Philip Anthony Brown

RURAL CONDITIONS

1. Villeinage in the Reign of Elizabeth, 1561—2. Customs of the Manor of High Furness, 1576—3. Petition in Chancery for Restoration to a Copyhold, c. 1550—4. Petition in Chancery for Protection against Breach of Manorial Customs, 1568—5. Lease of the Manor of Ablode to a Farmer, 1516—6. Lease of the Manor of South Newton to a Farmer, 1568—7. The Agrarian Programme of the Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536—8. The Demands of the Rebels led by Ket, 1549—9. Petition to Court of Requests from Tenants Ruined by Transference of a Monastic Estate to lay hands, 1553—10. Petition to Court of Requests to stay Proceedings against Tenants pending the hearing of their Case by the Council of the North, 1576—11. Petition from Freeholders of Wootton Basset for Restoration of Rights of Common, temp. Charles I.—12. Petition to Crown of Copyholders of North Wheatley, 1629—13. An Act Avoiding Pulling Down of Towns, 1515—14. The Commission of Inquiry Touching Enclosures, 1517—15. An Act Concerning Farms and Sheep, 1533-4—16. Intervention of Privy Council under Somerset to Protect Tenants, 1549—17. An Act for the Maintenance of Husbandry and Tillage, 1597-8—18. Speech in House of Commons on Enclosures, 1597—19. Speeches in House of Commons on Enclosures, 1601—20. Return to Privy Council of Enclosers furnished by Justices of Lincolnshire, 1637—21. Complaint of Laud's Action on the Commission for Depopulation, 1641.

The agrarian changes which attracted attention from the latter part of the fifteenth century to the accession of Elizabeth, and again, to a less degree, at intervals between 1558 and 1660, are a watershed in economic history, separating mediÆval from modern England as decisively as did, in other departments of national life, the Reformation and the Tudor monarchy. For the controversial questions surrounding their causes and consequences we must refer the student to the list of books given below. All that can be attempted here is to notice the special points upon which the following documents throw light.

In arranging the documents in this section it seemed best not to group them in strict chronological order, but to place together those relating to similar aspects of the subject. Documents 1 to 6 illustrate the status and tenure of different classes of landholders. By the beginning of the sixteenth century personal villeinage has almost disappeared; only one document therefore (No. 1) is given to it. Nor has it seemed necessary to print documents referring specially to the freeholders who, compared with other classes of tenants, were little affected by the agrarian changes. On the other hand, the position of the customary tenants, and of the lessees who farmed manorial demesnes, raises important questions. Documents 2 to 4 illustrate manorial customs and the way in which cases between lords and copyholders turned upon them (Nos 3 and 4). Without entering into controversial questions with regard to copyhold tenure one may say (a) that it is customary or villein tenure to which the courts from the beginning of the fifteenth century, first the court of Chancery—before which both these cases come—and then the Common Law courts, have given protection, (b) that what the Courts do is to enforce manorial customs, which vary from place to place. It is, therefore, essential for a tenant who wants, e.g., to be protected against eviction (No. 3), or against loss of profitable rights (No. 4) to show that the lord is committing a breach of the custom. Hence the dispute (No. 3) as to whether the land at issue is customary land or part of the lord's demesnes. If it is the former the tenants are likely to be protected by the Courts: if it is the latter, they are not. The position of the capitalist farmer, who played so large a part in the rural economy of the sixteenth century, is illustrated by documents 5 and 6. No. 5 is specially interesting as showing how the earlier practice of dividing up the demesne lands among numerous small tenants was replaced by that of leasing them in a block to one large farmer. Documents 7 to 12 illustrate certain points which have already been mentioned, e.g., the importance of manorial customs (Nos. 8, 10 and 12). But their peculiar interest consists in the light which they throw on the grievances of the peasants. They suffer from enclosing (Nos. 7, 8, 10, 11), from excessive fines (Nos. 8, 9, 10, 12), and from rack renting (Nos. 8, 9, 12). They are gravely prejudiced by the land speculation following the dissolution of the monasteries (No. 9). They are too poor and too easily intimidated to get redress even when they have a good case (Nos. 10, 11, 12). The justices who ought to administer the acts against depopulation depopulate themselves (No. 8). The peasants' main resource is the Crown and its Prerogative Courts (Nos. 8, 9, 10, 12). Surely the government will protect men who make good soldiers and pay taxes (No. 12)! Occasionally, however, they have some hope of Parliament, e.g., in 1536, when the royal officials are in bad odour in the North (No. 7), and under Charles I (No. 11). The exact date of this last document is uncertain. May it not be 1640-1, when the Long Parliament was going to restore all good customs?

Documents 13 to 21 illustrate the policy of the government towards the agrarian problem. The government tried to stop depopulation partly for financial and military reasons, partly through a genuine dislike of economic oppression. Its main instruments were four, namely:—(a) Statutes (Nos. 13, 15, 17, 18, and 19). Between 1489 and 1597 11 Acts were passed which had as their object the prevention of depopulation, viz., 4 Hen. VII, c. 19, 6 Hen. VIII, c. 5, 7 Hen. VIII, c. 1, 25 Hen. VIII, c. 13, 27 Hen. VIII, c. 22, 5 and 6 Ed. VI, c. 5, 2 and 3 Phil. and Mary, c. 2, 5 Eliz. c. 2, 31 Eliz. c. 7, 39 Eliz. c. 1, 39 Eliz. c. 2,. All these were repealed by 21 James I, c. 25, except the last, which was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act of 1863. (For a summary of these Acts see Slater, The English Peasantry and of the Enclosure Common Fields, App. D.) (b) Royal Commissions. The first (No. 14) was appointed in 1517: 6 others followed, in 1548, 1566, 1607, 1632, 1635, and 1636 (No. 21). (c) Intervention by the Privy Council (Nos. 16 and 20). (d) The Prerogative Courts; viz., the Court of Requests (Nos. 9 and 10), the Court of Star Chamber (No. 21), the Council of the North (No. 10), and the Council of Wales (Acts of the Privy Council, New Series, Vol. XXX, pp. 36-7). How far their intervention was successful is an open question, for a discussion of which reference must be made to the books mentioned below.

AUTHORITIES

The more accessible of the modern writers dealing with agrarian conditions from 1485-1660 are:—Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, Early and Middle Ages, and ibid., Modern Times, Part I; Ashley, Economic History, Vol. I, Part II; Nasse, The Land Community of the Middle Ages; Gonner, Common Land and Inclosure; Page, The End of Villeinage in England; Hasbach, The English Agricultural Labourer; Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Agriculture, and A History of English Farming; Johnson, The Disappearance of the Small Landowner; Tawney, The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century; Russell, Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk; Leadam, The Domesday of Inclosures, and in Trans. R.H.S. New Series, Vol. VI; Gay, in Trans. R.H.S., New Series, Vols. XIV and XVIII, and in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. XVIII; Leonard, Trans. R.H.S., New Series, Vol. XIX; Savine in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. XIX. A useful summary of the principle Statutes against Depopulation is given by Slater, The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of the Common Fields, App. D.

Full bibliographies of this subject are given in Two Select Bibliographies of MediÆval Historical Study, by Margaret E. Moore, and in A Classified List of Printed Original Materials for English Manorial and Agrarian History, by Francis G. Davenport. The following list of sources does not pretend to be exhaustive.

(1) Documents relating to agrarian history are printed in the following works:—Northumberland County History; Baigent, Crondal Records; Surveys of Lands belonging to William, first Earl of Pembroke (Roxburghe Club); Topographer and Genealogist, Vol. I, Surveys of Manors Belonging to the Duke of Devonshire; Chetham Society, Survey of the Manor of Rochdale (ed. by Fishwick); Davenport, History of a Norfolk Manor; Scrope, History of the Manor and Barony of Castle Combe; Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials; Selden Society, Select Cases in the Court of Star Chamber and Select Cases in the Court of Requests (both edited by Leadam); Leadam, The Domesday of Enclosures; Tawney, The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century, App. I; Cunningham English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times, Vol. I, App. B.

