SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



of wages. 95 At Rustington and Wattling the principal result seems to have 

 been a wholesale alteration in tenures. Dr. Cunningham quotes a Rustington 

 custumal which states that after the great pestilence of the reign of Edward III, 

 the virgates, half virgates, and farthing lands, which were held in bondage, 

 came into the lord's hands and were regranted at a fixed rent, for which 

 they continued to be held at the will of the lord ; 95a at Wartling, on the 

 other hand, the lands of minors were granted to their relatives until the full 

 age of the heir at the old service, and for an additional rent ; in other 

 cases lands were granted to entirely new tenants for a term of years under 

 similar conditions. 88 Instances of this occur in December, 1349, and 

 October, 1350; there is one in 1353 ; and in 1370, and subsequently there 

 are others, two being accompanied by the commutation of old services, 97 

 so that the ultimate tendency must have been in the same direction as 

 at Rustington, though commutation was obviously by no means so universal 

 here. 98 



When one considers the portentous lists of services due from the villein 

 and small freeholder it would almost seem that there could have been no 

 time for private life and relaxation ; but it must be borne in mind that 

 the services due were not necessarily exacted in full ; where the customary 

 tenants were numerous, or in seasons when the crops were poor, much less 

 than the total available labour would be required. Moreover, there were 

 numerous feast days on which no work might be done ; the position of 

 Sunday, however, as a day of rest was not assured until after the Reforma- 

 tion, when the Puritans with their Old Testament ideals converted the Lord's 

 Day into the Sabbath ; during the Middle Ages courts sat on Sunday " and 

 markets were held ; the market at Battle was only changed to Thursday in 

 I56/, 100 but there was a general feeling against Sunday markets, and in 1285 

 that at East Grinstead was altered to Saturday. 101 The Pevensey Castle 

 accounts 102 show that building and similar operations were continued through- 

 out the week without any apparent regard for Sunday ; it was therefore to 

 the holy days that the labouring classes had to look for rest. Below the 



96 The Mins. Accts. give the following variations in wages (' stipendia ') ; the ' vadia ' or weekly 

 payments are not given consistently enough to be compared : 



I34 8_ 9 (toiJL) I349 _ 50 (ioi ) ,352-3(1016) I377 _ s(i 2p) 



I. d. i. d. s. d. s. d. 



Serjeant (stipendium) . . 13 4 



Master of household servants 8 o 



Reaper 70 80 80 



Carter 66 80 80 80 



Ploughman 60 7 80 



Shepherd $6 60 60 



Shepherd 40 56 46 46 



Swineherd 36 4 6 4 6 46 



Boys, etc., in kitchen. ..36 36 36 



Plough-drivers .... S 6 66 



Cowboy 36 36 3<> 



In the same way the autumn wages of the ' ripereve ' rose from 4*. to 5*., and of the ' tassator ' appar- 

 ently from 2/. to 2/. 6d. In 1253 the mowers employed by the prior of Michelham received ^d. an acre in 

 defiance of the Statute of Labourers (Assize R. 941, m. II d.). 

 95a Cunningham, Growth ofEngl. Industry (1905), i, 586. 



96 Add. Ct. R. 32657 passim, 32659. " Ibid. 32681, 32683, 32685. 



98 Ibid. 32681, 32683, 32685, m. 2 d. etc., where the 'old services' are still stipulated for. 

 " e.g. Feet ofF. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 23. 10 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxvi, 185. 



101 Close, 13 Edw. I, m. 10. 1M Suss. Arch. Coll. xlix, 9-26. 



'83 



