A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



servants than usual. Walsingham, in the Gesta Abbatum asserts that 

 the tenants of the St. Albans manor of Barnet in Middlesex took advan- 

 tage of the disorganization caused by the Black Death ' when hardly any 

 reeves or cellarer survived, and certainly could not care for such transi- 

 tory and mortal things ' to tamper with the manor rolls. 



The accounts of Paddington and Teddington show a sudden rise of 

 wages immediately after the Black Death. In 1335-6 at Teddington, 

 the chief ploughman had 6s., the fugator 5^., carters and herds 4^. 6</., and 

 the ' daye ' 2s. a year each ; the same wages having been paid as far 

 back as 1275-7. The year after the Black Death, ploughmen, carters, 

 and herds all have us. a year and the ' daye ' 4^. The price of thrash- 

 ing wheat has risen from -2.\d. to 4</. a quarter, and barley from i \d. to 3^. 

 At Paddington the ploughmen get iu., and a maid to look after the 

 poultry and winnow the corn has 5-r. In 13512, in obedience to the 

 statute, the wages fall again, the ploughmen, carters and herds getting 

 7.1-., while the ' daye ' remains at 4-f. ; but a substantial rise over the 

 earlier rates is still maintained. Another effect of the Black Death was 

 to give an impetus to the letting of land on lease. On most manors we find 

 leases increasing during the latter years of the reign of Edward III. The 

 five holdings left vacant by the Black Death at Teddington remained in 

 the lord's hands (excepting a small portion of one, let in 13512) for years. 

 The first of them was leased for a term of seven years in 1368 9 and 

 the others gradually after that. By 13734 eight holdings are let on 

 leases of varying lengths for the life of the tenant, for seven, sixteen, 

 twenty years. 



So far as the paucity of information allows us to judge, in Middle- 

 sex, at any rate, the Black Death promoted the granting of leases far more 

 effectually than the Peasants' Revolt. But before we follow the course 

 of the revolt in Middlesex we must notice some earlier disputes between 

 landlord and tenants. In all the rolls, more or less, there are the usual 

 fines for trespassing in the woods and in the lord's fields, for overcharging 

 commons and pastures, for withholding suit of court and other services, 

 and orders to distrain for rents and heriots. The leniency with which 

 these orders are repeated and apparently disregarded at court after court 

 is very striking, so that there are instances in the rolls of tenants 

 being ten, twenty and even thirty years in arrears with their rents. 

 On no other manor in the county of which we have records was 

 there anything like the constant disputes and insubordination which 

 appear in the Harmondsworth Court Rolls. 78 Troubles between the 

 abbot and his tenants began very early, and by the time of Henry III 

 had been carried to the royal courts for settlement. The tenants asserted 

 that the manor was ancient demesne and that the abbot was infringing 

 their rights as ancient demesne tenants by exacting from them services 

 and tallage to which they had not been subjected when the manor was 

 in the king's hands. The plea was heard by William of Raseley, 

 the chief justice, in 1233 and was given against the tenants, it being 



" Oman, The Peasants' Revolt, 328. P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. rot. 444. 



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