PRACTICAL GUIDES TO MEDI/ET - AL

HTJSB.A_NDRY.*

THE four treatises which have been brought together in this little volume are of great value, as, taken together, they pre- sent a clear and actual view of the method of working a manorial estate and of keeping manorial accounts in the thirteenth century. From a literary standpoint they are interesting, being written in an Anglicised Norman-French dialect rarely to be found beyond the limits of the Statute- Book, and the peculiarities of which may engage the attention of students of Early French. The full text is given on one page, and on the opposite page is the translator's admirable rendering. But their chief interest lies in the subject-matter. "They represent," as Dr. Cunningham remarks in his valuable introduction, "a fresh and genuine literary effort of certain Englishmen who wrote about agriculture in a thoroughly English spirit." Eminently practical themselves, the writers strive to help others in managing their estates and affairs by

* Walter of Henley's Husbandry, together with an Anonymous Husbandry, Seneschaueie, and Robert Grosseteste's Rules. The Transcripts, Translations and Glossary by Elizabeth Lamond, F.R.Hist.S., with an Introduction by W. Cunningham, D.D., F.R.Hist.S. London : Longmans, Green, and Co.

useful and practical hints ; and it is most interesting to be thus brought face to face with the recorded knowledge of the time, and with contemporary working rules for the conduct of manorial property. Hitherto, these treatises have been accessible only in great libraries ; now and henceforth they may be in the hands of every student of mediEevaI economy. In the thirteenth century, the object of farming was self-sufficiency rather than profit. The lord culti- vated his domain-land, or home-farm, with the aid of his villans, who worked for him, as a rule, three days a week, with extra days at certain times, and in return they had their own holdings of about thirty acres each, which, at the outset of the tenancy, were stocked by the lord. In order, therefore, to work land to advantage, a supply of labour was an absolute necessity, and an estate well stocked with men and oxen yielded a fair income,—without the labour-supply, land was worthless. Hence, to retain the villans and their

progeny on the land was the chief aim of rural management, and many were the restrictive enactments having the object of binding the villan to his proper manor, and of preventing Shim from straying away from his lord's domain. The villans were

made responsible as a body ; one or more failing, the rest had to make up their quota of work. Clearly this system of com- munal responsibility might be worked very oppressively, with the view of exacting more than was due from the tenants, and "it offers," says Dr. Cunningham, "an interesting subject for investigation, as it would be curious to know how far it was successfully insisted upon, and whether this claim formed an element in fomenting the discontent which followed the Black Death." This system demanded many officials. The provost and the hayward (messor) were like working foremen ; the former was the official and responsible representative of the villans, and was elected by them ; whilst "the latter had to supply their contributions of seed, and to be present to superintend their work." Over them was the bailiff, who was appointed by the lord to look after the whole estate in detail. He had charge of all the stock, live and dead, had to see that the labourers did not evade their services, conducted the sale of the surplus farm-produce, and had regularly to render an account for everything under his charge, whilst he was also responsible for the general well- being of the whole estate. If a lord or an abbey had several estates, a seneschal or steward would also be needed, "who should represent the lord personally, and hold the manorial courts on his behalf." Such, in briefest outline, were the conditions of agriculture on domain-land early in the thirteenth century, the time when Sir Walter of Henley wrote the cele- brated treatise which stands first in order, as it does in. im- portance, in this volume. Many manuscript editions of his work are extant, and it maintained its position of deserved popularity until Fitzherbert's famous book appeared in 1523.

An English translation, the complete text of which is also given here, is attributed to Robert Grosseteste, the great Bishop of Lincoln, the first scholar in Oxford, and a warm friend to the Franciscan friars on their arrival in England. Other writers on agriculture made free use of this treatise, without scruple and without respect, and with no acknowledgment. Nothing is known of Walter of Henley beyond his fame as an author, save that he held knightly rank, and was once, as he incidentally informs us, himself a bailiff, and that later on he became a Dominican friar. It has been suggested, and is at least con- ceivable, that he was bailiff to some of the Berkshire manors belonging to the great Abbey at Canterbury. He writes as a father advising his son, and commences as follows :—

"The father having fallen into old age said to his son:—' Dear son, live prudently towards God and the world. With regard to God, think often of the passion and death that Jesus Christ suf- fered for us, and love Him above all things and fear Him, and lay hold of and keep His commandments ; with regard to the world, think of the wheel of fortune, how man mounts up little by little to wealth, and when he is at the top of the wheel, then by mishap he falls little by little into poverty, and then into wretchedness. Wherefore, I pray you, order your life according as your lands are valued yearly by the extent, and nothing beyond that. If you can approve your lands by tillage, or cattle, or other means, beyond the extent, put the surplus in reserve, for if corn fail, or cattle die, or fire befall you, or other mishap, then what you have saved will help you. If you spend in a year the value of your lands and the profit, and one of these chances befall you, you have no recovery except by borrowing; and he who borrows from another robs himself; or by making bargains, as some who make themselves merchants, buying at twenty shillings and selling at ten. It is said in the proverb, "Who provides for the future, enjoys himself in the present." You see some who have lands

and tenements and know not how to live. Why ? I will tell you. Because they live without rule and forethought, and spend and waste more than their lands are worth yearly, and when they have wasted their goods can only live from hand to mouth and are in want, and can make no bargain that shall be for their good. The English proverb says, "He that stretches further than his whittle will reach, in the straw his feet he must stretch." Dear son, be prudent in your doings and be on your guard against the world, which is so wicked and deceitful

The wealth that God lends you keep and spend prudently In outlay's and expenses you must know four things. The one is, when you ought to give, how, to whom, and how much. The first is, that you give before you are obliged to, for how much more shall two shillings be worth beforehand than ten when one is forced to give ? The second is, if you must give or spend, do it with good-will, and it shall be reckoned double to you, and if you give grudgingly you shall lose as much as you put out. The third is, give to him who can help and hurt you. The fourth is, how much you ought to give, neither more nor less than according to the person, and according as the business is small or great that you have to do with him. Have regard to the poor, not to have praise of the world, but to have praise of God, who finds you all."

