12 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



had apparently already diminished and was diminishing in 

 numbers, so that for the cultivation of the demesne the lord 

 was coming to rely more on the labour of his tenants, and 

 consequently the labour services of the villeins were being 

 augmented. 1 The agricultural labourer as we understand 

 him, a landless man working solely for wages in cash, was 

 almost unknown. 



All the arrangements of the manor aimed at supplying 

 labour for the cultivation of the lord's demesne, and he had 

 three chief officers to superintend it : 



1. The seneschal, who answers to our modern steward or land 

 agent, and where there were several manors supervised all of 

 them. He attended to the legal business and held the manor 

 courts. It was his duty to be acquainted with every particular 

 of the manor, its cultivation, extent, number of teams, condition 

 of the stock, &c. He was also the legal adviser of his lord ; in 

 fact, very much like his modern successor. 



2. The bailiff for each manor, who collected rents, went to 

 market to buy and sell, surveyed the timber, superintended the 

 ploughing, mowing, reaping, &c., that were due as services 

 from the tenants on the lord's demesne ; and according to Fleta 

 he was to prevent their ' casting off before the work was done ', 

 and to measure it when done. 2 And considering that those 

 he superintended were not paid for their work, but rendering 

 more or less unwelcome services, his task could not have been 

 easy. 



3. The praepositus or reeve, an office obligatory on every 

 holder of a certain small quantity of land ; a sort of foreman 

 nominated from among the villeins, and to a certain extent 

 representing their interests. His duties were supplementary to 

 those of the bailiff: he looked after all the live and dead stock 

 of the manor, saw to the manuring of the land, kept a tally of 

 the day's work, had charge of the granary, and delivered there- 



1 Maitland, Domesday Book, p. 35. 2 Fleta, c. 73. 



