A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



in which each tenant had so many strips according to the size of his tene- 

 ment, and the demesne land of the lord lay mixed with that of his tenants. 

 The rule of cultivation, each field lying fallow in rotation every third year, 

 was also followed by him. At Ilmer M in 13378 the demesne lands were 

 divided in the following manner : 



The prima sehona contained 35 acres, I rod, iaf perches of land, and was sown with corn. 

 The secunda sehona contained 62 acres, I rod, 34^ perches, and was sown with beans and peas. 

 The tertia seisana contained 57 acres, 3 rods, n perches, which lay fallow. 



They were evidently scattered amongst the tenants' land, and it is 

 obvious that this division of the fields necessitated a system of cultivation 

 carried out by all who held strips in the field. The interdependence of the 

 lord and his tenants in the cultivation of the manor is clearly shown in 

 Domesday Book, by the careful enumeration of the villeins' ploughs, as well 

 as of those belonging to the demesne. The three-field system in itself had 

 no connexion with the manor ; but in Buckinghamshire, as in the greater 

 part of the country, the tenants of the manor also formed a self-sufficing 

 agricultural community. 



Each tenement in a manor, as a rule, contained a messuage, arable land, 

 and meadow, with common right in the pastures and woods. The size of 

 a tenement, when given, generally refers to the arable land only, so that if 

 a man was described as holding J virgate of land, this would only refer to his 

 share in the open fields of the manor. 



In the greater part of Buckinghamshire the land was divided into hides 

 and virgates. The tenants were generally classed according to the parts of 

 a virgate that they held, and virgatarius and semi-virgatarius are the names 

 found on several manors, while at Ilmer quationarius also appears. The cottarii 

 were smaller tenants, who held little or no arable land in the common fields, 

 but only a curtilage or garden. 



The cultivation of the demesne land was originally carried out by the 

 customary tenants, for the performance of agricultural labour was the condi- 

 tion attached to their tenure. The villeins and cottars worked for their lord 

 a definite number of days in the week, as well as special boon-days at harvest 

 and other important seasons. The amount and kind of work varied in every 

 manor, and in theory was regulated entirely at the will of the lord, but in 

 practice it varied but little during a long period of years, and was fixed by 

 the custom of each manor. 



At the opening of the fourteenth century a great revolution in manorial 

 economy was taking place. Instead of performing the actual services, the 

 villeins commuted them for a money payment, and the lord cultivated his 

 demesne by wage-paid labourers. The week-work was commuted much 

 earlier than the boon-work, for naturally the right to a supply of extra 

 labour at specially important times was a privilege of great value to the lord, 

 while the week-work was inconvenient to both lord and tenant. 



In the ministers' accounts, however, the services are still given, as well 

 as their equivalent money value, so that the older state of affairs before com- 

 mutation took place is shown. The customary tenants worked so many days 

 a week, at any work to which they might be set. 



" P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. R. 79. 



48 



