Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



Subsect. 2. Of the State of Agriculture in Britain after the Norman Conquest, or from 

 the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries. 



204. That the conquest of England by the Normans contributed to the improvement of 

 agriculture in Britain is undeniable. " For by that event many thousands of husband- 

 men, from the fertile and well cultivated plains of Flanders, France, and Normandy, 

 settled in this island, obtained estates or farms, and employed the same methods in the 

 cultivation of them that they had used in their native countries. Some of the Norman 

 barons were great improvers of their lands, and are celebrated in history for their skill 

 in agriculture." " Richard de Rulos, lord of Brunne and Deeping," says Ingulphus, 

 " was much addicted to agriculture, and delighted in breeding horses and cattle. Be- 

 sides enclosing and draining a great extent of country, he imbanked the river Wielland, 

 (which used every year to overflow the neighbouring fields) in a most substantial manner, 

 building many houses and cottages upon the bank ; which increased so much, that in a 

 little time they formed a large town called Deeping, from its low situation. Here he 

 planted orchards, cultivated commons, converted deep lakes and impassible quagmires 

 into fertile fields, rich meadows, and pastures ; and, in a word, rendered the whole 

 country about it a garden of delights." (Hist. Ingulphi., Oxon. edit. 1684, torn. i. 

 p. 77, 78.) From the above description, it appears that this nobleman (who was 

 chamberlain to William the Conqueror) was not only fond of agriculture, but also that 

 he conducted his improvements with skill and success. 



205. The Norman clergy, and particularly the monks, were still greater improvers than 

 the nobility ; and the lands of the church, especially of the convents, were conspicuous 

 for their superior cultivation ; for the monks of every monastery retained such of their 

 lands as lay most convenient in their own possession, which they cultivated with great 

 care, under their own inspection, and frequently with their own hands. It was .so much 

 the custom of the monks of this period to assist in the cultivation of their lands, especially 

 in seed-time, hay-time, and harvest, that the famous Thomas Becket, after he was 

 Archbishop of Canterbury, used to go out to the field, with the monks of the monasteries 

 where he happened to reside, and join with them in reaping their corn and making their 

 hay. (C/iron. Gervas., col. 1400.) This is indeed mentioned by the historian as an act 

 of uncommon condescension in a person of his high station in the church ; but it is 

 sufficient proof that the monks of those times used to work with their own hands, at 

 some seasons, in the labours of the field : and, as many of them were men of genius and 

 invention, they no doubt made various improvements in the art of agriculture. The 

 twenty-sixth canon of the general council of Lateran, held A.D. 1179, affords a further 

 proof that the protection and encouragement of all who were concerned in agriculture, 

 were objects of attention to the church. For by that canon it is decreed, " That all 

 presbyters, clerks, monks, converts, pilgrims, and peasants, when they are engaged in 

 the labours of husbandry, together with 

 the cattle in their ploughs, and the seed 

 which they carry into the field, shall 

 enjoy perfect security ; and that all who 

 molest or interrupt them, if they do not 

 desist when they have been admonished, 

 shall be excommunicated." (Ibid., col. 

 1456.) 



206. The implements of husbandry, in 

 this period, were of the same kind with 

 those that are employed at present, 

 though all of them, no doubt, much less 

 perfect in their construction. One sort 

 of plough, for example, had but one 

 stilt or handle, which the ploughman guided with one hand, having in his other hand an 

 instrument which served both for cleaning and mending his plough, and breaking the clods. 

 {fig. 23.) This implement was pro- 

 bably intended for breaking up strong MA. 

 lands ; for such a purpose the wheels 

 would contribute much to its steadiness, 

 which would render two handles unne- 

 cessary, and thus leave the holder with 

 one hand at liberty to use his axe-like 

 instrument in clearing away roots and 

 clods, or otherwise aiding the operation 

 of the plough. Another plough (fig.'IA.) 

 seems to have been without wheels, and was propably intended for light soil. (See 

 Strutt's Complete View of the Manners, fyc. of England, vol, ii. p. J 2.) The Noruiao. 



D 3 



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