A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



harvest' ; in I322 97 the following entry was enrolled: ' statutum autumpnalim 

 concessum est quod in omnibus articulis suis ob . . . sub . . . domine tam 

 liberos quam natives.' At another court 98 two men were presented for break- 

 ing the statute, for the preservation of which two custodi autumpni had been 

 elected. In the other rolls, however, the orders are confined to questions 

 connected with the demesne, and hence take the form of a precept of the 

 steward or bailiff. 



Another officer who superintended the work of the manor in the lord's 

 interest was the ' messor ' or hayward ; his chief duties were to safeguard 

 the lord's hay from the depredations of the tenants' cattle and to present their 

 owners at the following court. In the Fawley Court Rolls in the latter part 

 of the fourteenth century nearly every roll contains a long list of the present- 

 ments of the hayward. He was, however, merely one of the lord's servants, 

 as a rule receiving wages ; although in the earlier accounts he was often a 

 tenant whose rent was remitted in payment for his service as hayward, he was 

 in no instance elected by the suitors of the court. 



While the system of customary service to the lord was in this state of 

 transition, the country was devastated by the most terrible of the visitations 

 of the plague, known in England as the Black Death. So great was the 

 destruction of life that the years 1348 and 1349 stand out as a landmark in 

 the economic history of the county. 



The plague reached England in 1348, but in Buckinghamshire it was at 

 its worst from May to September in the next year. The rate of mortality 

 can be realized from the number of ecclesiastical appointments made at the 

 time. In 1349 the number of deaths among the clergy reached a total of 

 seventy-seven." 



The same devastation fell upon the manorial tenants. At Salden, 100 for 

 instance, the mill was empty, and all the tenants, both free and villein, were 

 dead except John Robyn, who held one virgate in bondage. 



There are unfortunately exceedingly few records of the next few years, 

 and still scarcer are those that form a series both before and after 1 349. The 

 Whaddon minister's accounts are the fullest for these years, but the manor 

 was to some extent exceptional, owing to the late commutation of services and 

 appearance of labourers. In 1 348 101 there is a detailed roll, but no wages 

 were paid at all for agricultural labour, and all hoeing and mowing and some 

 at least of the autumn work was performed by the tenants. The only work 

 definitely commuted was that of collecting nuts, certain tenants having paid 

 \d. for every time the service was due ; in the following year, 102 when the 

 plague was at its height in the county, the roll is nearly a blank. The next 

 account extant is for I35i 103 ; there were still no stipends paid to farm 

 servants, but the money values of all services are given. Five years I0 * later 

 there were eight servants paid by the year, and their wages form an item in 

 the accounts until I364. 106 At Burton, 108 where the same period is covered, 

 the accounts give no details at all, but simply record the whole profits paid to 

 the steward at Whaddon. At Kingsey there are three accounts, and several 



" P.R.O. Ct. R. ptfo. 155, No. 15. M Ibid. No. !8. 



" Line. Epis. Reg. Bishop Gynwell's Inst. 1347-61. 10 Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. I, No. 21. 



101 P.R.O. Mins. Accts. bdle. 763, No. 27. 1M Ibid. No. 23. 



los Ibid. No. 29. 1M Ibid. No. 30. 



" Ibid. bdle. 764, No. 5. IM Probably Bierton, nr. Aylesbury. 



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