SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



of the villein services. Thus on the manor of Merle or Marley, which was 

 within the Lowy of the abbey, and therefore may presumably be fairly com- 

 pared with the early custumal, every holder of a messuage and I wista of land 

 had to carry 210 cart-loads of wood from the abbey wood to the monastery ; 

 90 between Michaelmas and Hoketide, each load being drawn by four 

 oxen, and 120 between Hoketide and Michaelmas, each load being drawn by 

 two oxen ; for this work he received sixty-five loaves of black bread, worth 

 1 6d. He must also carry 5 measures and i bushel of salt from Winchelsea or 

 Hastings to Battle, for which he received fifteen of the smallest loaves of 

 black bread, worth 2\d., and 2,000 herrings from Winchelsea, Hastings, or 

 Bulverhythe to the abbey for four loaves and twelve herrings, worth i\d. 

 He was further bound to find one man to mow and spread the hay in Bodi- 

 ham meadow for two days, for which the labourer was to receive two and a 

 half black loaves, with pottage, drink, half a dish of meat, and cheese, worth 

 in all zd. daily; while all the customers were to receive in common for this 

 work three large simnels and three small ones, worth 2\d. Each of them 

 had, moreover, to carry six wagon-loads of hay from the meadow to the 

 abbey with two oxen, for which he received six loaves and eighteen herrings, 

 worth 6d. ; and to find one cart with four oxen and a driver, or two carts 

 with two oxen and a driver, and one labourer to fill the cart, to carry manure 

 for two days ; for this work a meal was provided in the common hall for 

 every two men, three loaves, pottage, drink, a dish of meat, and cheese, 

 worth z\d. a day, and drink in the evening. Finally each tenant owed 

 fifteen carrying works from Winchelsea or Hastings to the abbey, for which 

 he received one or two loaves, according to the length of the journey. 



The tenants of half a wista on the same manor had to carry half the 

 amount of salt, and do the same amount of mowing, hay and manure carrying, 

 to plough I acre and I quarter of land, and to find one man to work in the 

 garden for thirty days in the year ; a whole day's gardening between 

 Michaelmas and Hoketide was reckoned as a work and a half, and a whole 

 day's gardening between Hoketide and Michaelmas was reckoned as two 

 works. These tenants were also bound to do ' gavelmerke,' that is to inclose 

 5 virgates of land for the lord. The holders of a quarter of a wista did half 

 the amount of labour done by the tenant of half a wista, and the same amount 

 of hedging. All the tenants had among them to carry half the wine of 

 the abbey from Winchelsea to Battle." 



On Barnhorne manor again the tenant of 30 acres had to harrow for 

 two days for the Lent sowing with one man and his own horse and harrow, 

 for which he received daily three meals worth 3^., he had to carry manure 

 for two days, and find one man to mow the lord's meadow for two days, to 

 make the hay and to carry it when mown for one day. In autumn he was 

 bound to carry beans and oats with his own cart and beasts, and in summer 

 he had to carry wood for two days, and find one man for two days to cut 

 underwood, and to carry it when it was cut, and he must do carrying work 

 to Battle twice in summer, carrying each time one load of corn. 68 These 

 detailed services give the impression of a far more definite tenure than the 

 vague obligation to ' do whatever they were told ' of the eleventh-century 

 survey 69 ; each work, moreover, has its money value accurately assigned, as 



"Custuma/sofatt/eJl>l>ey(Camd.Soc.),4.-i2. M Ibid. 20-1. " Supra. 



2 177 2 3 



