Chapter 17

Lufe, in 832, charged the inheritors and assigns of her land at Mundlinghám, with the following yearly payment to Canterbury, for ever; that is to say: Sixty ambers of malt, one hundred and fifty loaves, fifty white loaves, one hundred and twenty alms-loaves, one ox, one hog and four wethers, two weys of bacon and cheese, one mitta of honey, ten geese and twenty hens[578].

In 835, Abba, a reeve in Kent, charged his heirs with a yearly payment to Folkstone, of fifty ambers of malt, six ambers of groats (gruta?), three weys of bacon and cheese, four hundred loaves, one ox, and six sheep, besides an allowance or stipend in money to the priests[579]. And Heregyð, his wife,farther burthened her land at Challock with payments to Canterbury, amounting to: thirty ambers of ale, three hundred loaves, fifty of them white, one wey of bacon and cheese, one old ox, four wethers, and one hog, or six wethers, six geese and ten hens, one sester of honey, one of butter, and one of salt; and if her anniversary should fall in winter, she added thirty wax-lights[580].

In 902, Bishop Denewulf leased fifteen hides of church-land at Eblesburn to his relative Beornwulf for forty-five shillings a year, with liberty to Beornwulf’s children to continue the lease. One shilling (sixty of which went to the pound) is so very small a rent for ten acres, that we must either suppose the land to have been unusually bad, or Beornwulf’s connection with the bishop much in his favour[581]. He was also to aid in cyricbót, and pay the cyric-sceat. About the same time Denewulf leased forty hides at Alresford to one Ælfred, at the old rent of three pounds per annum, or four shillings and a half per hide. He was however also to paychurch-shot, the amount of which is not stated, and to dochurch-shot-work, and find men to the bishop’s reaping and hunting[582].

Between 901-909, king Eádweard booked twenty hides of land to Bishop Denewulf. The payments reserved have been already mentioned: instead of going to the king as gafol or rent, they were to be expended in an anniversary feast on founder’sday. I have already stated that this may be the old charge on folcland: it was a grant from the monks to the bishop, probably negotiated by Eádweard. All parties were satisfied: the monks probably got from the land as much as they could expect from any other tenant, or what, if folcland, they would themselves have had to pay; the bishop got the land into his own hands, to dispose of at his pleasure, and the king was rewarded for intervention with all the benefits to be derived on his anniversary from the prayers of the grateful fathers at Winchester.

At the close of the ninth century, Werfrið bishop of Worcester claimed land under the following circumstances. Milred a previous bishop had granted an estate in Sopbury, on condition that it was to be always held by a clergyman, and never by a layman, and that if no clergyman could be found in the grantee’s family, it should revert to the see. By degrees the family of the grantee established themselves in the possession, but without performing the condition. At length Werfrið impleaded their chief Eádnóð, who admitted the wrong and promised to find a clergyman. The family however all refused to enter into holy orders. Eádnóð then obtained the intercession of Æðelred duke of Mercia, the lady Æðelflǽd, and Æðelnóð duke of Somerset; and by their persuasion, Werfrið (in defiance of his predecessor’s charter) sold the land to Eádnóð for forty mancuses, reserving a yearly rent of fifteen shillings, and a vestment (or perhaps somekind of hanging) to be delivered at the episcopal manor of Tetbury[583].

Ealdwulf bishop of Worcester leased forty acres of land and a fishery for three lives to Leofenað, on condition that they delivered yearly fifteen salmon, and those good ones too, during the bishop’s residence in Worcester, on Ashwednesday[584].

Eádrícgafeled(gafelian), i. e. paid yearly rent or gafol for two hides with half a pound, or thirty shillings, and agare, a word I do not understand[585].

In 835, the Abbess Cyneware gave land to Hunberht, a duke, on condition that he paid agablum, gafol or rent of three hundred shillings in lead yearly to Christchurch Canterbury[586].

The ceorlas or dependent freemen who were settled upon the land of Hurstbourn in the days of Ælfred, had the following rents to pay; many of these are labour rents, many arise out of the land itself, viz. are part of the produce.

