The demesne
of a normal manor was the land reserved for the lord of the manor’s own
use. The produce would be his for consumption or sale and the land
would be worked according to customary
service by the villeins and other feudal serfs under his control.
They had much smaller plots to work for their own produce, when
they were not working for the lord. The
Domesday entry records that there were 8 villeins and one bordar (lesser
serf) with one plough for their own use.
Burton Abbey’s land differed from a normal manor in
that there was no resident ‘lord’, although there is likely to have
been a central group of farm buildings, or grange,
with a cottage for a bailiff or manager.
The notional demesne land would be taxed because the Abbey was
effectively an absentee landlord working the estate for profit.
POST-DOMESDAY
SURVEYS
We are doubly fortunate that the monks of Burton
Abbey were meticulous in keeping records of their affairs and that John Nichols reproduced
information from the Abbey Registers in his History and Antiquities of
Leicestershire. There
are two medieval Latin surveys printed consecutively by Nichols (under a
single heading) and which must be close to each other in date.
The heading (in translation) is; ‘Survey(s) of the Lands of
Burton Abbey at the Time of Henry I and Abbot Nigel’, which narrows the
date to the years AD 1100 - 1114, ie within 14 to 28 years of the Domesday
survey. Following so closely
after Domesday (1086), these Abbey surveys enlarge on and help us to
interpret the Domesday information.
The Surveys
Here is my translation (with the relevant footnotes) of the two
surveys headed “Extent’ terrarum monasterii de
Burton super Trent, tempore regis Henrici Primi, & Nigelli abbatis”.
The bold emphasis and the
layout are mine, and my comments follow below.
SURVEY(S)
OF THE LANDS OF THE MONASTERY OF BURTON UPON TRENT, AT THE TIME OF KING
HENRY I AND ABBOT NIGEL
In
Appleby nothing is held ‘as demesne’ [see definition in the second
survey below]. The land
itself is assessed for four carucates. In this there are in total 40 and 9
virgates. Of these there are
24 in the demesne land, and sufficient for three ploughlands [carucates].
The remainder, ie 25, the men hold by these means.
12 virgates are for customary
service (ad opus) and 13
are for rent (ad malam).
Of
those which are FOR CUSTOMARY SERVICE
11 villeins hold fully 11 virgates, ie every single one 1 virgate.
Of the twelfth virgate which remains, two villains hold halves,
each one of course [holding] half a virgate.
Besides these there are three
coscets (corseti); each one holds 1 acre, and works one day service.
Moreover,
of those which are FOR RENT,
Godwin, who is a villein,
holds
1½ virgates for
4 shillings
Algar, who is himself a villein,
half a virgate for
16 pence
Francis
1 virgate
for 32 pence
Richard
4 virgates
for 6 shillings
Another Richard
2 virgates
for 3
shillings
Roger the priest
2 virgates
for 3
shillings
Herbert
2 virgates
for 3 shillings 14
[The
Second Survey follows on
without a separate heading:]
In Appleby nothing is held ‘as demesne’;
ie which is not subject to the king’s
geld. Land in the demesne
is 24 virgates, where there could be 3 ploughlands.
There are 24 bullocks; mares and foals; 300 farm sheep.
The land of the men is assessed for 20 virgates.
THE ORDINARY VILLEINS (villani)
are these:
Alwinus, Almirus, Lewinus, Almarus,
Daura, Godricus, Hadaldus, Ordricus, Toki, Dan’[Daniel?].
Each one of these holds one
virgate; and works two days in the week, and makes all customary
services which are performed by the villeins of Austrey, except that they
fallow, set aside and store one acre, whereas here it is half an
acre 15.
Also Aluricus
and Sewinus hold one
virgate, and each of them works one day, and performs the aforesaid
customary service.
ORDINARY RENT-PAYERS (censarii)
are these.
