Agricultural Wages 93 



the serfs was curtailed. The leading idea 

 is that the estate required a stock of men, 

 and accordingly the men were not allowed 

 to leave the estate, their children were not 

 allowed to be trained for the Church, the 

 great refuge of the Middle Ages ; they 

 were not allowed to give their daughters 

 in marriage — none of these things could 

 be done without the licence of the lord of 

 the manor. When the customs and the 

 regulations of the estates failed, the law 

 of the land was appealed to, and all sorts 

 of restrictions were imposed on this natural 

 migration of labour. 



And yet, in spite of these restraints, even 

 before the Black Death, a certain amount 

 of progress was made in the direction of 

 freedom. There were various influences at 

 work favourable to this end ; the towns, as 

 they grew in strength, were jealous of their 

 hardly acquired privileges, and residence of 