From each hide, at the autumnal equinox, forty pence. Further they were to pay, six church-mittan of ale, and three sesters or horseloads of white wheat. Out of their own time they were to plough three acres, and sow them with their own seed, to house the produce, to pay three pounds of gafol-barley, to mow half an acre of gafolmead and stack the hay, to split four foðer orloads of gafolwood and stack it, to make sixteen rods of gafol-hedging[587].At Easter they were further to pay two ewes and lambs, two young sheep being held equivalent to one old one: these they were to wash and shear out of their own time. Lastly, every week they were to do any work which might be required of them, except during the three weeks, at Christmas, Easter and the Gangdays[588].

The following customs and payments are recorded in various manors: some of the words I cannot translate. “In Dyddanham there are thirty hides; nine of these are inland (demesne), twenty-one are let[589]. In Stræt are twelve hides, twenty-seven yards of gafolland; and on the Severn there are thirty cytweras[590]. In Middleton are five hides, fourteen yards of gafolland, fourteen cytweras on the Severn, and two hæcweras on the Way. At Kingston there are five hides, thirteen yards of gafolland, and one hide above the ditch which is now also gafolland, and that without the ham[591], is still in part inland, in part let out on rent to the ship-wealas[592]: to Kingston belong twenty-one cytweras on the Severn, and twelve on the Way. In Bishopstúnare three hides, and fifteen cytweras on the Way: in Lancawet are three hides, two hæcweras on the Way, and two cytweras.

“Throughout that land each yardland pays twelve pence, and four alms-pence: at every weir within the thirty hides, every second fish belongs to the landlord, besides every uncommon fish worth having, sturgeon or porpoise, herring or sea-fish; and no one may sell any fish for money when the lord is on the land, until he have had notice of the same. In Dyddenham the services are very heavy. The geneát must work, on the land or off the land, as he is commanded, and ride and carry, lead load and drive drove, and do many things beside. The gebúr must do his rights; he must plough half an acre for week-work, and himself pay the seed in good condition into the lord’s barn forchurch-shot, at all events from his own barn: towardswerbold[593], forty large trees[594]or one load of rods; or eightgeocubuild[595], threeebbanclose: of field enclosure fifteen rods, or let him ditch fifteen; and let him ditch one rod of burg-enclosure; reap an acre and a half, mow half an acre; work at other works ever according to their nature. Let him pay sixpence after Easter, half a sester of honey at Lammas, six sesters of malt at Martinmas, one clew of good net yarn. In the same land it is customary that he who hath seven swine shall give three, and so forth alwaysthe tenth, and nevertheless pay for common of masting, if mast there be[596].”

Unquestionably these are heavy dues, and much aggravated by the circumstances of the estate or yardland being but small, the tenant born free, and some of the services uncertain. I shall conclude this chapter with a few lines translated from that most valuable document called “Rectitudines singularum personarum[597];” as far as the cases of the Geneát, Cotsetla and Gebúr are concerned[598]. First of the Geneát or comrade.

“The Geneát-right is various, according to the custom of the land. In some places he must pay landgafol, and a grass-swine yearly; ride and carry, lead load; work and feed his lord[599]; reap and mow; hew deer-hedge and holdsæte[600]; build and enclose the burh [or mansion]; make new roads to the farm; pay church-shot and alms-fee; hold headward and horseward; go on errand, far or near, whithersoever he is directed.” This is comparatively free, and it is only to be regretted that we do not know what amount of land in general could be obtained at such a rent. We next come to the Cotsetlan, whom Ælfred in a passage already cited states to be on lǽnland, and who are obviously poor freemen, suffered to settle on the lord’s estate.

“The Cotsettler’s right is according to the custom. In some places he must work for the lord, everyMonday throughout the year; or three days every week in harvest; he need pay no landgafol. He ought to have five acres; more if it be the custom. And if it be less, it is all too little, for his service is often called upon. He must pay his hearth-penny on holy Thursday[601]as it behoves every freeman to do; and he must acquit[602]his lord’s inland, on summons, at seaward and at the king’s deer-hedge[603]; and at such things as are in his competence: and let him pay his church-shot at Martinmas.

