire demesne, with the resultant high valuation per acre, is 

 a circumstance very unusual for the fourteenth century. It was 

 seldom to be met with outside of Kent, but was there a normal 

 concomitant of the flexible field system which the surveys of the 

 county have shown us. In a region in which it was generally 

 known that much land could be sown yearly, and in which there 



quibus seminabantur hoc anno cxx acre ante mortem dicti Egidii et residuum 

 iacet ad warectam." 



1 C. Inq. p. Mort., F. 65 (11), 21 May, 15 Edw. Ill, Throwley: " Sunt ibidem 

 clx acre terre arabilis que valent per annum quando seminantur iiii li. pretium acre 

 vi d. et quando non seminantur pastura cuiuslibet acre valet ii d. De quibus 

 seminabantur ante mortem predicti Willielmi de semine yemali et quadragesimali 

 ex acre." 



2 Ibid., F. 45 (24), II Edw. Ill, Brabourn: " Sunt ibidem cccxlii acre terre 

 arabilis in dominico que valent . . . quum seminantur pretium acre vi d. Et 

 quum non seminantur pastura cuiuslibet acre valet a festo Pasche usque festum 

 Omnium Sanctorum iii d. Et a predicto festo Omnium Sanctorum usque festum 

 Pasche pastura earundem nihil valet quia nihil vendi potest." 



' Ibid., F. 56 (i), 3 July, 12 Edw. Ill, Badlesmere: " Sunt ibidem ccc acre terre 

 arrabilis que valent per annum xv li. pretium acre xii d. et possunt quolibet anno 

 seminari et seminabantur hoc anno ante mortem predicti Egidii." So too, with 

 difiFerence of areas, was it at Chatham, Kingston, Tong, Sibton, Wilderton. At 

 Erith there were 243 acres of " terra arabilis in marisco " worth 3 s. the acre, and 

 68 other acres of arable worth 20 d. the acre. 



* E. g., at Chilham 8 d., at Ringwold 6 d., at Whitstable 6 d. (ibid.). 



