SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



Ilmer wages were not paid to all the labourers till 1343. In the previous 

 year }2S the reaper, swineherd, and a maid-servant were paid in money, but 

 the carter, ploughman, and two drivers received corn in the field, each 

 receiving the produce of a certain number of acres of wheat and beans. This 

 payment was altered, and the carter, ploughman, driver, and shepherd were 

 paid id. a day and the dairyman \\d. a day, but this is the only case 

 where the regular servants were paid by the day. 



Other workmen were employed on the different manors, and were generally 

 paid by the day. The blacksmith, however, had either a tenement, free of 

 rent or services, or was paid by the piece. Occasionally a contract was made 

 for the whole work needed for the demesne; at Wendover 1 * 7 36^. and 

 four bushels of wheat were given in payment of all work connected with 

 four ploughs, the cart-horse and mill-horse. Reaping and mowing was 

 generally paid by the acre, but carpenters, thatchers, and sawyers were paid 

 by the day. The carpenters received ^d. or ^d. throughout the fourteenth 

 century, but the higher rate was more frequent, and the rise of \d. took 

 place, as a rule, some years before the Black Death. At Cheddington 1J8 the 

 carpenter was paid zd. a day in 1342 and 1344, but before that the usual 

 rate was 4^., and in no other place was he paid less than ^d. In 1372 the 

 rate rose to 6</., but afterwards dropped again to $d. ; and at Cuddington Ift 

 no change had taken place as late as 1417. The other workmen were so 

 frequently paid for themselves and a labourer that it is impossible to find out 

 their exact wages. The thatcher was paid id. or ^d. during the century, 

 but the higher rate in this case was more common towards the end of 

 Edward Ill's reign. Other labourers digging, forking hay, hedging had 

 usually 2d. or ^d. a day. Both rates appear throughout the fourteenth cen- 

 tury, but in the cases of these labourers a rise had taken place before this 

 period, for no men at all receive the wage of id. a day for any work the rate 

 paid in a few instances about 1280. Women rarely received more than \d. 

 a day, and frequently only \d. or \d. At Whaddon 13 several women 

 received zd. a day, but there is no other evidence to show whether a general 

 rise took place in women's wages after the Black Death or whether this was an 

 isolated instance. 



For the fifteenth century there are practically no records of the wages 

 of agricultural labourers, but during the building of Eton College the 

 wage-books of the clerk of the works give the wages paid for stone-masons, 

 carpenters, and their labourers. In the estimates for the college buildings " 

 in 14478 the free masons were paid 3-r. a week ; other skilled workmen 

 had bd. a day, and ordinary labourers ^d. These rates show that there had 

 been a considerable rise during the fifteenth century, and may have been 

 lower than in other parts of the country, for the men were engaged for 

 a long piece of work, and also had their tools found by the king. Several 

 times men were fined for losing their tools, an extensive system of fines 

 being adopted for the punishment of all small offences, such as telling 

 tales, playing, and most frequently for late-coming. At times common 

 labourers received as much as $d. a day. 



"" P.R.O. Mini. Accts. bdle. 761, No. . "* Ibid. bdle. 763, No. 1 1. 



'" Thorold Rogers, Hiit. of Agric. and Pritti, it. 



P.R.O. Mins. Accti. bdle. 760, No. 16. " Ibid. bdle. 764, No. 3. 



m R. Willii, Arch. Hiit. ofVniv. of Cambridge and Eton (ed. 1886). 



a 8 