“The customs of the Gebúr are very various; in some places they are heavy, but in some moderate. In some places it is usual that he shall do two days week-work, whatever work may be commanded him, every week throughout the year; and three days week-work in harvest, and three from Candlemas to Easter. If he carries[604], he need not work himself as long as his horse is out. He must pay at Michaelmas ten gafol-pence, and at Martinmas twenty-three sesters of barley, and two hens[605]; atEaster one young sheep or two pence; and he shall lie out from Martinmas till Easter at the lord’s fold[606]; and from the time when the plough is first put in till Martinmas, he shall plough one acre every week, and make ready the seed in the lord’s barn: moreover three acres on request, and two of grass-ploughing[607]. If he require more grass, let him earn it on such conditions as he may. For his rent-ploughing [gafolyrð] he shall plough three acres and sow them from his own barn; and pay hishearth-penny; and two and two shall feed one stag-hound; and each gebúr shall give six loaves to the inswán [that is, the swain or swineherd of the demesne] when he drives his herds to the mast. In the same land where these conditions prevail, the gebúr has a right, towards first stocking his land, to receive two oxen, one cow and six sheep, and seven acres in his yard of land, ready sown. After the first year let him do all the customs which belong to him; and he is to be supplied with tools for his work, and furniture for his house. When he dies, let his lord look after what he leaves.

“This land-law prevails in some lands; but, as I have said, in some places it is heavier, in others lighter; seeing that the customs of all lands are not alike. In some places the gebúr must pay honey-gafol, in some meat-gafol, in some ale-gafol. Let him that holds the shire take heed to know always what is the old arrangement about the land, and what the custom of the country!”

I can only add the expression of my opinion, that a careful study of the condition of the peasantry in the eastern parts of Europe will assist in throwing much light upon these ancient social arrangements in this country. Hard as in some respects the condition of the dependent freeman appears, it must be borne in mind that the possession of land was indispensably necessary to life, unless he was to become an absolute serf. In a country that has little more manufacture than the simple necessities of individual households require, no wealth of raw material and consequently little commerce,—wherehouseholds rejoice in a sort of self-supporting, self-sufficient autonomy, and the means of internal communication are imperfect,—land and its produce are the only wealth; land is the only means whereby to live. But the Saxon peasant knew his position: it was a hard one, but he bore it: he worked early and late, but he worked cheerfully, and amidst all his toils there is no evidence of his ever having shot at his landlord from behind a stone wall or a hedge.

523. The τέμενος, or cut-off portion,entail, which service might earn among the Greeks, is of the same character. According to tradition, Pittacus was thus rewarded by the people of Mitylene, after overcoming Phrynon, the Athenian champion, in single combat: τῶν δὲ Μιτυληναίων δωρεὰς αὐτῷ μεγάλας διδόντων, ἀκοντίσας τὸ δόρυ, τοῦτο μόνον τὸ χωρίον ἠξιώσεν, ὅσον ἐπέσχεν ἡ αἰχμή· καὶ καλεῖται νῦν Πιττάκιον. Plut. de Malign. Herod. c. xv. The reward allotted to Horatius in the Roman Ager ought now to be familiar to every one:“They gave him of the corn-landThat was of public right,As much as two strong oxenCould plough from morn till night!”

“They gave him of the corn-landThat was of public right,As much as two strong oxenCould plough from morn till night!”

“They gave him of the corn-land

That was of public right,

As much as two strong oxen

Could plough from morn till night!”

524.“Geald ðone gúðræsGeáta dryhten ...ofer máðmum sealdeheora gehwæðrumhund þusendalandes and locenra beága.”Beów. l. 5977.

524.

“Geald ðone gúðræsGeáta dryhten ...ofer máðmum sealdeheora gehwæðrumhund þusendalandes and locenra beága.”Beów. l. 5977.

“Geald ðone gúðræs

Geáta dryhten ...

ofer máðmum sealde

heora gehwæðrum

hund þusenda

landes and locenra beága.”

Beów. l. 5977.

525. Bed. Epist. ad Ecgbirhtum Archiepiscopum, § 11. (Opera Min. ii. 216.)

526. We know that these grants were regulated by the rank and condition of the grantee. Beda, speaking of Benedict Biscop, a young Northumbrian nobleman, says, “Cum esset minister Oswii regis, et possessionem terrae suo gradui competentem, illo donante perciperet,” etc. Vit. Sci. Bened. § 1. (Op. Min. ii. 140.)