Ranulfus holds one virgate for 22 pence, and makes the payment for his land twice a
year, and increasingly with all his affairs he divides into three by
turns: in low value coins, with food provided by himself, or thirdly with
food provided by the abbot; and he owes 2 perches [of land] to
Burton, and 2 in interest; and he is obliged to go to the court of pleas,
and to the hundred court, and to the chase [?], and to carry weaponry [?]
when ordered; he owes just so much rent, and is obliged to do just so
much.
The
sons of Aluricus, [ie] Godricus, Ailwinus [and] Edricus, have 8
virgates, which their father held for them for 12 shillings, and for
their bodily [military] service.
Likewise, each of those
who are both VILLEINS and
RENT-PAYERS are these.
Godwinus the priest
holds 2½ virgates for
customary service, and the other holding for rent with a
half virgate for 4 shillings.
Algarus holds 2 virgates for customary service, and 1 virgate for rent for 16 pence.
Those who hold land just as villeins and just as rent-payers, are
obliged to make all customary service both of villeins and of rent-payers.
These
are the COSCETS (corseti).
Walter holds 3 acres,
and does 1 day’s service in the week.
Gerard similarly.
Aluricus similarly.
There are two OXMEN (bovarii) each of which has 5 acres, of these 4 having
been sown, and 5 sheep for his calling; and their wives perform one day service. However they hand over geese and sheep whenever they pay
service. 1
[Nichols’
footnotes:]
14: Burton Register, fol. viii.
b.
15.‘THESE ARE THE CUSTOMS OF AUSTREY in Warwickshire: “ He [the
villein] works two days in the week.
He is obliged to go for salt and for fish, or to give 11 pence for
each; he sows seed; and
again, he owes either a horse or 3 pence on account of the journey of the
abbot to the court; & he
fallows 1 acre in summer on account of the fold and sets aside and
stores seed for the time of sowing; & besides this he ploughs half an
acre in Lent; and he pays pannage [right of pasturing especially pigs];
and he gives 2 hens at Christmas, and 1 penny or 1 wagon-load of wood and
20 eggs at Easter.
1. Burton Register, fol. xvi.
a. b.
The Two Surveys
There is a subtle difference in emphasis between the two surveys which
may reflect changes between the dates of the two documents and/or the
attitude of those compiling them. The
first one stresses the type
of tenancy: ad opus [for customary
service] and ad
malam [for rent] and names only those who paid rent.
This in itself is an improvement in detail on the Domesday survey,
which does not name anyone. The second survey identifies the type of tenancy by detailing
the rank
of the occupants; these
were the rent
payers [censarii] and the serfs
who did customary service: villeins
[villani], lesser serfs [coscets,
corseti, probable equivalent of
the Domesday bordar] and oxmen
[or ploughmen, bovarii]; and
names them all except the oxmen. The
surveys would have been carried out by monks or priests from the Abbey and
the inclusion of a greater number of names shows an increased personal
knowledge of the workforce.
Customary Service
All villeins and lesser serfs were bound to perform work and other
services for the lord of the manor. This
was known as customary service, and was
determined by local custom as the name implies and regulated by the manor
court. The second survey says that the customary services performed by the
Appleby villeins are modelled on those in operation at the manor at the
neighbouring village of Austrey. This
manor was also held by Burton Abbey from the time of the Domesday survey
and Nichols gives us the details in the footnote
15 (given at the end of the surveys, above).
Land Occupation
The land occupied by the tenants and serfs was measured in virgates. Both surveys state that the 24 virgates of the demesne land
is sufficient for three ploughlands.
The ploughland is another word for carucate, 120 acres (see above),
so here at Appleby a virgate was 15 acres.
In the first survey, 25
virgates of land were cultivated by the workforce, 12 in return for
customary service and 13 for rent. We
can see that the serfs doing customary service have generally 15 acres
each (1 virgate) whereas the average holding of a rent-payer is about
30 acres (2 virgates) although one, Richard, has 60 acres (4
virgates). The rent-payers
are relatively ‘free’ men - ie free of obligation to the lord.
