94 Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture 



a year and a day in a town gave personal 

 freedom to the fugitive. The Church was 

 essentially democratic, and children of the 

 peasantry often rose to the highest offices. 

 As soon as the institution of scutage led 

 to the enrolment of mercenaries, the sons 

 of the villeins had a chance of rising to 

 high military command, and there are one 

 or two notable cases of knighthood, e.g., 

 Sir Robert Sale. But the great agent in 

 the progress of labour was the growth of 

 the money power, and the commutation of 

 labour dues into money payments. 



This process of commutation was greatly 

 furthered by the occurrence of the Black 

 Death. As already shown, the natural 

 price of labour rose greatly, and in the 

 end the great bulk of the villeins became 

 either yeomen proprietors or tenant farmers. 

 No doubt there were exceptions, and there 

 is a remarkable passage in Fitzherbert's 



