SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



rich men were lawless and oppressive, the poor were suffering great distress, 

 and in many cases were disorderly and discontented. The ale-houses were 

 very numerous, being ' the stake and staye of all false theves and vagabondes.' 

 Wine licences were also the source of trouble, and no remedy was possible, 

 since the wine sellers were * my lord's servants or my master's servants, yea 

 or have such kynd of licenses and lycens out of lycens to them and their 

 deputies and assignesse.' 



The power of the local magnates and their lawlessness had not been 

 successfully repressed, for since the keeping of retainers was only an offence 

 committed by great men, therefore it was ' of so much danger to be medelled 

 with at all, that hyt may at no hand be touched.' Again in the question of 

 tillage or inclosures 'hyt is playne sacraleage to medill whith those matters, for 

 they be all gintilmen of the richer sortt of men, that be offenders there in.' 

 The inclosure of land by the smaller freeholders had apparently been suc- 

 cessfully dealt with in 1517, since in the Domesday of Inclosures they had 

 been answerable for a considerable portion of the total amount inclosed, but 

 the commission had been powerless to deal with the greater offenders. 



Vagabonds were numerous, and the repressive statutes might well have 

 been better obeyed ; the prevalence of robberies was attributed to the care- 

 lessness in keeping watch and ward and to possible connivance. ' Theves,' 

 Tyldsley writes, ' will be theves for they lak no frends and for watches be 

 kept indifferently well.' There arc no further letters with such a full 

 description of the state of the county, but in answer to the orders of the council, 

 the justices returned certificates dealing with special matters, such as the rate 

 of wages, the price of corn, poor relief, apprenticing, and the granting of 

 licences, giving all the information obtainable with regard to their adminis- 

 tration, until the records of quarter sessions begin, in the second half of the 

 seventeenth century. 



From the fifteenth century the justices of the peace were empowered 

 to fix the scale of wages in their counties, giving a maximum wage, beyond 

 which no employer might go except under pain of a severe penalty. It is 

 generally supposed that these scales of wages were inoperative, and until 

 Elizabeth's reign, when the statute of 4 Henry V was re-enacted, the magis- 

 trates probably neglected to use their authority in the matter. Recognized 

 scales of wages are given in several Acts of Parliament, and the rates can be 

 compared with various entries of wages to be found in other sources at the 

 beginning of the sixteenth century. The maximum wage was continually 

 exceeded, and indeed the entries are rare when so low a rate as that fixed by 

 statute was paid. 



It is difficult to obtain information concerning agricultural labour, but 

 the wages of carpenters, tilers, masons, &c., and their labourers are numerous. 

 By the Act of 6 Hen. VIII, cap. 3, master masons were allowed jd. a day ; 

 free masons, carpenters, plumbers, and men employed in similar trades had 

 6d. ; ordinary labourers ^d. ; but if food was received from the employer id. 

 less was given in money during the summer and id. less in winter. At 

 Wing" in 1537 and in the following years the wages correspond with these 

 rates a mason had yd. and an ordinary labourer with his food 2d. Again, at 

 Burnham U1 a painter and his man together received is. 2d. and a carpenter 



" Wing, Churchwardens' Accts. UI Burnham, ibid. ; W. J. Burgess, ReeorJt of Bucks. T, 117-19. 



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