r 



64 THE ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND [220 



was a well established custom that in case work owed by the 

 tenants was not used they should pay money instead. The 

 amount of work needed each year on the demesne varied 

 according to the size of the harvest, etc., but the number of 

 days' works for which the tenants was liable was fixed. The 

 surplus of works owed above those needed were " sold " 

 each year to the villains. Frequently the number of works 

 sold exceeded the number performed, although formal com- 

 mutation of dues had not taken place. At Nailesboume 

 (1348-1349), 4755 works were due from the villains, but 

 nearly 40(X) of these were sold.^ If the Bishop had merely 

 wished to avoid waste; then, in ceasing to require the per- 

 formance of villain services on his manors, he would have 

 required the payment of the money equivalent of these ser- 

 vices. When the services were excused, and the customary 

 alternative of a money payment also, the change was clearly 

 an intentional reduction in the burden of villain tenure. 

 This fact makes emphasis upon the payment of money as 

 the distinguishing feature of the changed relatr0ns~1)etween 

 landlord and tenant in this period misleading. There was 

 every precedent for requiring a money payment in the place 

 of services not wanted. (When, therefore, a great many 

 services were simply allowed to lapse, it is an indication that 

 it was impossible to exact the payment) It makes little dif- 

 ference whether the services were commuted at a lower rate 

 than that at which they had formerly been " sold " or 

 whether the villain was simply held accountable for a smaller 

 number of services at the old rate ; in either case the rent was 

 reduced, and the burden of the tenant was less. 



The reduction of rent is thus the characteristic and fun- 

 damental feature of all of the changes of land tenure during 

 this period. This fact is ignored by historians who suppose 



1 Ibid., p. 89. 