The reference to the total land area as ‘40 and 9 virgates’ (XL
& IX) may indicate two physically separate blocks of land.
The second survey shows
that there were 26 virgates cultivated by the men, although they were
assessed for tax as 20 virgates. There
were 11 virgates of land cultivated by the villeins for customary service
alone (although one of them was shared), 6 for a mix of service and rental
(Godwinus and Algarus), and nine virgates were just rented. The
Abbey, like any other landlord, had to provide men for military service
and the three rent-paying sons of Aluricus were detailed for this.
There is clearly a time gap
between the two surveys, perhaps no more than one generation, as the are
only two names which can be identified with any certainty as being in both
lists. These were Algar(us)
and Godwin(us), the only two villeins holding land for customary service
as well as renting other land. Although
their total land holdings have increased in the second survey, each
continued to pay the same rent as before.
By the date of the second survey Godwin has become a priest,
replacing Roger the priest of the first survey (see below).
Value of the Estate
At the time of the Domesday
survey, the value of the estate at the time of King Edward (ie before
1066) was put at 20 shillings whereas in 1086 it was put at 80
shillings. The meaning of the
term ‘value’ is open to debate, but a reasonable hypothesis would be
the rental which the holding could command.
Thirty or so years later,
in the first survey, the area of land worked and the magnitude of the
workforce had expanded. The
Abbey now had just over six carucates although it was assessed for four
for taxation (perhaps
indicating poor quality of land newly won from the waste).
The total rent due from the
13 virgates of rented land in the first survey was 23 shillings although
the rental per virgate was surprisingly variable from plot to plot.
Scaled up to 49 virgates, this gives a valuation for the estate of
about 87 shillings. By the time of the second survey, slightly more land was
cultivated (50 virgates). The
rental again varied considerably between tenants but taking an average
value, the estate was probably valued at about 91 shillings.
A Debtor
In the second survey, the difficulty one tenant, Ranulfus, had in paying his rent is
graphically described. He had
resorted to paying in small amounts with petty cash, or in kind with food
grown by himself or by the Abbey, to which he also owed land and interest.
He was also required to do extra menial tasks: ‘He owes just so
much rent and is obliged to do just so much’.
The problems faced by Ranulfus may also have been experienced by
others who had struggled and failed to make an adequate living in the
fluctuating economic conditions of the time.
The listing of livestock (bullocks, mares and foals and sheep) on
the demesne land in the second survey possibly indicates a change towards
pastoral farming and away from arable as the Abbey adapted to changes in
the rural economy. The
struggling rent-payers may have not been able to adapt so easily.
The Lesser Serfs
The lowly coscets had only an acre each in the first survey, although this had
increased to three acres in the second.
Their land was not included in the land assessed for tax and may
have been marginal land recently won from the waste. The increase in their holdings between the two surveys may
show this process continuing. The
oxmen, or ploughmen, although not named individually were clearly key
workmen, looking after the plough-teams and carrying out the ploughing.
They had five acres of land each (second survey).
The Priests
In each of the two Burton surveys, a
priest is listed working land along with the other tenants.
These are exactly the worker-priests as described by David Parsons
for the time of Domesday (see
In Focus 6).
It could be that these two priests, Roger
in the first survey, and Godwin(us)
in the second, were the Abbey’s bailiffs on the Appleby estate.
Godwin seems to have been a local man who was priested between the
two surveys. He in particular
would have known the other men well and been able to list their names.
During the 12th century the
establishment of local churches supported by tithes was under development
and at this date the rectory with its patronage system may not have been
set up. Being priests, Roger
and Godwinus may therefore have exercised parochial duties at the parish
church. The developing parish system gradually replaced one in which minster churches with
itinerant priests served a larger area, perhaps the Saxon ‘multiple
estate’ (see In Focus 3).