(2) The principal contemporary literary authorities are as follows:—J. Rossus (Rous), Historia regum AngliÆ (about 1470, edited by T. Hearne); More, Utopia (1516); Starkey, A Dialogue between Cardinal Pole and Thomas Lupset (about 1537, Early English Text Society, England in the Reign of King Henry VIII); Forest, The Pleasant Poesy of Princely Practice (1548, ibid.); Fitzherbert, Surveying (1539), and Book of Husbandry (1534); Select Works of Crowley (Early English Text Society); Lever's Sermons (Arber's Reprints); The Common Weal of this Realm of England (about 1549, edited by E.M. Lamond); Certain causes Gathered Together wherein is shewed the Decay of England only by the great Multitude of Sheep (Early English Text Society); Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry (1572); Stubbes, Anatomy of the Abuses in England (1583); Harrison, The Description of Britain (1587, most accessible in Furnivall's Elizabethan England); Trigge, The Humble Petition of Two Sisters (1604); Norden, The Surveyor's Dialogue (1607); Standish, The Common's Complaint (1612), and New Directions of Experience to the Common's Complaint (1613); Bacon, The History of King Henry VII (1622); Powell, Depopulation Arraigned (1636); Fuller, The Holy and Profane State (1642); Halhead, Enclosure Thrown Open, or Depopulation Depopulated (1650); Moore, The Crying Sin of England in not Caring for the Poor (1653); and A Scripture Word Against Enclosure (1656); Pseudonismus, Considerations Concerning Common Fields and Enclosures (1653); Lee, A Vindication of a Regulated Enclosure (1656).

1. Villeinage in the Reign of Elizabeth [Tingey. Selected Records of Norwich, Vol. VI, p. 180], 1561.

Robert Ringwood brought in a certain indenture wherein Lewis Lowth was bound to him to serve as a prentice for seven years, and Mr. John Holdiche came before the Mayor and other Justices and declared that the said Lewis is a bondman to my Lord of Norfolk's grace, and further that he was brought up in husbandry until he was xx years old. Whereupon he was discharged of his service.[254]

[254] The above case is remarkable as illustrating (a) the survival of villeinage as a working reality into the reign of Elizabeth; (b) the use of Statute law (growing since the first Statute of Labourers) to supplement the (legally) almost extinct jurisdiction of lord over villein.

2. Customs of the Manor of High Furness [R.O. Duchy of Lancaster; Special Commissions; No. 398], 1576.

[Presentment of customs of the manor.]

For the Queen.

3. That the jury ought to present at the court after every tenant's death or alienation, and who is his heir, and which tenant hath aliened, and to whom, and what, and who ought to be admitted tenant to the same, which presentment and admittance ought to be made in open court and be entered by the steward ... in this form.

Ad hanc curiam juratores presentant quod C.D. tenens customarius hujus manerii, seisitus in dominico suo ut de feodo secundum consuetudinem manerii unius messuagii etc, post ultimam curiam alienavit tenementa predicta cuidam H.F. habenda et tenenda eidem H.F. et heredibus suis secundum consuetudinem manerii, per quod predictus H.F. per consuetudinem manerii debet solvere dominae Reginae pro ingressu suo inde habendo 20s.

4. No person shall hereafter sell his customary tenement or any part of it, before he first be admitted tenant or come to court, and require to be admitted ... offering his fine for the same.

The purchaser of any tenement shall publish the sale at the next court after the purchase, and cause it to be entered on the rolls, that her Majesty may be duly answered of the fines, forfeitures and duties as well of the seller as the purchaser [penalty 20s.]. Any purchaser not so coming to the second court after the purchase shall forfeit 40s., and the lands purchased shall be seized by the steward.

5. As heretofore dividing and portioning of tenements hath caused great decay chiefly of the service due to her Highness for horses, and of her woods, and has been the cause of making a great number of poor people in the lordship, it is now ordered that no one shall divide his tenement or tenements among his children, but that the least part shall be of the ancient yearly rent to her Highness of 6s. 8d., and that before every such division there shall be several houses and ousettes for every part of such tenement.

Provided always that it be lawful for any one, who has bought any tenement or farmhold under the yearly rent of 6s. 8d. having houses and ousette upon it, which has been used as a dwelling house, [to leave it] to which of his children he thinks best.

And no person holding any part of any tenement shall bargain or put it away to any person except that person who is tenant of the residue of the tenement, if he will buy it at a reasonable price. If not, the tenant may sell it to any other customary tenant of the manor.

10. Every customary tenant and occupier shall uphold his houses according to our custom, forfeiting 6s. 8d. toties quoties.

11. No person shall fell timber without delivery of the bailiff, who shall deliver necessary timber to every tenant or occupier according to our custom.

12. No tenant or occupier shall sell underwood, etc., nor cut down any other man's wood in the lordship. Penalty 3s. 4d., half to her Highness, half to the party grieved. Every tenant so grieved may have his action for damages in the court of the lordship.

13. No tenant is to stop any common way nor turn aside a beck. Penalty 6s. 8d.

For the tenants.

1. Any tenant, lawfully seised of a messuage or tenement in fee to him and his heirs according to the custom of the manor, might and may lawfully give or sell the same by writing, and that the steward or his deputy ought to be made privy to it at or before next court under penalty of 20s.

The tenant may without the privity of the steward give his tenement in writing by his last will to which of his sons he thinks best, or any other person. If any customary tenant die seised of an estate of inheritance without a will or devise, then his eldest son or next cousin ought to have the tenement, as his next heir, according to the custom of the manor.

2. If any customary tenant die seised of a customary tenement, having no sons but a daughter or daughters, then the eldest daughter being unpreferred in marriage shall have the tenement as his next heir, ... and she shall pay to her younger sister, if she have but one sister, 20 years' ancient rent, as is answered to her Majesty; and if she have more than one sister, she shall pay 40 years' ancient rent to be equally divided among them.

3. The widow of any customary tenant having any estate of inheritance ought to have her widowright, viz., one-third of the same, as long as she is unmarried and chaste, according to our custom.

4. For the avoiding of great trouble in the agreements with younger brothers, it is now ordered that the oldest son shall pay to his brothers in the form following:—

If there is but 1 brother, 12 years' ancient rent.

If there are 2 brothers, 16 years' ancient rent, to be equally divided.

If there be 3 or more, 20 years' ancient rent, to be equally divided.

Provided that any father being a tenant may make a will dividing the money among his sons as he think best, provided he exceed not these sums and rates.

5. Whereas great inconvenience has grown by certain persons that at the marriages of sons or daughters have promised their tenements to the same son or daughter and their heirs according to the custom of the manor, and afterwards put the tenement away to another person, it is ordered, that whatever tenements a tenant shall promise to his son or daughter being his sole heir apparent at the time of his or her marriage, the same ought to come to them according to the same covenant, which ought to be showed at the next court.

6. If a tenant has a child, not his heir, an idiot or impotent, and die without disposition of his tenement, the same child shall be sustained out of the said tenement by direction of the steward or his deputy and 4 men sworn in court.

7. Finally be it agreed that no bye-law shall be any way prejudicial to her Majesty.

3. Petition in Chancery for Restoration to a Copyhold [Record Commission. Chancery Proceedings, Ed. VI], c. 1550.

Richard Cullyer and John Cullyer v. Thomas Knyvett, esquire.

To quiet Plaintiff in possession of certain land holden of the manor of Cromwell in Wymondham by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor.

To the right honorable Sir Richard Rich, knight, lord Rich and lord Chancellor of England.

