90 Rents, Wages^ and Profits in Agriculture 



intensified and hastened by the occurrence 

 of the great plague. 



The essential facts in this mediaeval pro- 

 gress have already been brought out in 

 dealing v^ith rent and profits. 



We may now look at the same facts from 

 the point of view of labour. 



In the first place, then, we have the 

 immense progress implied in the abolition 

 of slavery and serfdom. In order to realise 

 the economic progress in this direction, it 

 is best to leave on one side the purely 

 legal controversies as to the personal status 

 of the labourers and look only to the 

 elements of economic freedom. At the 

 Conquest the Normans took over the over- 

 lordship of the manors of which they dis- 

 possessed the Saxons, and with the estates 

 they naturally took over the slaves and 

 the serfs with which they were stocked. 

 They would no more think of destroying 



