SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



expenses of the scouring works exceeded their value, therefore only so 

 many tenants as were absolutely required for the work were summoned, 

 the others being quit. The expenses of the great boon-day also were in 

 excess of the value of the works, in spite of which the works continued 

 to be exacted and rendered. 



In 1 446 * 9 an arrangement was made in full court between the lord 

 and his steward on the one hand, with the assent of the tenants on the 

 other, that every tenant might pay for his autumn works at the rate of 

 id, a day, the money to be paid to the bailiff or some other of the 

 lord's ministers yearly at the feast of St. Peter in Chains (i August), or 

 on the Sunday next following, any tenants not paying at this time to be 

 charged at a double rate. But later than this agreement, tenants still 

 took up holdings on the express condition of rendering autumn services ; 

 two years later, in February, 1448, Robert Iver, Edward Bokeland and 

 Thomas Ravener were summoned to Westminster to have the amount 

 of their autumn work determined, and in the following October they 

 submitted themselves to the lord's mercy and petitioned for leave to per- 

 form their services and to be no longer disquieted for those previously 

 withheld.' As late as 1455 and 1471 tenants were presented for not 

 doing works, and in 1492 two tenants paid for their services. 61 No 

 mention of such payments is made in the two court rolls of the reign of 

 Henry VIII," but no conclusion as to the absence of commutations can 

 be deduced from the fact that the holdings in Henry VIII's rolls are still 

 said to be granted for ' all services and customs due by law and custom,' 

 or inde prius debita. The survival of this formula in the court rolls 

 is very misleading, and continues long after it has any meaning in actual 

 fact. It is used in court rolls of the Stuart reigns, and of the Com- 

 monwealth, and the tenants are still spoken of as custumarii. The same 

 formula is used in the leases of manors granted by the Hospitallers in 

 the reign of Henry VIIL' Sa And in Sutton rolls 63 the formula is still 

 regularly recited after the Restoration, and at Stepney 63a in the time 

 of Henry VIII, although by the reign of Henry VI no more services were 

 rendered on the manor. 



At Sutton we find an early commutation in 1222," a tenant holding 

 'per cartam ' for a rent of 5*. instead of services, and by this time no new 

 services were imposed, for, as we have already noticed, the assart lands 

 held by two operarii were paid for by a money rent only. In 14089 no 

 account of works appears in the rolls ; " the demesne is let on lease, and 

 there is an entry of 4 iu. id. from the sale of autumn works. A 

 receipt of 7 Bs. io</. from the lord for the expenses of the autumn 

 works is noted, and entries of expenses are made. So that evidently 

 some are still rendered. 



49 P.R.O. Ct. R. Hen. VI, bdle. 191, No. 23. *> Ibid. bdle. 191, No. 23. 



" Ibid. Hen. VII, bdle. 191, No. 28. Ibid. Hen.VIII, bdle. 191, Nos. 30 and 31. 



Ua B.M. Chart, of Hospitallers, Cott. MS. Claud. E. vi. 



M Ct. R. at St. Paul's. 



a " P.R.O. Ct. R. (i Hen. VIII), bdle. 191, No. 63. M Domesday of St. PauTs. Survey of Sutton. 



65 St. Paul's Library, Mins. Accts. 9 or 10 Hen. IV. 