In most humble wise sheweth and complaineth unto your lordship your daily orators, Richard Cullyer of Wymondham in the county of Norfolk, yeoman, and John Cullyer his son, that where one Edmund Mychell was seised in his demesne as of fee of and in twenty acres of land lying in Wymondham aforesaid, holden of the manor of Cromwell, in Wymondham aforesaid, by copy of court roll at will of the lord of the said manor, according to the custom of the said manor, which twenty acres of land have used to be demised and demittable by copy of court roll for term of life, lives, or in fee, to be holden at will of the lord of the said manor by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor time out of remembrance of man; and the said Edmund Mychell, so being seised of the said twenty acres, for a sum of money to him paid by the said Richard Cullyer, the father, did surrender the said twenty acres according to the custom of the said manor, by the name of twenty acres of bond land enclosed in a close called Reading, in Brawyck, in Wymondham aforesaid, into the hands of the lords of the said manor by the hands of William Smythe, in the presence of Geoffry Symondes and John Love, being then copyholders of the said manor, to the use of your said orators, their heirs and assigns: By force whereof your said orators, after that they had paid the accustomable fine due for the same to the lords of the said manor, were admitted tenants thereof, to hold the same, to them and their heirs, at will of the lord of the said manor by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor, and from the time of the said surrender which was made, as is aforesaid, thirty years past; and continued seised of the said twenty acres in their demesne as of fee, as tenants at will, by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor; and have received and taken the profits thereof, doing and paying the rents, customs and services of the same to the lords of the same manor, according to the custom of the said manor; and at their great travail, costs, and charges have stubbed, drained, and dyked the premises, whereby they have improved the said twenty acres and made it much better than it was at the time that the same was surrendered to them as is aforesaid: And now so it is, right honorable lord, that the moiety of the said manor is descended to one Thomas Knyvett esquire, as son and heir to Sir Edmund Knyvett, knight, deceased, who, of a covetous mind, contrary to the mind and without the assent of one John Flowrdew, gentleman, who is tenant in common with him of the said manor land, of late claimed ten acres of the said twenty acres to be the demesnes of the said manor, and have prohibited your said orators to occupy the same ten acres; and because your said orators doth not leave the occupation thereof, the said Thomas Knyvett hath divers times disturbed the possession of your orators in the premises by taking of divers distresses, and now of late have taken and distrained in the said close four steers and one bull of the value of five pounds, of the goods and chattels of the said John Cullyer, one of your said orators; which the said Thomas did impound and withhold from your said orators until deliverance was made to him thereof by virtue of the King's majesty's writ of replevin; which writ of replevin is removed into the King's court of his common pleas at Westminster, by a writ of recordere facias [sic], where the said suit doth yet depend undetermined; and forasmuch as your said beseechers have no better estate in the premises but as copyholders according to the custom of the said manor, and that the court rolls of the said manor, whereby your beseechers should prove the said twenty acres to be an ancient copyhold land, do remain in the possession of the said Thomas Knyvett, and for that also that your orators be poor men and the said Thomas Knyvett a gentleman of great worship, your said poor orators be most like to lose their said land, and to be clearly without remedy in the premises, unless your lordship's favour be to them shewed in that behalf: In consideration whereof, it may please your lordship to grant the King's most gracious writ of subpoena, to be directed to the said Thomas Knyvett, commanding him by virtue thereof personally to appear before your lordship in the King's most honorable court of Chancery at a certain day, and under a certain pain, by your lordship to be appointed, then and there to answer the premises, and further to abide to such order therein as shall seem to your lordship agreeing to equity and good conscience; and your poor orators shall daily pray for the prosperous estate of your good lordships in honour long to continue.

Answer.

The answer of Thomas Knivet, esquire, to the bill of complaint of Richard Cullyer and John Cullyer, plaintiffs.

The said defendant saith, that the said bill of complaint is uncertain and untrue in itself, and insufficient in the law to be answered unto, and that the matters therein contained be untruly surmised by the said complainants to the only intent to put the said defendant to vexation, trouble and cost, and is grounded of malice, they the said complainants having no colour of right, title, nor interest unto the said land mentioned in the said bill of complaint; and he, the said defendant, to the matters contained in the same bill, doth think that he by the order of the right honorable court shall not be compelled any further to answer, but be dismissed out of the same for the insufficiency thereof, with his reasonable costs and charges by him sustained in that behalf; Yet nevertheless, if he, the said defendant, shall be compelled any further to answer to the same bill, then he, the same defendant, for further answer saith that the said land, lying in Brawyck Reading mentioned in the said bill of complaint, is and have been time out of mind parcel of the demesnes of the said moiety of the said manor of Cromwell, in Wymondham; and he, the said defendant, for further answer saith, that one Sir Edmund Knyvett, father to the said defendant, and all his ancestors of long time before him, have been seised of one estate of inheritance of the moiety of the said manor, and one-half of the said manor of Cromwell, and that the said Sir Edmund, and all his ancestors, of long time have been seised of the premises with the appurtenances as parcel of the said manor, in their demesne as of fee, and had the possession thereof, and so seised, died thereof by protestation seised; after whose death the premises descended and came and of right ought to descend and come unto the said defendant, as to the son and next heir of the said Sir Edmund, by force whereof he, the same defendant, entered into the premises, and was and is thereof seised in his demesne as of fee, and the same complainants, claiming the premises by force of a surrender made unto them, the said complainants, by one Edmund Mychell in the time of one [blank] being guardian of the said Sir Edmund, and having the custody of the body and lands of the said Sir Edmund during his minority, where nothing in right nor law can pass by the same surrender, but the same is utterly void to bind the said defendant, did enter; upon whom the said defendant did re-enter, as it was lawful for him to do, without that the said Edmund Mychell was lawfully seised in his demesne as of fee, of the lands mentioned in the said bill by copy of court roll at will of the lord according to the custom of the said manor, as in the said bill is untruly alleged, or that the said Edmund Mychell had any lawful interest in the same, or could lawfully make any good or effectual surrender of the same to the said complainants, or that the premises have been used to be demitted or be demittable by copy of court roll for term of life or lives, or in fee, to be holden at the will of the lord by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor time out of mind, as in the said bill of complaint is also untruly alleged, for he, the said defendant, saith that by divers ancient precedents and court rolls ready to be shewed to your honourable court it may appear that the same hath been letten for term of years by the lords of the said manor after the time being unto them, by whom the said complainants claim; or that the same Edmund Mychell for a sum of money to him paid by Richard Cullyer, their father, did surrender the premises, as in the same bill is also untruly alleged, for he, the said defendant, saith, that he the same Edmund had no right nor lawful interest to surrender the same; and if any such surrender were, yet the said defendant saith that the same is verily void in law; or that the said complainants paid any fine for the premises, or were admitted tenants to hold at the will of the lord, as in the same bill is also untruly alleged. And if any such were, yet the same being paid unto his father's said guardian, and their admission by the said guardian, the premises being of the demesnes of the said manor, ought not in no wise to bind him; and without that any other thing mentioned in the said bill of complaint here in this answer not sufficiently confessed, and avoided, traversed, or denied, is true or material to be answered unto, all which matters the said defendant is ready to aver and prove, as this right honorable court shall award. Whereupon the said defendant prayeth to be dismissed out of this right honorable court with his reasonable costs and charges by him sustained in that behalf.

Replication

The replication of Richard Cullyer and John Cullyer, to the answer of Thomas Knyvett esquire.

