S6 History of the English Landed Inte7'est. 



Saxon agriculturists. There is, however, a nearer approach 

 to a tribal economy in the common use by the Welshmen, not 

 only of beasts of burden and implements, but of the fruits of 

 their combined industry. 



The law itself divided the earth's produce in certain fixed 

 proportions. That of the first " erw," or strip, was the due of 

 the ploughman, that of the second went to the owner of the 

 implement used, that of the third to the master of the outside 

 ox, that of the fourth to the master of the inside beast, the 

 fifth to the driver, the sixth, seventh, and eighth to the 

 owner of the team.^ This was co-operative farming with a 

 vengeance, and might well form the basis of some future 20th 

 century system. 



Now let us turn to the earliest evidence of it at our disposal 

 in Anglo-Saxon soil culture. 



Just as the counties had been sub-divided into hundreds 

 and tithings for purposes of local government, and into 

 parishes for the purposes of ecclesiastical government, so also 

 we shall now show they were divided into townships, for 

 purposes of estate management. The word " township," or 

 " tun," is derived from the Saxon " tynan," (to enclose), and 

 though it first denoted merely the lord's homestead and land 

 in hand, it soon came to include the whole of each area under 

 seignorial jurisdiction. 



If the estate was of such proportions as to have induced its 

 lord to build a separate church and maintain a chaplain, the 

 township was conterminate with the parish. 



The internal economy of a large manor was arranged so 

 that a proportion of the lands were parcelled out amongst the 

 kindred and free retainers of the lord or atheling, who gave 

 their services in war in exchange for the usufruct or life in- 

 terest of their holdings. So long as the latter performed 

 faithful service to the former, so long were they entitled to 

 their beneficia or feuds, but after a time their services became 

 hereditary.^ 



This system of rear-vassalage or sub-infeudation, which in 



^ Seebohm, Village Comviunity. Id, Ihid., c. vi. 



- Guizot, Essai sur Vllisioire de France, pp. 128-143. 



