212 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



5:2:: 3,900,000 : 1,560,000. So that the teams in demesne 

 would cultivate 1,560,000 acres a year, or rather, 1,560,000 

 acres would be sown with corn on the demesne lands every 

 year. 



But one element in the problem has hitherto been omitted. 

 Walter of Henley l says that the plough oxen should be fed 

 at the manger for twenty-five weeks in each year, and that 

 during that period a team of eight oxen would require 70 

 bushels of oats. But the bailiffs' accounts tell a different tale. 

 The Combe accounts for several years allowed only 1 6 bushels 

 of oats for the oxen (one team) and the horses, and only in 

 one year did they receive as much as 24 bushels of oats ; 

 at Stoughton, in 1288, ten oxen received 48 bushels of oats. 

 So that the text-book figures may be reduced at least by 

 one-half, in which case, if we reckon 4 bushels to the acre, 

 each team would require the produce of 8 acres ; in other 

 words, the produce of an additional 600,000 acres would be 

 required for the keep of the 75,000 plough-teams recorded 

 in the counties south of the Dee and the Humber. Adding 

 these three items together, we have a grand total of 6,060,000 

 acres sown with corn every year. 



But there were in this district, according to Professor 

 Maitland, 75,000 teams; 2 so that for each team 8o| acres 

 would be sown in a year ; and according to Mr. Seebohm, on 

 a typical three-field manor, 80 acres would be sown with corn 

 in a year. We may therefore claim that our calculations are 

 not very inaccurate. 



A few words must be added about the labour on the 

 demesne farms of the magnates, of which the bailiffs' accounts 

 of the Middle Ages give so much information. In every 

 manor there was a demesne farm, for which the bulk of the 

 labour was provided by the villans or geburs. At Stoughton 

 (Sussex), in 1288, the bailiff accounted for 1189 days' work 

 from the tenants ; but in addition to these labourers, who 



1 Page 13. 2 D. B. and B. t 436. 