527. Epist. § 11. (Op. Min. ii. 217, 218.)

528. Vit. S. Idae, Pertz, ii. 571.

529. This seems the readiest way of accounting for the right of common enjoyed by the king, ealdorman and geréfa, in nearly every part of England; which right they could alienate to others. For the king’s common of pasture, etc. see Cod. Dipl. Nos. 86, 119, 276, 288, etc.

530. Cod. Dipl. No. 166. Here, by the way, the comb is used as a liquid measure; very probably of thirty-two gallons, the amount of the old barrel of ale, (the present barrel is thirty-six gallons). So to this day the hogshead is sixty-four gallons or twice thirty-two, the comb; as the quarter is sixty-four gallons, or two combs of dry measure. Even now in some parts of Surrey and Sussex, the peasants use peck for two gallons of liquid measure: I have heard them speak of a peck, and even half a bushel, of gin, brandy, beer, etc.

531. Thepastus regisis thegite du roiwell known in French history.

532. Cod. Dipl. No. 288, see also No. 281.

533. Cod. Dipl. No. 1063.

534. Ibid. No. 313.

535. Cod. Dipl. No. 1084, an. 904.

536. Ibid. No. 1088.

537. Ibid. No. 216, an. 822.

538. Ibid. No. 257, an. 844.

539. Cod. Dipl. No. 258, an. 845.

540. Ibid. No. 261, an. 848.

541. Ibid. No. 277, an. 855.

542. Ibid. No. 278, an. 855.

543. Cod. Dipl. No. 306, an. 875.

544. Perhaps in a case of this sort, even Ingulf may be trusted: he tells us, with some reference however to the Norman forms of livery, with which he was familiar, “Conferebantur etiam primo multa praedia nudo verbo, absque scripto vel charta, tantum cum domini gladio, vel galea, vel cornu, vel cratera; et plurima tenementa cum calcari, cum strigili, cum arcu, et nonnulla cum sagitta.” Hist. Croyl. p. 70.

545. Cod. Dipl. No. 317.

546. Members of thescírgemótor county-court: hence the instrument is of a solemn and legal description. Cod. Dipl. No. 821.

547. Cod. Dipl. No. 281.

548. Hence a free hide,hida libera, is properly called “án hiwisc ægefæles landes,” a hide of land that pays nogafolor tax. Cod. Dipl. No. 1070.

549. Land is sometimes called Bishop-land, which I imagine to be the legal designation of this particular estate.

550. This was the case with Peterborough, Ely and other ancient foundations restored in the time of Eádgar. He himself says of Ely: “Nú wæs se hálga stede yfele forlæten mid læssan þæówdóme ðonne ús gelícode nú on úrum tíman, and eác wæs gehwyrfed ðám cyninge tó handa, ic cweðe be me silfum.” Cod. Dip. No. 563.

551. Hist. Eccl. iii. 24.

552. Bed. Vit. Sci. Bened. § 1. (Op. Minor, ii. 140.)

553. Cod. Dipl. No. 46.

554. “Quam videlicet terram Alhmundus abbas, expeditionem subterfugiens, mihi reconciliationis gratia dabat.” Cod. Dipl. No. 161.

555. See hereafter the chapter which treats of the Witan and their powers. Book ii. ch. 6.

556. Cod. Dipl. No. 281.

557. Leg. Ælfr. § 41.

558. Cod. Dipl. No. 314.

559. Wages of course need not comprise money, or be the result of a compact between free parties. We pay a slave wages, though nopenny fee. It is a different question whether it is advisable that labourers should be slaves: the Anglosaxons had their peculiar views on that subject, which we are not to discuss now.

560. “Alio quoque tempore, in adolescentia sua, dum adhuc esset in populari vita, quando in montanis iuxta fluvium, quod dicitur Leder, cum aliis pastoribus, pecora domini sui pascebat,” etc. Anon. Cuðberht, cap. 8. (Beda, Op. Min. ii. 262.) “Contigit eum remotis in montibus commissorum sibi pecorum agere custodiam.” Beda, Cuðb. c. 4. Op. Min. ii. 55. The Hungarian Salas on the Pusta is much the same thing, at the present day.

