iiS LAND REFORM 



of the term, but — with certain services — the conditions 

 on which the land was permanently held. By raising 

 this sum — thoucrh he had no riorht to turn him out — a 

 landlord could impoverish a peasant holder to any 

 extent. Hence the demand made. 



In Blomefield's " History of Norfolk," a most valu- 

 able local record, prices and other interesting parti- 

 culars connected with the agriculture of the day are 

 given. ^ From this and from other sources it appears 

 that sixpence per acre was the average of this so- 

 called rent of arable land and 3s. to 4s. per acre for 

 meadow land. Hallam quotes, from accounts kept at 

 a convent some years later, that the prices of wheat 

 were from 4s. to 6s, per quarter, oxen from 12s. 

 to 1 6s. each, sheep is. 2d. to is. 4d., eggs twenty-five 

 for a penny, etc. But the enormous difference between 

 the value of money then and now, must, of course, 

 be taken into account. 



The rising in Suffolk and Norfolk seems to have 

 been of a less united character. Stow states that men 

 went into Norfolk and Suffolk "to raise like commo- 

 tions and to turn the hearts of the bondmen against 

 their lords." Their captain was "a most ungratious 

 priest John Wraw, who, instructed by Wat Tyler, 

 easily assembled a multitude of the common people." 

 Some of the leaders were taken, and there was the 

 usual "hanging, drawing, and heading." The rebel- 

 lion was finally put down by the Bishop of Norwich, 

 " who took some of the rebels and struck off their 

 heads and placed them on poles. "^ 



> Blomefield's " History of Norfolk," Vol. II, ])p. 79, 80. 



■^ The history and incidents of the outbreak in Norfolk are given in an 

 interesting work, "Rising in East Anglia in 1381," by Edgar Powell. 

 (University Press, Cambridge, 1896.) 