The said complainants by protestation that the said answer is insufficient in the law for further replication say that the said bill of complaint is certain and sufficient in the law to be answered unto, and for further replication say that the said twenty acres mentioned in the said bill is ancient copyhold land, and have been used to be demised by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor of Cromwell time out of remembrance of man, as is alleged in the said bill, and say also that the said twenty acres lieth now enclosed and have lien enclosed by the space of sixty years or thereabout with other lands and tenements holden by copy of court roll of the manor of Gresshawgh in Wymondham aforesaid, which said twenty acres about the first or second year of the reign of King Henry the Seventh, before that time with other of the said lands then also enclosed did lie open as fields, and in the time of the reign of King Edward the Fourth the said twenty acres were holden, used, and occupied by copy of court roll, according to the custom of the said manor, to one Edmund Cullyer and his heirs, by the name of the third part of one enclose called Reading, being bond or customary land in Wymondham aforesaid, to hold the same to the said Edmund and his heirs by copy of court roll, at will of the lord of the said manor according to the custom of the said manor; upon which grant the said Edmund paid a fine to the lord of the said manor and was admitted tenant thereof, by force whereof the said Edmund Cullyer was seised of the said twenty acres in his demesne as of fee by copy of court roll at will of the lord of the said manor, according to the custom of the said manor, and the said Edmund so being seised of the said twenty acres, the same did surrender according to the custom of the said manor to one Thomas Plomer and his heirs, by virtue whereof the said Thomas Plomer was admitted tenant of the said twenty acres, according to the custom of the said manor, and was seised of the said twenty acres in his demesne as of fee according to the custom of the said manor, and paid the accustomable fine thereof for the same to the lord of the said manor, and did the other services and paid the rents thereof according to the custom of the said manor; and the said Thomas Plomer so being seised of the said twenty acres the same did surrender according to the custom of the said manor to the said Edmund Mychell named in the said bill, by virtue whereof the said Edmund Mychell was lawfully admitted tenant to the premises, according to the custom of the said manor, and was seised thereof in his demesne as of fee according to the said custom, and paid the accustomable fine for the same to the lord of the said manor, and did the services and paid also the rents thereof accordingly, and the said Edmund Mychell so being seised of the premises according to the custom of the said manor, the same according to the said custom did surrender to the said complainants, as is alleged in the said bill; by virtue whereof the said complainants were admitted tenants of the premises and paid the fine thereof, and have done all services, and paid the rents and customs pertaining thereto, according to the custom of the said manor of Cromwell, and hath bestowed great costs upon the same, whereby the said twenty acres be much better than they were at such time as the said complainants were admitted tenants thereto, as in the said bill it is further alleged. And the said complainants do further reply and say in all and everything as they before in their said bill have said, without that,[255] that the said land lying in Brawicke Reading mentioned in the said bill is and have been time out of mind of man parcel of demesnes of the moiety of the said manor of Cromwell, or that the said Sir Edmund had the possession of the said twenty acres, or were seised thereof, otherwise than by the payment of the rents of the same by the said complainants and others, that did hold the same by copy of the said Sir Edmund; and without that the said Sir Edmund died seised thereof, or that the same did descend to the said defendant as demesnes of the said manor discharged of the said tenure, by copy of court roll according to the custom of the said manor; for the said complainants say that the said Sir Edmund during all his life did permit and suffer the said complainants to enjoy the premises according to the custom of the said manor, without let or gainsaying, which the said Sir Edmund would not have done if the said complainants had not had a just right and title to have had the same; without that, that the said complainants did claim the premises only by a surrender made to the said Mychell by the guardian of the said Sir Edmund during his minority, or that the surrender made by the said Mychell during the minority of the said Sir Edmund is void by the law or that the law is that nothing can pass by a surrender made during the said minority, or that a surrender made then is void, or that the premises have been letten for years as is alleged in the said bill; and the said complainants for replication do reply and say in all and every thing, matter, and sentence as they before in their said bill have said; without that, that any other things in this replication not sufficiently replied unto, denied, traversed, or confessed and avoided is true, all which matters the said complainants are ready to verify as this honorable court will award, and pray as they before have prayed.

[255] i.e. Not admitting.

4. Petition in Chancery for Protection Against Breach Of Manorial Customs [R.O. Chancery Proceedings; Series II, Bundle 196, No. 25], 1568.

To the right honorable Sir Nicholas Bacon, knight, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.

In most humble wise sheweth and complaineth to your good Lordship your daily orators John Wyat, John Blake, John Whittington, Thomas Knight, Thomas Ellis, Thomas Moris, Richard Cooke, Symon Lucas, and Richard Blake, with divers other poor men to the number of forty, customary tenants of the manor of Slindon in the County of Sussex.[period? or comma?] That where they and their ancestors and those whose estate they have in the said customary tenements, parcel of the said manor (time out of memory of man) have been seised to them and to their heirs for ever according to the custom of the said manor, all and every which customs of late one Anthony Kempe esquire, lord of the said manor, hath diversely, contrary to conscience and equity, devised and imagined by divers indirect means to break, annihilate, and infringe, and your said orators hath diversely vexed and troubled by the order of the common laws and menaceth to expel your said orators out of their several tenements unless they will pay other customs and services than they of right ought to do by the customs of the said manor. For where by the custom of the said manor your Lordship's said orators and those whose estate they or any of them have in the premises, have been lawfully and quietly seised of the said tenements customary in their demesne as of fee according to the custom of the said manor for the several services thereupon due and accustomed, clearly discharged of all day works, licences of marriage or fines for the same, and having always free liberty to let all and singular the premises aforesaid without any licence beforehand to be obtained of the lords of the said manor for the time being, neither have further at any time done any manner of services whatsoever out of the said manor: And also where after the death of every of the said customary tenants, having a whole yardland, there hath been due for heriot only the best beast, and if such have no beast, then 10s. in money only; and after the death of every tenant holding half a yardland 6s. 8d. for relief only, and after the death of every cottager 6d. only, and at every alienation of a yardland 10s. in money, and at every alienation of a half yardland 6s. 8d. in money, and at the alienation of every cottage 6d., and at the death and alienation of every tenant one whole year's rent only for and in the name of a fine, over and besides the only heriot or relief aforesaid, and suit of court and other services in this bill specified: And where by the further custom of the said manor the lords of the said manor for the time being by the custom of the said manor should make no seizure or forfeiture for waste done in their cottages customary, unless the same be severally presented at the several Courts to be holden one half year after another, and the same yet then not reformed within one month after; And where the cutting down of any the woods standing and growing upon their several tenements customary for house-bote, fire-bote, plough-bote, cart-bote, gate-bote and hedge-bote, and such like hath not heretofore been taken for waste but always as lawful to do by the custom of the said manor; And where also by the further custom of the said manor, where any forfeiture is committed, perpetrated or done for any offence whatsoever whereby there is given cause of seizure and forfeiture to the lord of the manor for the time being, yet by the custom of the same manor, the said forfeiture notwithstanding, they to whom the same so forfeited should descend, remain, come, or grow after the death of such tenant so offending, should and may lawfully claim all and singular such tenements so forfeited or seized after the death of such offender, as though no such forfeiture had been made; And where by the custom of the said manor all and every the tenants of the said manor should and ought to have from time to time in the woods of the lord of the said manor sufficient timber for reparations of their said tenements customary at the assignment of the lord or his officers, and if the lord the same refuse to do upon reasonable request being thereof made to the said lord or his steward of his court for the time being, if then their said tenements decay, or fall down in default of reparations, there shall nor ought any forfeiture or seizure to be made for any such waste; And where the widows of the tenants customary of the said manor should and ought by the custom of the said manor have their widow's estate for one penny only; And where by their further custom the eldest son, brother or next cousin, male or female, should inherit and have the said customaries and after the decease of their ancestors only; And where by the custom of the said manor it is lawful for the said tenants as aforesaid to assign and demise the several tenements for years to any person or persons at their will and pleasure, yet nevertheless by the custom of the said manor it hath been lawful for the lord of the said manor misliking the said undertenant upon one year's warning to expel and put out such tenant, after which it shall be lawful for the said tenants that so did demise or let their tenements to re-enter and the same to enjoy as before, and after to let the same as before to any person or persons in manner and form aforesaid, until such person shall be by the lord misliked and expulsed as aforesaid; And where by the further custom of the said manor the said tenants and every of them and their heirs and assigns should and ought to have the masting of their own hogs in the time of mast in the north woods of the said manor of Slindon, and likewise the pasturing of their cattle and sheep in the said woods and in all other the lord's commons of the said manor, paying for the ovissing[256] and masting of every hog 2d. only; And whereas by the further custom of the said manor the tenants aforesaid have and may at their will and pleasure surrender into the hands of two tenants of the said manor out of the court, or into the hands of the lord or his steward in the court, to the use of any person or person of such estate as they shall declare and limit upon the said surrender, yet nevertheless by the custom of the said manor it is not lawful for any tenant of the said manor to convey, surrender or alienate any one part, parcel or piece of their tenement customary, unless he give and surrender the whole to the use of one only person in possession; And where the youngest tenant of any customary tenement for the time being ought to be crier in the lord's court by the custom of the said manor: All which customs are not only to be proved to be the old and ancient customs of the said manor, but also now of late the said Anthony Kempe hath by his deed indented declared the same to be true in manner and form as it is before alleged; And where by the said Indenture the said Anthony Kempe hath further, for and in consideration of a further and a new rent of eight pounds to him granted, and for and in consideration of twenty pounds to him paid, and for and in consideration to make a perpetual and final end of all controversies heretofore moved and after to be moved, doth further covenant and grant in the said indenture that it shall be lawful for the customary tenants and copyholders of the said manor to enclose, and sever, and severally to hold to them and to their heirs and assigns forever six score acres of land, parcel of the wastes of the lords of the said manor, wherein they now have common, in such place convenient to be limited before the feast of Easter next coming, by consent of two persons to be named by the said Anthony Kempe and two other persons by the said tenants; All the which premises notwithstanding, the said Anthony Kempe doth against all conscience utterly deny unto your Lordship's said orators their said customs and the aforesaid further agreement according to the said indenture, and doth daily vex your said orators quietly to have and enjoy their said customary tenants [sic] with their appurtenances according to the customs aforesaid. May it therefore please your good lordship the premises favourably tendering to grant the Queen's Majesty's writ of subpoena to be directed to the said Anthony Kempe commanding him thereby personally to appear in this honourable Court at a day certain in the said writ of subpoena mentioned, then and there upon his corporal oath to answer to the premises and to abide such order therein as to your Lordship shall upon the truth of the matter appearing seem according to equity; and your said poor orators shall daily pray to God for the continual preservation of your honor.