561. The “Rectitudines Singularum Personarum” inform us that they were very different in different places, which necessarily would be the case. We can imagine that a butsecarl or fisherman of Kent was not so anxious to have a holding as a peasant in Gloucestershire.

562. Even in the eighth century Ini found it necessary to enact, that if a man took land on condition of gafol or produce-rent, and his lord endeavoured to raise his rent also to service, he need not abide by the bargain, unless the lord would build him a house: and he was, in such a case, not to lose the crop he had prepared. Ini, § 67. Thorpe, i. 146.

563. The transitory possessions of this life were often so described, in reference to the Almighty: “ða ǽhta ðe him God álǽned hæfð.” Cod. Dipl. No. 699. Alǽnfor life, even though guarded by a very detailed bóc or charter, is distinctly calledbeneficiumby the grantee, Æðelbald of Wessex. Cod. Dipl. No. 1058.

564. Cod. Dipl. No. 328.

565. Thus Ealhfrið bishop of Winchester (871-877) making a grant for lives to duke Cúðred, properly calls it alǽn: “Ealferð ⁊ ða higan habbað gelǽned,” etc. Cod. Dipl. No. 1062. They reserved ecclesiastical, but no secular dues.

566. Oswald’s grants generally contain a special clause to that effect: see Cod. Dipl. Nos. 494, 495, 506, 507, 509, 511, 529, 531, 538, 540, 552.

567. MS. Cott. Vitel. A. xv. fol. 2. “Ac ǽlcne man lyst, siððan he ǽnig cotlif on his hláfordes lǽne mid his fultume getimbred hæfð, ðæt he hine móte hwílum ðǽron gerestan, ⁊ huntigan, ⁊ fuglian ⁊ fiscan, ⁊ his on gehwylicwísan tó ðǽre lǽnan tilian, ǽgðer ge on sǽ ge on lande, oð oð ðone fyrst ðe he bócland ⁊ éce yrfe þurh his hláfordes miltse ge-earnige.” Whether land so put out was called earningland, I will not affirm; but at the close of a grant for three lives I find this memorandum: “Two of the lives have fallen in; then Eádwulf took it, and granted it to whomsover he would as earningland.” Cod. Dipl. No. 679. Cotlif seems in other passages to denote small estates not necessarily on lǽn. The Saxon Chronicle, an. 963, for example uses that term of the lands which Æðelwold gave to Ely, after purchasing them of the king. This it is clear he could not have done, had they been on any person’s lǽn. Were they not perhaps settlements of unlicensed squatters who had built their cottages on the king’s waste and deserted lands—the old Mark—in the isle of Ely and Cambridgeshire? But again the Chronicle, an. 1001, speaks of the hám or vill at Waltham,and many other cotlifs.

568. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 617, 651.

569. Ibid. No. 679.

570. Ibid. No. 616.

571. Ibid. No. 683.

572. See the case of the estate at Cowling, in the trial between Queen Eádgyfu and Goda. Cod. Dipl. No. 499.

573. Examples of this are found in Cod. Dipl. Nos. 429, 754, 1351, 1354, § 6.

574. Cod. Dipl. No. 267. an. 852. The mitta and other measures are unknown. However the sester of corn was one horse-load (Hen. Hunt. lib. vi. an. 1044);quære, What he could carry, or what he could draw? In the middle of the eleventh century, the sester of honey was thirty-two ounces. Cod. Dipl. No. 950.

575. They are calledclean. These probably were made of flour passed oftener through the boulter. The common loaf had no doubt still much bran in it, and answers to ourseconds. But it is probable that bread was generally made of rye.

576. Cod. Dipl. No. 226. an. 805-831. The sufl-loaf which I have translatedraised, is I presume derived from the wordsufflare, and was probably carefully leavened. We unhappily have not the Anglosaxon receipt for beer; but I presume the text implies that fifteenmittan, whatever they were, of malt were to go to the amber. Oswulf’s character for splendid liberality will induce us to believe that he meant the monks to have anAuditale of their own, as well as our worthy Fellows of Trinity College Cambridge.

