12 Rents, Wages > and Profits in Agriculture 



had their holdings in the open fields, but 

 then they were also, as a rule, compelled 

 to give up part of the produce ; in short, 

 they paid not only labour rents, but 

 produce rents. And in strict law, they 

 and their goods all belonged to the lord 

 of the manor, though he found it to his 

 interest to act on certain long-established 

 rules founded on custom. 



Let us now leave out the details, and 

 look on the nature and the amount of the 

 rent under this system as a whole. The 

 power of the landlord was supreme, and 

 the rents were as great as could be 

 obtained from the so-called tenants. 



The economic progress in the mediaeval 

 period consisted mainly in the conversion 

 of these heavy rents in labour and produce 

 into comparatively moderate rents in 

 money. Coincidently with this, the serfs 

 gained their personal freedom, and in 



