GROWTH OF THE MANOR 9 



three days a week during most of the year, and four or 

 five days in summer. It was not always the villein himself, 

 however, who rendered these services, he might send his son 

 or even a hired labourer ; and it was the holding and not the 

 holder that was considered primarily responsible for the render- j 

 ing of services. 1 



a. Precarii or boon days: that is, work generally during 

 harvest, at the lord's request, sometimes instead of week work, 

 sometimes in addition. 



3. Gafol or tribute : fixed payments in money or kind, and 

 such services as ' fold soke ', which forced the tenants' sheep 

 to lie on the lord's land for the sake of the manure ; and suit 

 of mill, by which the tenant was bound to grind his corn in 

 the lord's mill. 



With regard to the ' boon days ' in harvest, it should be 

 remembered that harvest time in the Middle Ages was a most 

 important event. Agriculture was the great industry, and 

 when the corn was ripe the whole village turned out to gather 

 it, the only exceptions being the housewives and sometimes 

 the marriageable daughters. Even the larger towns suspended 

 work that the townsmen might assist in the harvest, and our 

 long vacation was probably intended originally to cover the 

 whole work of gathering in the corn and hay. On the 

 occasion of the ' boon-day ' work, the lord usually found 

 food for the labourers which, the Inquisition of Ardley 2 

 tells us, might be of the following description: for two men, 

 porridge of beans and peas and two loaves, one white, the 

 other of ' mixtil ' bread ; that is, wheat, barley, and rye mixed 

 together, with a piece of meat, and beer for their first meal. 

 Then in the evening they had a small loaf of mixtil bread and 

 two ' lescas ' of cheese. While harvest work was going on the 

 better-off tenants, usually the free ones, were sometimes em- 

 ployed to ride about, rod in hand, superintending the others. 



1 Vinogradoff, English Society in the Eleventh Century, p. 300. 



2 Domesday of S. Paul, p. Ixviii. 



