^^1 



ATTEMPTS TO REGULATE WAGES 6i 



ncession from his lord, who was afraid lest his land should 

 be utterly deserted. The result was that by the middle of the 

 fifteenth century the abolition of labour services was approach- 

 ing completion.^ It lingered on, and Fitzherbert lamented in 

 Elizabeth's reign the continuance of villeinage as a disgrace to 

 England ; but it had then nearly disappeared, and was unheard 

 of after the reign of James I.^ 



Seven years after the Peasants' Revolt another attempt was 

 made to regulate agricultural wages by the statute 12 Ric. II, 

 c. 4, which stated that 'the hires of the said servants and 

 labourers have not been put on certainty before this time ', 

 though we have seen that the Act of 1351 tried to settle 

 wages. In the preamble it is said that the statute was 

 enacted because labourers 'have refused for a long season 

 to work without outrageous and excessive hire ', and owing to 

 the scarcity of labourers ' husbands ' could not pay their rents, 

 a sentence which shows the general use of money rents. 



The wages were as follows, apparently with food 



A bailiff annually, and clothing once a year 

 A master hind, without clothing . 

 A carter, „ „ . . . 



A shepherd, „ „ ... 



An ox or cow herd „ „ ... 



Swine herd or female labourer, without clothing 

 A plough driver, without clothing 



The farm servants' food would be worth considerably more 

 than the actual cash he received ; a quarter of wheat, barley, 

 and rye mixed every nine weeks was no unusual allowance, 

 which at 4i-. 4^. would be worth about 25^. a year. He 

 would also have his harvest allowance, though the statute 

 above forbids any perquisites, worth about y., and sometimes 

 it was accompanied by the gift of a pig, some beer, or some 



^ Page, 0/). clt. p. T]. 



' Cunningham, Industry and Commerce^ i. 402, 534 ; Transactions of 

 the Royal Historical Society^ New Series, xvii. 235. Fitzherbert probably 

 referred more to villein status, which continued longer than villein tenure. 



