By the Rev. W. G. Clark- Maxwell, F.S.A. 



315 



( carectarius ) and smith (faber )} Each of these officers and servants 

 have certain privileges and certain duties connected with their 

 office which are minutely specified in the " customs." 



The bulk of the customary tenants, however, held their land, 

 either as virgaters (or half-virgaters), cottars, or Mondaymen, 2 

 in villenage, and subject to the burdens which were specially 

 characteristic of their servile condition. .Among these may be 

 reckoned the duty of serving as reeve, if called upon: but the 

 principal mark of villenage was that no villein was allowed to give 

 his daughter in marriage, or procure his son to be ordained, without 

 the lord's consent, and payment of a fine. The former was called 

 " merchet," and was often looked upon as being the special and 

 characteristic mark of a villein holder ; but there were others, such 

 as " heriot," whereby on the death of a tenant, the lord claimed his 

 best animal, or in lieu thereof two shillings and sixpence. 



The numerous minute — and as they seem to us vexatious — 

 regulations which hedged in the life and work of a villein tenant, 

 together with such " servile burdens " as I have mentioned above, 

 are apt to give us, perhaps, too gloomy an impression of the con- 

 dition of the English peasantry in the thirteenth century. But 

 we must remember, that serf though he was as regards his lord, the 



1 Several of these officers are mentioned in a curious memorandum, in 

 French, on p. 4 of the volume of the Lacock Cartulary, from which these 

 customs are extracted. " le vieux custume entre le Abbeye de Lacock et le 

 vikere de la ville illeque ; il nauera deynz la porte del Abbeye forsque seule- 

 ment vij officieres a sees parochyenz cest assauoir ; le Baylif / ou provost / 

 messer / maistre p'tor / meistre lauandier / Daye / charitier / et le Senescaut 

 / touz autrez officieres et servauntz deynz la porte de Abbeye auandit serrount 

 parochiaunz a le chapele de Saynt Edmund de vieux coustume." Trans. — 

 " The ancient custom between the Abbey of Lacock and the vicar of the town 

 there : there shall not be within the gate of the Abbey more than seven officers 

 his parishioners. That is to say the bailiff or provost, harvest man, chief 

 porter, chief launderer (?), dairy -maid (or man), waggoner, and the seneschal. 

 All other officers and servants within the gate of the aforesaid abbey shall be 

 parishioners of the chapel of St. Edmund [as] of old custom." May this 

 Chapel of St. Edmund have been the nave-altar of the Abbey Church, and 

 dedicated to Edmund Eich, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ela's spiritual 

 adviser, who was canonised in 1247 ? 



2 Lundinarii, so called from their owing one day's labour (usually on 

 Monday) every week. 