Edward Fenner.

5. Lease[257] of the Manor of Ablode to a Farmer [Rolls Series. Historia et Cartularium Monasterii GloucestriÆ, Vol. III, pp. 291-5], 1516.

This indenture made on the 5th day of October in the seventh year of King Henry VIII between William ... Abbot of St. Peter ... of the one part and Richard Cockes and Catharine his wife ... and William and John, sons of the said Richard and Catharine, of the other part, witnesseth, that the aforesaid Abbot and Convent ... have leased, demised, and to farm let to Richard, Catharine, William, and John, the site of their Manor of Ablode, situated in the county of Gloucester, with all its houses, buildings, arable lands, meadows, feedings and pastures, dovecotes, weir, waters, fishpools, and rabbit warrens, with all and everything thereto pertaining. And the said abbot and convent have leased to the aforesaid ... divers goods and chattels, moveable, and immoveable, pertaining to the said manor. ... Moreover the said abbot and convent have leased to the said ... 320 sheep remaining for stock on the said manor, priced per head at 16d., which amounts in all to the sum of 21l. 6s. 8d., together with their meadows, pastures and all easements ... needed for the support of the said sheep.... Furthermore the said abbot and convent have leased to the aforesaid ... divers lands and demesne meadows belonging to the said manor, when the reversion thereof shall in any way have occurred, which lands and demesne meadows are now occupied by the customary tenants of the lord, as is plain from the rental drawn on the back of the present indenture.... And it shall be lawful for the aforesaid Richard, Catharine, William and John, or any of them to introduce at their pleasure new tenants on all those demesne lands aforesaid, now in the hands of the tenants there, whenever the aforesaid reversion shall have fallen in.

6. Lease of the Manor of South Newton To a Farmer [Roxburghe Club, Surveys of the lands belonging to William Earl of Pembroke], 1568.

John Rabbett holds to himself and his assigns, by an indenture dated November 28 in the fourth year of Elizabeth, at a fine of £120, the whole site of the farm of the Manor of South Newton in the county of Wilts., all its demesne lands, meadows, marshes, pastures, commons, fisheries, and the customary works of the tenants in South Newton, Stovord, and Childhampton, with all and singular their appurtenances in the above-mentioned South Newton belonging to the site and the farm or of old demised to farm with the above-mentioned site, as fully as Lewis ap Jevan had and occupied it, and also one virgate of land and one ham of meadow, lying in the afore-mentioned South Newton, called the Parson's yardland and ham with a sheep pasture, ... excepted and altogether reserved to the lord and his heirs the advowson of the vicarage there; the said John Rabbett and his assigns to have and to hold the aforesaid ... from Michaelmas before this indenture for the full term of 21 years, paying thence yearly to the lord for the aforesaid farm and site with its appurtenances

per bs. 12d. 4l.
10 quarters of wheat
prec. cap. 4d. 6s. 8d.
20 capons,
per bs. 8d. 106s. 8d.
29 quarters of barley,
prec. cap. 4d. 6s. 8d.
20 pigeons,
per bs. 3d. 26s. 8d.
[sic]
10 quarters of oats
prec. cap. 4d. 4s.
12 great fish called great Trouts.

and for the aforesaid virgate of land ... 13s. at the usual terms, with all other clauses and agreements, as is set forth at length in the indenture placed in the register. And be it known that the grain, capons, and pigeons and fish are valued at the rate written above the head of each kind. And there belong to the farm of arable land 55 acres in Middlefield, 60 acres in Westfield, and 60 acres in Eastfield, and one meadow called Long Ham lying in a close and containing 11½ acres, and the cropping of one meadow called Duttenham lying in the west part of Wishford containing 10½ acres, one meadow called Beymeade containing 4½ acres lying on the north-west side of South Newton, and one curtilage near the barn containing 2 acres, and a hill called the Down estimated to contain 100 acres, and it is able to keep 500 sheep, 36 cattle, and 12 horses. And there belong to the aforesaid virgate of land, called the Parson's Yardland, of arable land in Southfield 6½ acres, in Middlefield 8½ acres, in Northfield 6 acres, and one ham of meadow, pasture for 10 cows, 1 bull, and 120 sheep with the farmer, 14s.

4l.
Wheat 10 qrs.
106s. 8d.
Barley 20 qrs.
26s. 8d.
Oats 10 qrs.
6s. 8d.
Capons 20.
6s. 8d.
Pigeons 20.
4s.
Fish 12.

7. The Agrarian Programme of the Pilgrimage of Grace [Gairdner, Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII, Vol. xi, 1246], 1536.

9. That the lands in Westmoreland, Cumberland, Dent, Sedbergh, Furness, and the abbey lands in Mashamshire, Kyrkbyshire, Notherdale, may be by tenant right, and the Lords to have, at every change, 2 years rent for gressum, according to the grant now made by the Lords to the Commons there. This is to be done by Act of Parliament.

13. The statute for enclosures and intacks to be put in execution, and all enclosures and intacks since 4 Hen. VII to be pulled down, except mountains, forests, and parks.

8. The Demands of the Rebels Led by Ket [Harl. MSS. 304, f. 75. Printed by Russell, Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk, p. 48], 1549.

We pray your grace that where it is enacted for enclosing that it be not hurtful to such as have enclosed saffron grounds, for they be greatly chargeable to them, and that from henceforth no man shall enclose any more.[258]

We certify your grace that whereas the lords of the manors hath been charged with certe free rent, the same lords hath sought means to charge the freeholders to pay the same rent, contrary to right.

We pray your grace that no lord of no manor shall common upon the commons.

We pray that priests from henceforth shall purchase no lands neither free nor Bondy, and the lands that they have in possession may be letten to temporal men, as they were in the first year of the reign of King Henry the VII.

We pray that reed ground and meadow ground may be at such price as they were in the first year of King Henry the VII.

We pray that all marshes that are holden of the King's Majesty by free rent or of any other, may be again at the price that they were in the first year of King Henry VII.

We pray that all bushels within your realm be of one stice, that is to say, to be in measure viii gallons.

We pray that [priests] or vicars that be [not able] to preach and set forth the word of God to his parishioners may be thereby put from his benefice, and the parishioners there to choose another, or else the patron or lord of the town.

We pray that the payments of castleward rent, and blanch farm and office lands, which hath been accustomed to be gathered of the tenements, whereas we suppose the lords ought to pay the same to their bailiffs for their rents gathering, and not the tenants.

We pray that no man under the degree of a knight or esquire keep a dove house, except it hath been of an old ancient custom.

We pray that all freeholders and copyholders may take the profits of all commons, and there to common, and the lords not to common nor take profits of the same.

We pray that no feodary within your shires shall be a councillor to any man in his office making, whereby the King may be truly served, so that a man being of good conscience may be yearly chosen to the same office by the commons of the same shire.

We pray your grace to take all liberty of let into your own hands whereby all men may quietly enjoy their commons with all profits.

We pray that copyhold land that is unreasonably rented may go as it did in the first year of King Henry VII, and that at the death of a tenant or at a sale the same lands to be charged with an easy fine as a capon or a reasonable [sum] of money for a remembrance.

We pray that no priest [shall be chaplain] nor no other officer to any man of honour or worship, but only to be resident upon their benefices whereby their parishioners may be instructed with the laws of God.

We pray that all bond men may be made free, for God made all free with his precious blood-shedding.

We pray that rivers may be free and common to all men for fishing and passage.

We pray that no man shall be put by your escheator and feodary to find any office unless he holdeth of your Grace in chief or capite above xl.l by year.

We pray that the poor mariners or fishermen may have the whole profits of their fishings as porpoises, grampuses, whales or any great fish, so it be not prejudicial to your Grace.

We pray that every proprietary parson or vicar having a benefice of xv.l or more by year shall either by themselves or by some other person teach poor men's children of their parish the book called the catechism and the primer.

