225] ^^^ FERTILITY OF THE COMMON FIELDS 69 



At Hinton, Berks, the Bailiff reports in 1377, that the former 

 lord before his death had commuted the services of the villains 

 for money, " eo quod customarii impotentes ad facienda dicta 

 opera et pro eorum paupertate" ... At Stevenage, 1354, 

 S. G. "tenuit unam vergatam reddendo inde per annum in 

 serviciis et consuetudinibus xxii solidos. Et dictus S. G. 

 pauper et impotens dictam virgatam tenere. Ideo concessum 

 est per dominum quod S. G. habeat et teneat predictam terram 

 reddendo inde xiii solidos iv denarios pro omnibus serviciis et 

 consuetudinibus.^ 



In connection with the matter of heriots, also, evidences 

 of extreme poverty are frequent. Frequently when a tenant 

 died there was no beast for the lord to sieze. 



The heriot of a virgate was generally an ox, or money payment 

 of its value. But the amount as often reduced " propter pau- 

 pertatem," and sometimes when a succeeding tenant could not 

 pay, a half acre was deducted from the virgate and held by the 

 lord instead of the heriot.- 



The rate at which the value of these holdings declined when 

 their tenants possessed too few cattle was rapid. Land 

 without stock is worthless. The temptation to sell an ox in 

 order to meet the rent was great, but when the deficiency was 

 due to declining productivity of the soil, there was no 

 probability that it would be made up the following year even 

 with all the stock, and with fewer cattle the situation was 

 hopeless. After this process had gone on for a few years 

 nothing was left, not even a yoke of oxen for plowing. 

 Whatever means had been taken to keep up the fertility of 

 the land, attend to the drainage, etc, were of necessity 

 neglected, and finally the hope of keeping up the struggle 

 was abandoned. The spirit which prompted the reply of the 



1 Page, op. cit., p. 342, note 2. 



2 Seebohm, op. cit., p. 30, note 2. 



