Book contents
- Frontmatter
- GENERAL PREFACE
- AUTHOR'S PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- ABBREVIATIONS AND AUTHORITIES
- CHAPTER I THE OPEN ROAD
- CHAPTER II VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT
- CHAPTER III A FEW CROSS-LIGHTS
- CHAPTER IV A GLASTONBURY MANOR
- CHAPTER V THE SPORTING CHANCE
- CHAPTER VI BANS AND MONOPOLIES
- CHAPTER VII THE MANOR COURT
- CHAPTER VIII LIFE ON A MONASTIC MANOR
- CHAPTER IX FATHERLY GOVERNMENT
- CHAPTER X THE LORD'S POWER
- CHAPTER XI EARLIER REVOLTS
- CHAPTER XII MONKS AND SERFS
- CHAPTER XIII THE CHANCES OF LIBERATION
- CHAPTER XIV LEGAL BARRIERS TO ENFRANCHISEMENT
- CHAPTER XV KINDLY CONCESSIONS
- CHAPTER XVI JUSTICE
- CHAPTER XVII CLEARINGS AND ENCLOSURES
- CHAPTER XVIII CHURCH ESTIMATES OF THE PEASANT
- CHAPTER XIX RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
- CHAPTER XX TITHES AND FRICTION
- CHAPTER XXI TITHES AND FRICTION (CONTINUED)
- CHAPTER XXII POVERTY UNADORNED
- CHAPTER XXIII LABOUR AND CONSIDERATION
- CHAPTER XXIV THE REBELLION OF THE POOR
- CHAPTER XXV THE REBELLION OF THE POOR (CONTINUED)
- CHAPTER XXVI THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES
- CHAPTER XXVII CONCLUSION
- APPENDIXES
- POSTSCRIPTS
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER XXIII - LABOUR AND CONSIDERATION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 December 2010
- Frontmatter
- GENERAL PREFACE
- AUTHOR'S PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- ABBREVIATIONS AND AUTHORITIES
- CHAPTER I THE OPEN ROAD
- CHAPTER II VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT
- CHAPTER III A FEW CROSS-LIGHTS
- CHAPTER IV A GLASTONBURY MANOR
- CHAPTER V THE SPORTING CHANCE
- CHAPTER VI BANS AND MONOPOLIES
- CHAPTER VII THE MANOR COURT
- CHAPTER VIII LIFE ON A MONASTIC MANOR
- CHAPTER IX FATHERLY GOVERNMENT
- CHAPTER X THE LORD'S POWER
- CHAPTER XI EARLIER REVOLTS
- CHAPTER XII MONKS AND SERFS
- CHAPTER XIII THE CHANCES OF LIBERATION
- CHAPTER XIV LEGAL BARRIERS TO ENFRANCHISEMENT
- CHAPTER XV KINDLY CONCESSIONS
- CHAPTER XVI JUSTICE
- CHAPTER XVII CLEARINGS AND ENCLOSURES
- CHAPTER XVIII CHURCH ESTIMATES OF THE PEASANT
- CHAPTER XIX RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
- CHAPTER XX TITHES AND FRICTION
- CHAPTER XXI TITHES AND FRICTION (CONTINUED)
- CHAPTER XXII POVERTY UNADORNED
- CHAPTER XXIII LABOUR AND CONSIDERATION
- CHAPTER XXIV THE REBELLION OF THE POOR
- CHAPTER XXV THE REBELLION OF THE POOR (CONTINUED)
- CHAPTER XXVI THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES
- CHAPTER XXVII CONCLUSION
- APPENDIXES
- POSTSCRIPTS
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
Under these conditions the peasant laboured ordinarily from dawn to dark, from Morrowmass to Evensong, with a short interval for the midday meal. So, at least, he must needs work in early days for his lord, and so to the end he worked for himself or for the employer who hired him. In the later Middle Ages, a full day's work at hedging or ditching or ploughing counted as two “day-works” in England; but this modification grew up slowly, and was evidently resisted by conservative landlords. “Let him work with his hands from dawn to vespers”; so runs a capitulary of 800 a.d. On two Ramsey manors the monks were making similar demands even at the end of the twelfth century: “Whatsoever kind of work he have to do, except in the wood, he shall work the whole year through from sunrise unto sunset”: “He shall hoe from dawn to evensong, with a brief eating-space between”—parvo spatio comestionis mediante. Nearly two centuries later, under the monks of Münster in Georgenthal, “the serfs shall be at work by Morrowmass-time, and shall quit their labours when men ring for Evensong”. So, again, the statute of Henry VII in 1495 (ch. 22).
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- The Medieval Village , pp. 321 - 344Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1925