We pray that it be not lawful to the lords of any manor to purchase lands freely and to let them out again by copy of court roll to their great advancement and to the undoing of your poor subjects.

We pray that no proprietary parson or vicar, in consideration of avoiding trouble and suit between them and their poor parishioners which they daily do precede and attempt, shall from henceforth take for the full contentation [i.e. satisfaction] of all the tenths which now they do receive but viiid of the noble in the full discharge of all other tithes.

We pray that no man under the degree of [blank] shall keep any conies upon any of their own freehold or copyhold unless he pale them in so that it shall not be to the commons' nuisance.

We pray that no person, of what estate, degree or condition he be, shall from henceforth sell the wardship of any child, but that the same child if he live to his full age shall be at his own chosen concerning his marriage, the King's wards only except.

We pray that no manner of person having a manor of his own shall be no other lord's bailiff but only his own.

We pray that no lord knight nor gentleman shall have or take in farm any spiritual promotion.

We pray that your Grace to give license and authority by your gracious commission under your great seal to such commissioners as your poor commons hath chosen, or as many of them as your Majesty and your council shall appoint and think meet, for to redress and reform all such good laws, statutes, proclamations, and all other your proceedings, which hath been hidden by your justices of your peace, sheriffs, escheators, and other your officers from your poor commons, since the first year of the reign of your noble grandfather King Henry VII.

We pray that those your officers that hath offended your Grace and your commons, and so proved by the complaint of your poor commons, do give unto these poor men so assembled iiijd. every day so long as they have remained there.

We pray that no lord, knight, esquire nor gentleman do graze nor feed any bullocks or sheep if he may spend forty pounds a year by his lands, but only for the provision of his house.

By me, Robt. Kett.
" " Thomas Aldryche. Thomas Cod.

9. Petition to Court of Requests from Tenants Ruined by Transference of a Monastic Estate to Lay Hands[259] [R.O. Requests Proceedings, Bundle 23, No. 13], 1553.

Inhabitants of Whitby v. York.

To [the] Queen's Highness our most dread Sovereign Lady and to her most honorable Council.

1553. Lamentably complaining sheweth unto your Highness and to ... Council your poor obedient subjects and daily orators, poor husbandmen the ... of Halkesgarthe and Senseker in Whitby Strand in the County of York, that the said inhabitants, late being tenants of the dissolved Monastery of Whitby [afore]said, after it was come into the hands of our late sovereign lord King Henry ... and after that it did come to the hands and possession of the late Duke of Northumb[erland] and of late purchased of him by one Sir John Yorke, knight, who is now in possession of the premises; which said Sir John Yorke hath lately been there and kept court on the said premises at two sundry times; which said Sir John Yorke of his extort power and might, and by great and sore threatenings of the said tenants and inhabitants there, and by other means, hath gotten from them all the leases [that were in their] custodies and possession, and unreasonably hath raised and ... rents and excessively hath gressomed, fined, pilled and ... maketh inquiry all about for your poor orators with great ... do suppose if he could find them, he would lay the ... because they should not be able to exhibit this their bill of c[omplaint] ... and your said Council, how he hath fined them and raised ... and yearly rents, if your said orators should still bear and pay, appear by a bill hereunto annexed your orators hands or marks thereto ... of the old [rents] the [ne]w by them ... to be paid unto the said Sir John Yorke ... thereby shall be utterly undone in this world ... favour, help and succour with speedy [remedy] ... consideration of the premises and forasmuch as your said orators and ancestors of your said poor orators have holden and enjoyed the premises according to the old ancient custom, old rents and old fines, as hereunder it may plainly appear, without enhancing, or raising, without vexation or trouble, and in consideration also that the said Sir John Yorke is a man of power and might, lands, goods, and possessions ... greatly friended, and your poor orators being sore afraid to be imprisoned by him, and also very poor men, and not able to sue against him, nor hath no remedy but only to sue ... Majesty of your most gracious goodness ... said Council, to call before your Majesty and your said C[ouncil] ... and to take order in the premises, that your poor orators according to justice, right, and good conscience may peaceably enjoy all the premises, paying their old accustomed rents and fines, according as they and their ancestors have done, time out of mind of man. And your said poor orators shall daily pray to God for the prosperous preservation of your Majesty in your most Royal Estate long to reign, and for your most honourable Council long to continue.

Endorsed....

21 October

The tenants and inhabitants of Senseker and Halkesgarthe in Whitby Strand in the County of York desire to have Sir John Yorke called before the Council and to take order that your orators may have....The Names of the tenants of Halkesgarthe and Senseker.

At Lammas last past my Lady Yorke at Whitby earnestly demanded of the said Robert Michaelmas farm before hand, insomuch he durst not hold it but paid it to her, the sum of 58s. 4d.

From William Jakson, likewise paid 20s. for his farm afore hand.

[Endorsed.] Bill versus Yorke.
Orders and Decrees.
24th day of October in the first year of the reign of
Queen Mary.

Be it remembered that the cause brought afore the Queen's Council in Her Majesty's Court of Requests at the suit as well of Robert Stor as William Poskett and William Browne, tenants to Sir John Yorke, knight, in the Lordship of Whitby in the County of York, is now ordered by the said Council by the agreement of the said Sir John, who hath promised that the said parties afore named, and every of them, shall have and quietly enjoy their tenements and holds during the years and terms in their leases and copies yet enduring, paying their rents and farms accustomed without any interruption to the contrary or any other by him or in his name or procurement.

10. Petition to Court of Requests to Stay Proceedings Against Tenants Pending the Hearing of their Case Before the Council of the North [R.O. Requests Proceedings. Bundle III, No. 24], 1576.

To the Queen's most excellent Majesty.

In most humble wise sheweth unto your Majesty your poor subject Thomas Langhorne, and other the inhabitants and residents of the lordship of Thornthwaite in your county of Westmoreland, that whereas your suppliant and other of the inhabitants and residents of the lordship aforesaid, and their ancestors time out of memory of man, have quietly had and enjoyed from heir to heir according to their ancient custom in consideration of their service to be in readiness with horse,[260] harness and other furniture to serve your Majesty at their own costs and charges in defence of your realm against the Scots, which custom hath been sufficiently approved and allowed before your Majesty's President and Council at York, as by a decree ready to be shewed more at large it may appear. But so it is, and if it please your Majesty, that Sir Henry Curwyn, knight, lord of the lordship aforesaid, hath since the beginning of your Majesty's reign expelled out of one piece of Shapps parish within the said lordship, where there was but thirteen tenants, twelve of them he hath expelled and taken their land from them and enclosed it into his demesnes, whereby your Majesty's service for the same is utterly taken away: and also the said Sir Henry Curwyn, lord of the lordship aforesaid, hath of late surrendered over the same lordship to Nicholas Curwyn, gentleman, his son and heir, which Sir Henry and Nicholas do excessively fine the poor tenants and specially your orator, who was forced to pay them for the fine of his tenement, being but 13s. 10d. by year, 31l. 6s. 8d., and was admitted tenant to the said Nicholas Curwyn, who notwithstanding hath contrary to all right and conscience granted a lease of your subject's tenement to one Henry Curwyn, servant to the same Nicholas, in the nature of an ejection firm[261] here at the common law, and hath by your Majesty's writ arrested your orator to appear in your Highness' Bench at Westminster to the utter undoing of your said poor subject, his wife and five children for ever, being not able to defend his rightful cause: May it therefore please your most excellent Majesty that order may be set down by your Majesty and your most honourable council that none of the lordship aforesaid may be expelled out and from their tenant rights until their said custom shall be tried and examined before the Lord President of York for the time being, and that your Majesty's said subject may not be constrained to answer any suit here at the Common Law concerning their tenant right. And your said orators shall according to their bounden duties pray to God for the preservation of your most Royal Majesty long to live and reign over us.

[Endorsed.] 18 May, 1586.

Your humble subject Thomas Langhorne, one of the tenants of the lordship of Thornthwaite in the county of Westmoreland, being molested in their tenant right by one Henry Curwyn, servant unto Nicholas Curwyn, lord of the said manor, desire most humbly that all actions at the Common Laws here at Westminster might be stayed and the full hearing of the matter reserved to the Lord President at York.

