215] ^^^ FERTILITY OF THE COMMON FIELDS 59 



ble for a villain to support himself and his family and per- 

 form the accustomed services and pay the rent for his land. 

 Sometimes heirs were excused on account of their poverty. 

 Page has made note of the prevailing custom of fining these 

 heirs for the privilege of refusing the land : 



In 1340 J. F., who held a messuage and half a virgate, had 

 to pay two shillings for permission to give up the land, because 

 he was unable to render the services due from it. Three other 

 men at the same time paid six pence each fiot to be compelled 

 to take up customary land ... at Woolston, 1340, R. G. gave 

 up his messuage and half virgate because he could not render 

 the necessary services ; whereupon T. S. had to pay three shill- 

 ings three pence that he might not be forced to take the hold- 

 ing, and another villain paid six shillings eight pence for the 

 same thing.* 



Miss Levett mentions the fact that cases were fairly frequent 

 at the Winchester manors in the fourteenth century where a 

 widow or next of kin refused to take up land on account of 

 poverty or impotence ; ^ and three villains of Forncett gave 

 up their holdings before 1350 on account of their poverty.' 

 In case no one could be found who would willingly take 

 up the land, the method of compulsion was tried. The re- 

 sponsibility for providing a tenant in these cases seems to 

 have been shifted to the whole community. A villain chosen 

 by the whole homage had to take up the land. At Crawley 

 in 131 5 there were two such cases. A fine was paid by one 

 villain for a cottage and ten acres " que devenerunt in manus 

 domini tanqumn escheata pro defectu tenentium & ad que 

 eligehatur per totcmi decenuam." At Twyford in 1343- 



1 Page, End of Villainage (Publications of the American Economic 

 Association, Third Series, 1900, vol. i, pp, 289-387), at p. 324, note 2. 



2 Levett and Ballard, op. cit., p. 83. 

 * Davenport, op. cit., p. 71. 



