A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



or without the vill except by the lord's licence, for which he must fine 

 at the lord's will, nor may any villein enter holy orders or leave the vill 

 without his lord's permission. Nor may they let their lands out of the 

 lord's dominion, nor place metes and bounds without leave and under 

 the supervision of the lord's servants. Every bondage tenant is tallage- 

 able at the lord's will and pleasure either annually or when he comes 

 over sea. 



No tenant bond or free may shake down mast in the woods or 

 thrash in Ruislip woods, on pain of having their teams confiscated by 

 the forester till they have fined to the lord for their transgression. 

 Neither may any tenant fish in the lord's water except for a dish of 

 fish for the diet of himself and his wife, and then any fish more than a 

 foot long goes to the lord. 



The lord may seize the teams oxen or horses of any tenants, 

 who, owing rent at Trinity, have not paid by the day after the feast, 

 detaining the teams for a day and a night, after which time, unless the 

 tenant have redeemed it by paying the rent, the lord may take the team 

 to his own use. 



Any villein tenant must serve as reeve or crier at the appoint- 

 ment of his lord, being quit of all other service and rent for his 

 holding during his term of office. 89 The reeve and the crier either 

 dined daily at the lord's table, or received a weekly allowance of a bushel 

 of wheat apiece, ' and nothing more save by the lord's grace.' The 

 crier had charge of the hay while it was in cocks, and was responsible 

 for any damage to it. While watching the hay he had his lodging 

 in the meadow. 



The smith also held his tenement in return for the special services 

 of his trade, being quit of all other obligations, except a yearly rent 

 of 2j. He had to repair and replace the shares of the demesne ploughs, 

 the lord providing the necessary iron and steel, to sharpen the tenants' 

 scythes when they mowed for the lord, and to shoe the front feet of two 

 beasts all the year round, keeping as his perquisite the old shoes, if they 

 were still on the feet. In 1434 the smith's duties were not rendered 

 because there was no one on the manor of that custom, and the tenement 

 was ruinous. 30 So that evidently the smith's duties were accredited to a 

 particular holding. The manor smiths were sometimes paid a regular 

 stipend as at Isleworth and Paddington. 81 On the latter manor the 

 smith's stipend is i8j. 'by custom,' and he makes as well as repairs the 

 ploughs. At Isleworth he gets 6s. 8</. for repairing the ploughs, 

 including the materials. 



The Harmondsworth custumal does not mention how the forester 

 of the manor was appointed. On some manors any villein had to serve 

 in this capacity, too, if appointed by the lord. This was the case at 

 Sutton, 38 where the forester, who was apparently one of the operarii, 



" At Edgeware in 1279-80 (P.R.O. Ct. R. bdle. 1 88, No. 54) a tenant was fined for making 

 himself reeve. 



10 P.R.O. Mins. Accts. 12-13 Hen. VI, bdle. 1126, No. 7. 



81 Ibid. bdle. 917, No. 25. Domesday of St. PauPs, Surv. 1222. 



68 