25 May, 18 Elizabeth.
Writ of injunction granted, as appears, etc.

11. Petition from Freeholders of Wootton Bassett for Restoration of Rights of Common [Topographer and Genealogist, Vol. III], temp. Charles I.

To the Right Honourable House of Parliament now assembled, the humble petition of the Mayor and Free Tenants of the Borough of Wootton Basset in the County of Wilts.

Humbly showeth to this Honourable House, That whereas the Mayor and Free Tenants of the said Borough, by relation of our ancient predecessors, had and did hold unto them free common of pasture for the feeding of all sorts of other beasts, as cows, etc., without stint, be they never so many, in and through Eastern Great Park, which said park contained by estimation 2000 acres of ground or upwards; and in the second and third year of the reign of King Philip and Queen Mary the manor of Wootton Basset aforesaid came by patent into the hands and possession of one Sir Francis Englefield, knight, who, in short time after he was thereof possessed, did enclose the said park; and in consideration of the common of pasture that the free tenants of the borough had in the said park did grant, condescend and lease out unto the said free tenants of the said borough to use as common amongst them that parcel of the said Great Park which formerly was and now is called by the name of Wootton Lawnd, which was but a small portion to that privilege which they had before it, [and] doth not contain by estimation above 100 acres; but the free tenants being therewith contented, the mayor and free tenants did equally stint the said ground or common, as followeth:—that is to say to the mayor of the town for the time being two cows feeding, and to the constable one cow feeding, and to every inhabitant of the said borough, each and every of them, one cow feeding and no more, as well the poor as the rich, and every one to make and maintain a certain parcel or bound set forth to every person; and ever after that inclosure for the space of fifty and six years or thereabouts any messuage, burgage or tenement that was bought or sold within the said borough did always buy and sell the said cows-leaze together with the said messuage or burgage as part member of the same, as doth and may appear by divers deeds which are yet to be seen; and about which time, as we are informed and do verily believe, that Sir Francis Englefield, heir of the aforesaid Sir Francis Englefield, did by some means gain the charter of our town into his hands, and as lately we have heard his successor now keepeth it; and we do believe that at the same time he did likewise gain the deed of the said common, and he thereby knowing that the town had nothing to show for their rights of common but by prescription, did begin suits in law with the said free tenants for their common, and did vex them with so many suits in law for the space of seven or eight years at the least, and never suffer anyone to come to trial in all that space, but did divers times attempt to gain his possession thereof by putting in of divers sorts of cattle, in so much that at length, when his servants did put in cows by force into the said common, many times and present upon the putting of them in, the Lord in his mercy did send thunder and lightning from heaven, which did make the cattle of the said Francis Englefield to run so violent out of the said ground that at one time one of the beasts was killed therewith; and it was so often that people that were not there in presence to see it, when it thundered, would say Sir Francis Englefield's men were putting in their cattle into the Lawnd, and so it was, and as soon as those cattle were gone forth it would presently be very calm and fair, and the cattle of the town would never stir but follow their feeding as at other times, and never offer to move out of the way but did follow their feeding. And this did continue so long, he being too powerful for them, that the said free tenants were not able to wage law any longer; for one John Rous, one of the free tenants, was thereby enforced to sell all his land (to the value of £500) with following the suits in law, and many others were thereby impoverished and were thereby forced to yield up their right and take a lease of their said common of the said Sir Francis Englefield for term of his life. And the said mayor and free tenants hath now lost their right of common in the said Lawnd near about twenty years, which this Sir Francis Englefield, his heirs and his trustees, now detaineth from them. Likewise the said Sir Francis Englefield hath taken away their shops or shambles standing in the middle of the street in the market-place from the town, and hath given them to a stranger that liveth not in the town.... And he hath altered and doth seek ways and means to take the election of the mayor of our town to himself; for whereas the mayor is chosen at the law-day and the jury did ever make choice of two men of the town and the lord of the manor was to appoint one of them to serve, which the lord of the manor refused, and caused one to stay in two years together divers times, which is a breach of our custom.

And as for our common we do verily believe that no corporation in England so much is wronged as we are. For we are put out of all the common that ever we had and have not so much as one foot of common left unto us, nor never shall have any. We are thereby grown so in poverty, unless it please God to move the hearts of this Honourable House to commiserate our cause, and to enact something for us, that we may enjoy our right again. And your orators shall be ever bound to pray for your health and prosperity to the Lord.

[here follow 23 signatures.]

Divers hands more we might have had, but that many of them doth rent bargains of the lord of the manor, and they are fearful that they shall be put forth of their bargains; and then they shall not tell how to live. Otherwise they would have set to their hands.

12. Petition to Crown of Copyholders of North Wheatley [S.P.D. Charles I, Vol. 151, No. 38], 1629.

To the King's most Excellent Majesty.

The humble petition of your Majesty's poor and distressed tenants of your manor of North Wheatley in the county of Nottingham belonging to your Majesty's Duchy of Lancaster.

Most humbly shewing: That your poor subjects have time out of mind been copyholders of lands of inheritance to them and their heirs for ever of the manor aforesaid, and paid for every oxgang of land xvis. viiid. rent, and paid heretofore upon every alienation xiid. for every oxgang, but now of late, about 4^o Jacobi by an order of the Duchy Court they pay xis. vid. upon every alienation for every acre, which amounteth now to 45s. an oxgang.

And whereas some of your tenants of the said manor have heretofore held and do now hold certain oxgangs of lands belonging to the said manor by copy from 21 years to 21 years, and have paid for the same upon every copy 2s., and for every oxgang 16s. 8d. per annum, they now of late, by an order in the Duchy Court, hold the same by lease under the Duchy Seal, and pay 6l. 13s. 4d. for a fine upon every lease and 16s. 8d. rent with an increase of 6s. 8d. more towards your Majesty's provision.

And whereas in 11^o Edw. 4ⁱ, your petitioners did by copy of court roll hold the demesnes of the said manor for term of years at 9l. 6s. 8d. per annum, they afterwards in 6^o Eliz. held the same demesnes by lease under the seal of the Duchy for 21 years, at the like rent. And ten years before their lease was expired, they employed one Mr. Markham in trust to get their lease renewed, who procured a new lease of the demesnes in his own name for 21 years at the old rent, and afterwards, contrary to the trust committed to him, increased and raised the rent thereof upon the tenants to his own private benefit to 56l. per annum.

And whereas the woods belonging to the said manor hath within the memory of man been the only common belonging to the said town, paying yearly for the herbage and pannage thereof 6s. 8d., they now also hold the same under the Duchy Seal at 16l. 16s. 2d. per annum.

And whereas the court rolls and records of the said manor have always heretofore been kept under several locks and keys, whereof your Majesty's stewards have kept one key and your Majesty's tenants (in regard it concerned their particular inheritances) have kept another key; but now they are at the pleasure of the stewards and officers transported from place to place, and the now purchasers do demand the custody of them, which may be most prejudicial to your Majesty's poor tenants.

Now forasmuch as your Majesty hath been pleased to sell the said manor unto the City of London, who have sold the same unto Mr. John Cartwright and Mr. Tho. Brudnell, gent.: and for that your petitioners and tenants there (being in number two hundred poor men, and there being 11 of your Majesty's tenants there, that bear arms for the defence of your Majesty's realm, and 12 that pay your Majesty subsidies, fifteens, and loans) are all now like to be utterly undone, in case the said Mr. Cartwright and Mr. Brudnell should (as they say they will) take away from your tenants the said demesnes and woods after the expiration of their leases, and that your poor tenants should be left to the wills of the purchasers for their fines, or that the records and court rolls should not be kept as in former times in some private place, where the purchasers and tenants may both have the custody and view of them as occasion shall serve;

May it therefore please your sacred Majesty that such order may be taken in the premises for the relief of your poor tenants of the manor aforesaid, that they may not be dispossessed of the demesnes and leases, and that they may know the certainty of their fines for the copyhold, demesnes and leases, and may have the court rolls and records safely kept as formerly they have been, and that your Majesty will be further pleased to refer the consideration, hearing, ordering and determination of the premises unto such noblemen, or other four gentlemen of esteem in the country, whom your Majesty shall be pleased to appoint, that are neighbours unto your tenants, and do best know their estate and grievances. That they or any two or three of them may take such order, and so settle the business between the purchasers and your poor tenants, as they in their wisdom and discretion shall judge to be reasonable and fitting, or to certify your Majesty how they find the same and in whose default it is they cannot determine thereof. And your poor tenants as in all humble duty bound will daily pray for your Majesty.

