SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



two years later, several persons were recorded to be ' bond villeins in blood 

 regardant to the manor ' of Cranfield owing to their descent from villeins and 

 their neglect to obtain manumission.^'* 



A cause which may have operated to some extent in diminishing the 

 demand for work services was the increase of sheep-farming, pasture sup- 

 planting arable with the result that less labour was required. In 1337, out 

 of 30,000 sacks of wool which the king's merchants were commissioned to 

 buy, Bedfordshire, with three adjoining counties, had to supply 800 sacks, 

 for which the price was 7J marks per sack,''* and among the six king's mer- 

 chants was Henry Arnald, of Bedford. It is interesting to note how the 

 price mentioned compared with that paid in some other counties. The 

 highest price was loj marks in Shropshire ; the lowest was 5 marks in 

 Cumberland, Northumberland, and Westmorland. In 1341, when another 

 30,000 sacks were required, Bedfordshire supplied 367 sacks, an amount 

 equal to that from Buckinghamshire and in excess of the Huntingdonshire 

 assessment (235 sacks), but less than that of Cambridgeshire (542 sacks) ; 

 Lincolnshire stood at 1,274 sacks and Norfolk at the head of the list with 

 2,206.''^ Two years later, in 1343, Bedfordshire wool stood at 11 marks, 

 equal to the second quality of Lincolnshire wool (the first quality was 1 4 

 marks) and better than that of the neighbouring counties of Cambridge and 

 Huntingdon, which was fixed at 9 marks.''' The staple and port for the 

 wools from this county were established at Lynn in 1373."^ The price of 

 wool was again fixed in 1454, Bedfordshire standing at 6 marks, against 

 Cambridgeshire 5 marks, and Huntingdonshire 6i marks, the highest priced 

 wool being that of Shropshire, 14 marks, and the lowest that of Suffolk, 



52J."« 



The importance attaching to sheep naturally raised the value of pas- 

 ture, just as the need of hay for feeding the stock made meadow land so 

 valuable. A few figures may be given to show the relative values of different 

 kinds of land at various periods. At Aspley Guise in 1295 the arable was 

 valued at 3^. per acre, pasture at i zd. and meadow at 2j."' At Cainhoe in 

 1350, where the soil was poor and sandy, the arable was only worth zd. the 

 acre, pasture bd. and the meadows, which were ' poor, and some years can- 

 not be mown,' %d. ; '*° at Stevington the arable was valued at \d. and the 

 meadows at 2 J. the acre.'*' The survey of monastic property made in 1535 '*^ 

 gives a number of details for that date. 



We find that certain woodlands belonging to the canons of Newnham, at 

 Bedford, were let at \7.d. per acre. The same price ruled at Elstow and 

 Cauldwell (Bedford). But several parcels of pasture belonging to the Bed- 

 ford Franciscans were more highly rented ; 3 acres were let for 2 ox., 7 acres 

 for 40J-., while another 7 acres realized only 20J. a year. At Bushmead 170 

 acres of woodland were let for a total oi ^b. The priory at Harrold let 50 

 acres of woodland at 38^. \d. Dunstable Priory had been letting land at u. 

 per acre, but a four-acre plot of new pasture let for ioj., and of pasture and 

 'marise lond medowe,' 38 acres let at \%d. per acre, and 18 at 2j. per acre. 



"' Exch. Spec. Com. 7064, 2846. "* Cal. Close, 1337-9, P- H9- 



"* Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), ii, 131. "' Ibid. 138. '" Ibid. 319. 



^ Ibid. V, 275. "' Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. I, no. 53. 



"» Ibid. 24 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, no. 98. "' Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 75 



•« Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.). 



91 