After this delightful introduction, not unworthy of Lord Chesterfield himself, follow directions as to the yearly extent

or survey of the estate, which is to be made by true and sworn men, with advice as to selecting servants. The important questions of ploughing, what constitutes a day's work for a plough-team, and the choice and maintenance of beasts for the plough, next claim attention. Oxen are preferable to horses ; they cost less, and although slower, will do as much work, as "the malice of ploughmen" restrains horses to the pace of an ox-team, and, "further, in very hard ground, where the plough of horses will stop, the plough of oxen will pass,"—remarks that may be heard to-day in the few districts in England where the picturesque ox-team is still in use. He urges the importance of a yearly change of seed, and discusses at length, and with great shrewdness, the ques- tion of the making and preparation of manure, showing full appreciation of the antiseptic qualities of earth. Passing to the management of live-stock and the dairy, many valuable hints are given. "It is well," he says, "to know how we ought to keep cattle, to teach your people, for when they see you understand it, they will take the more pains to do it well."

This corresponds with the modern saying : "There's a hundred a year between Go, lad !' and Come, lad !' " Of swine, the chief supply of flesh in the Middle Ages, but little is said.

Their management was simple. On those manors which had large wastes and marshes, they roamed under swineherds ; in winter, when a little corn from the grange was needful during hard frosts, large styes were made in the forest, in which they were kept night and day. We learn from the Seneschaucie, that unless wood and waste abounded, no swine should be kept after harvest, when they should be sold fat. Sheep were a source of great wealth, and sound advice is given on their manage- ment, which is amplified in Grosseteste's translation. The shepherd was not to be hasty. " Loke that your shepherd be not irons with your sheep, for that is a evill vice," says the good Bishop. Sheep not only yielded milk and cheese, but were also the chief source of manure, and careful directions are given as to the marling and strewing of the nightly fold, or sheep-house. When a sheep dies, or has to be killed "to save its life," as the modern saying goes, some men salt and dry the carcass, and give it to the servants and labourers in the household ; but it is pleasing to find Sir Walter add : "I do not wish you to do this." In a supplement to one manuscript of his treatise, and in the anonymous Husbandry, reference is made to the danger to sheep that arises from eating the little white snails that are found on some pastures in early morning. Very recent investigation has shown that one or more generations of the Fasciola hepatica, or liver-fluke, whose life-history is a romance, actually employ as "intermediate host" the body of a minute water-snail, Linnzus truncatulus, whence escaping into the wet grass, these pests pass into the stomach of the sheep along with its food. It is very curious that for hundreds of years some connection should have been suspected between the presence of snails and the ravages of liver-rot, a disease which is a terror to the farmer of to-day, and carries off a million of sheep annually in the United Kingdom. After a few minor directions and advice as to selling and keeping accounts, the treatise ends with counsel on the behaviour of servants and provosts, who are enjoined :—

"To love their lord and respect him, and as to making profit,

they ought to look on the business as their own, and as to outlays, they ought to think that the business is another's ; but there are few servants and provosts who keep these four things altogether, as I think, but there are many who have omitted the three and kept the fourth, and have interpreted that contrary to the right way, knowing well that the business is another's, and not theirs, and take right and left where they judge best that their disloyalty will not be perceived. Look into your affairs often, and cause them to be reviewed, for those who serve you will thereby avoid the more to do wrong, and will take pains to do better."

So much for good Sir Walter, who clearly had a touch of Diogenes about him. The unknown author of Husbandry is less concerned with the actual working of the estate than he is with the keeping and passing of the estate accounts, and gives rough estimates for the use of the lord in checking the bailiff's accounts. It is exceedingly interesting and instruc- tive, as showing more fully than Sir Walter's treatise, which it somewhat overlaps, the return to be expected from the live- stock and cultivation of the farm. Wheat and oats were to yield five-fold, as against fourteen-fold in the present day.

This shows the poverty of media3val farming ; land was, no doubt, very foul, and seed very inferior, whilst manure was scarce. The Seneschaucie deals with the duties of the steward, bailiff, provost, and other functionaries in details and "reveals a curious division of the labour of superin- tendence." Grosseteste's Rules were written for the widow of the Earl of Lincoln, and contain directions not only for production but consumption, and give many, some very quaint, maxims for household management. It appears to have had but a small circulation.

In conclusion, it may be remarked, without originality, that Nature, and this includes human nature, is very conservative. Hence these treatises, touching on matters of every-day ex- perience and on the ways and wiles of ordinary men, and simply recording the unwritten wisdom of the age, contain, as far as they go, hardly a sentence which a modern landowner or practical farmer could reject. They are fall from begin- ning to end of keen and, on the whole, kindly wisdom of the world, which gives a great charm to these mediesval guides to the management of landed estates.