Whitehall, this 10th of November, 1629.

His Majesty is graciously pleased to refer the consideration of this request to the commissioners for sale of his lands, that upon the report unto his Majesty of their opinion and advice his Majesty may give further order therein.

Dorchester.

13. An Act Avoiding Pulling Down of Towns [7 Hen. VIII, c. 1. Statutes of the Realm, Vol. III, pp. 176-7], 1515.

The King our Sovereign Lord calling to his most blessed remembrance that where great inconveniences be and daily increase by dislocation, pulling down, and destruction of houses and towns within this realm, and laying to pasture lands which customably have been manured and occupied with tillage and husbandry, whereby idleness doth increase, for where in some one town 200 persons, men and women and children, and their ancestors out of time of mind, were daily occupied and lived by sowing corn and grains, breeding of cattle, and other increase necessary for man's sustenance, and now the said persons and their progenies be minished and decreased, whereby the husbandry which is the greatest commodity of this realm for sustenance of man is greatly decayed, Churches destroyed, the service of God withdrawn, Christian people there buried not prayed for, the patrons and curates wronged, cities, market towns brought to great ruin and decay, necessaries for man's sustenance made scarce and dear, the people sore minished in the realm, whereby the power and defence thereof is enfeebled and impaired, to the high displeasure of God and against his laws and to the subversion of the common weal of this realm and dislocation of the same, if substantial and speedy remedy be not thereof provided; wherefore the King our Sovereign Lord, by the advice and assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, ordaineth, stablisheth and enacteth, that all such towns, villages, boroughs and hamlets, tything houses and other habitations in any parish or parishes within this realm, whereof the more part the first day of this present parliament was or were used and occupied to tillage and husbandry, [as] by the owner or owners thereof for their singular profit, avail, and lucre wilfully since the said first day be or hereafter shall be suffered or caused to fall down and decay, whereby the husbandry of the said towns, villages, boroughs, hamlets, tithings houses and other habitations and parishes within this realm been or hereafter shall be decayed, and turned from the said use and occupation of husbandry and tillage into pasture, shall be by the said owner or owners, their heirs, successors or assigns or other for them, within one year next after such wilful decay, re-edified and made again meet and convenient for people to dwell and inhabit in the same, and to have use and therein to exercise husbandry and tillage as at the said first day of this present parliament or since was there used, occupied and had, after the manner and usage of the country where the said land lieth, at the cost and charges of the same owner or owners, their heirs, successors or assigns. And if since the said first day of this present parliament any lands which at the same first day or since were commonly used in tillage, been enclosed or from henceforth shall be enclosed and turned only to pasture, whereby any house of husbandry within this realm is or shall be hereafter decayed, that then all such lands shall be by the same owner or owners, their heirs, successors or assigns or other for them, within one year next ensuing the same decay, put in tillage, and exercised, used and occupied in husbandry and tillage, as they were the first said day of this present parliament or any time since, after the manner and usage of the country where such land lieth; and if any person or persons do contrary to the premises or any of them, that then it be lawful to the King, if any such lands or houses be holden of him immediately, after office or inquisition found thereof comprehending the same matter of record, or to the lords of the fees, if any such lands or houses [have] been holden of immediately, without office or inquisition thereof had, to receive yearly half the value of the issues and profits of any such lands whereof the house or houses of husbandry be not so maintained and sustained, and the same half deal of the issues and profits to have, hold and keep to his or their own use without anything thereof to be paid or given, to such time as the same house or houses be sufficiently re-edified, built or repaired again, for the exercising and occupying of husbandry; and immediately after that, as well the interest and title given by this Act to our Sovereign Lord the King as to the lords of the fee to cease and no longer to endure; and that it shall be lawful to the owner and owners of such lands, house or houses holden immediately of our said Sovereign Lord the King to have and enjoy the same and to take the issues and profits thereof as if no such office or inquisition had never been had nor made; and that no manner of freehold be in the King nor in any such lord or lords by virtue of this act or taking of any such profits of or in any such lands in no manner of form, but only the King and the said lord or lords have power to take, receive and have the said issues and profits as is abovesaid, and therefore the King or the said lord or lords to have power to distrain for the same issues and profits to be had and perceived by them in form abovesaid by authority of this present act....

14. The Commission[262] of Inquiry Touching Enclosures [Patent Roll 9 Hen. VIII, p. 2, m. 6d.], 1517.

The King to his beloved and faithful John Veysy, dean of our Chapel, Andrew Wyndesore, knight, and Roger Wegeston, late of Leicester, greeting. Whereas of late in times past divers our lieges, not having before their eyes either God or the benefit and advantage of our realm or the defence of the same, have enclosed with hedges and dykes and other enclosures certain towns, hamlets and other places within this our realm of England, where many of our subjects dwelt and there yearly and assiduously occupied and exercised tillage and husbandry, and have expelled and ejected the same our subjects dwelling therein from their holdings and farms, and have reduced the country round the houses, towns and hamlets aforesaid, and the fields and lands within the same, to pasture and for flocks of sheep and other animals to graze there for the sake of their private gain and profit, and have imparked certain great fields and pasture and woods of the same in large and broad parks, and certain others in augmentation of parks for deer only to graze there, whereby the same towns, hamlets and places are not only brought to desolation, but also the houses and buildings of the same are brought to so great ruin, that no vestige of the same at the present is left, and our subjects, who have dwelt in the said places and there occupied and exercised tillage and husbandry, are now brought to idleness, which is the step-mother of virtues, and daily live in idleness, and the crops and breeding of cattle that were bred and nourished by the same tillers and husbandmen dwelling in the same towns, hamlets and places for human sustenance, are withdrawn and entirely voided from the same places, and the churches and chapels there hallowed are destroyed and divine services there taken away, and the memory of souls of Christians buried there utterly and wholly perished, and many other inestimable damages grow therefrom and daily hereafter will grow, to the greatest desolation and undoing of our realm and diminution of our subjects, unless an opportune remedy for the reformation of the same be swiftly and speedily applied: We, as we are duly bound, desiring to reform the aforesaid and wishing to be certified touching the same, what and how many towns and hamlets and how many houses and buildings have been thrown down from the feast of St. Michael the Archangel in the fourth year of the reign of the most illustrious lord Henry, late King of England, the Seventh, our father, and how many and how great lands which were then in tillage are now enclosed and converted to pasture, and how many and how great parks have been imparked for the feeding of deer since the same feast, and what lands have been enclosed in any parks or any park, which then were or was, for the amplifying and enlarging of such parks, have therefore appointed you and two of you to enquire by oath of good and lawful men of the counties of Oxford, Berks, Warwick, Leicester, Bedford, Buckingham, and Northampton, as well within liberties as without, and by other ways, manners and means whereby you shall or may the better learn the truth, what and how many towns, how many houses and buildings have been thrown down from the aforesaid feast, and how many and how great lands which were then in tillage are now converted to pasture, and how many and how great parks have been enclosed for the feeding of deer on this side the same feast, and what lands have been enclosed in any parks or any park, which then were or was, for the enlargement of such parks, and by whom, where, when, how and in what manner, and touching other articles and circumstances in any wise concerning the premises, according to the tenour and effect of certain articles specified in a bill to these presents annexed. And therefore we command you that you attend diligently to the premises and do and execute the same with effect. And by the tenour of these presents we command our sheriffs of the counties aforesaid that at certain days and places, which you shall cause them to know, they cause to come before you or two of you as many and such good and lawful men of their bailiwick by whom the truth of the matter may the better be known and enquired of; and that you certify us in our Chancery of what you shall do in the premises in three weeks from the day of St. Michael next coming, together with this commission. In witness whereof, etc. Witness the King at Westminster, the 28th day of May.

[262] Similar letters are addressed to other Commissioners directing them to make similar inquiries in other parts of the country. The Commission was appointed by Wolsey. Its returns are important as a source of information both on the said conditions of the period and on the administrative methods of the Tudor statesmen (see Leadam, Domesday of Enclosures) and subsequent Commissions were appointed in 1548, 1566, 1607, 1632, 1635, and 1636, the last three being prompted partly by the desire to raise money by means of fines.