56 LAND REFORM 



In the greater part of Europe the same bitter 

 struggle was seen between a rapacious feudal aristo- 

 cracy and the despoiled cultivating classes. In Ger- 

 many the struggle culminated in the formidable and 

 widespread peasant wars of the sixteenth century, 

 which were crushed out bv wholesale bloodshed and 

 almost incredible cruelty.^ In most of the countries 

 of Europe, however, the cultivating classes, though 

 defeated in their armed efforts, had, later on, their 

 rights largely, and in some cases wholly, restored to 

 them, either by revolution or by wise legislation. In 

 our own country similar risings, continually recurring, 

 were either quenched in blood or appeased for the 

 time by promises never fulfilled, and which were never 

 intended to be fulfilled. But in England, while armed 

 efforts were thus put down, the wise legislation never 

 appeared. On the contrary, when legislation on the 

 subject was adopted it was in an opposite direction, by 

 enabling the territorial party to complete their policy 

 under the sanction of successive Acts of Parliament. 

 " In France, the peasant won, the manor lost. In 

 England, the manor won, the peasant lost. In 

 Germany, a drawn battle." 



During the ages of struggle in this country, 

 monarchs, statesmen in high places, and others, saw 

 the impending national danger and sought to avert 

 it. Dignitaries of the Church, to their honour, took 

 the side of the people.^ Bishop Latimer, in his oft- 



1 See "The Peasants' War in Germany," E. B. Bax, 1899. 



'^ In the Primer (or Prayer Book) of King Edward VI, 1552, which 

 was the authorized Prayer Book of that day, there appears the following 

 " Prayer for Landlords," coming immediately after the Collects : " We 

 heartily pray Thee to send Thy Holy Spirit into the hearts of them that 

 possess the grounds and pastures of the earth, that they, remembering 

 themselves to be Thy tenants, may not rack or stretch out the rents of 