577. Cod. Dipl. No. 220. an. 832.

578. Ibid. No. 231.

579. Ibid. No. 235.

580. Cod. Dipl. No. 235.

581. Ibid. No. 1079.

582. Ibid. No. 1086. In both cases the rent is called gafol.

583. Cod. Dipl. No. 327.

584. Ibid. No. 695. I have rendered “forme fæstenes dæg” as if it wereCaput jejunii.

585. Ibid. No. 699.

586. Ibid. No. 1043.

587.Gafolbære, gafolmǽd, gafolwidu, gafoltúning.The Saxons knew well enough that all these things wererent; and all land put out upon rent of any kind wasgafolland,gafolcundorgavelkindland.

588. Cod. Dipl. No. 1077.

589.Geset landI have rendered by set out or let; as land is afterwards said to be set out to rent, tó gafole gesett.

590. The cytweras and hæcweras were weirs or places for taking fish, but I cannot distinguish their nature. The names would induce us to think the former were shaped like a modern eel-trap, the latter were formed with a slat or hatch.

591. An enclosure on the water. See Cod. Dipl. iii. p. xxvii.

592. Welsh navigators.

593. Werbold, the construction of the weir or place for catching fish.

594. Mǽra, of large wood in opposition to rods?

595. Let him build eightyokesin the weir, and close threeebban. What thesegeocuandebbanare, I cannot say.

596. Cod. Dipl. No. 461.

597. Thorpe, i. 432.

598. The ancient Latin version calls them Villanus, Cotsetle and Gebúr.

599. Feormian,firmare; give so much aspastus.

600. Help to make park-paling, and perhaps keep watch for game.

601. Ascension Day. Observe that the Cotsetla is distinctly asserted to befree.

602. “Werige his hláfordes,” etc.; that is, perform for his lord, the duty of coast-guard, and attending the king’s hunt: from which it follows that, where there was no special exemption, these services could be demanded of the lord: that is in case of folcland. The old Latin translateswerianbyacquietare, which I have adopted.

603. Either in repairing the park-paling, or in service during the hunt.

604. Aferian, auerian,facit averagium,averiat.

605. This seems an immense amount of barley, but the Saxon clearly reads as I have translated. The old Latin version has, “Dare debet in festo Sancti Michaelis x. den. de gablo, et Sancti Martini die xxiii et sestarium ordei et ii gallinas.” Twenty-three pence at Martinmas is a considerable sum; however as a sester of corn must even in ordinary years have been worth quite that sum, it is more reasonable to follow the Latin than the Saxon.

606. The fold was often distant from the homestead, and required careful watching, especially during the dark winter months. Sheep alone were not folded, but oxen, cows, and particularly mares:hryðrafald, cúafald, stódfald. This system may be still seen in full force in Hungary; and we may add that, in the article of horse and cattle stealing, the Hungarian presents a very marked likeness to the Anglosaxon. While reading these services, one can hardly get rid of the notion that one is studying the description of a HungarianSession.

607. “Tres acras precum et duas de herbagio:þreo æceras tó béne ⁊ twá tó gærsyðe.” If requested he shall do three acres; but only two if a meadow is to be broken up? This is always much harder work than ploughing on old arable. But it is difficult to reconcile this with the next sentence. The Saxon says, “Gif he máran gærses beþyrfe,earnigeðæs swá him man þafige:” the Latin, “Si plus indigeat herbagio,arabitproinde sicut ei permittatur.” From the wordarabit, Thorpe suggestserigeinstead ofearnige. The two readings are however consistent if we consider the expression gærsyðe as having no connection with the gærs of the following sentence. I suppose the meaning to be this: on extraordinary occasions, he might be called upon by the lord to plough three acres instead of one, or in old meadow-land, two acres. If now he himself should want more grass-land than he already possessed, he might make a bargain with the lord, and earn it by this labour with the plough. He was bound to give one day’s ploughing every week from the commencement of the ploughing season till the 11th of November: but on pressing emergency, and on request of the lord, he must give three days (for an acre a day was the just calculation) or in old meadow two. If his services at the plough were still further required, he was to make a bargain with his lord; and a common case is supposed, viz. that he required more grass-land than he had. In this way all seems intelligible.

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