English Economic History by Bland Brown and Tawney

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Title: English Economic History
Select Documents

Editor: A. E. Bland

Compiler: P. A. Brown

Compiler: R. H. Tawney

Release Date: July 13, 2013 [EBook #43211]

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ENGLISH

ECONOMIC HISTORY

SELECT DOCUMENTS

COMPILED AND EDITED BY

A.E. BLAND, B.A., P.A. BROWN, M.A.,

AND R.H. TAWNEY, D.Litt.

LONDON

G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.

YORK HOUSE, PORTUGAL STREET, W.C. 2

Seventeenth Impression

First published October, 1914

Printed in Great Britain by Jarrold & Sons, Limited, Norwich

INTRODUCTION

The object of this book is to supply teachers and students of English Economic History with a selection of documents
which may serve as illustrations of their subject. It should be read in conjunction with some work containing a broad
survey of English economic development, such as, to mention the latest and best example, Professor W.J. Ashley's "The
Economic Organization of England."[1] The number of historical "source books" has been multiplied so rapidly in recent
years that we ought, perhaps, to apologise for adding one to their number. We ventured to do so because in the course
of our work as teachers of Economic History in the University Tutorial Classes organised by the Workers' Educational
Association, we found it difficult to refer our students to any single book containing the principal documents with which
they ought to be acquainted. That Economic History cannot be studied apart from Constitutional and Political History is
a commonplace to which we subscribe; and we are not so incautious as to be tempted into a discussion of what exactly
Economic History means. It is sufficient for our purpose that a subject which is called by that name is being increasingly
studied by University students, and that while the principal documents of English Constitutional History are available in
the works of Stubbs, Prothero, Gardiner and Grant Robertson, there is no book, as far as we know—except Professor
Pollard's "The Reign of Henry VII. from Contemporary Sources"—which illustrates English economic development in a
similar way. We are far from comparing our own minnow with these Tritons. But it may perhaps do some service till
more competent authors take the field. It is hardly necessary for us to apologise for translating our documents into
English, and for modernizing the spelling throughout. We are likely not to be alone in thinking that it would be a pity if a
passing acquaintance with the materials of mediæval economic history were confined to those who can read Latin and
Norman-French.

A word of explanation as to the selection and arrangement of our extracts may perhaps be excused. Our object was
not to produce a work of original research, but to help students of economic history to see it more intelligently by seeing
it through the eyes of contemporaries. Hence, though a considerable number of our documents are published here for
the first time, we have not consciously followed the lure of the unprinted, and have chosen our extracts not because they
were new, but because they seemed to illustrate some important aspect of our subject. For the same reason we have
not confined ourselves entirely to "documents" in the strict acceptation of that term, but have included selections from
such works as Roger of Hoveden, The Libel of English Policy, The Commonweal of this Realm of England, Hakluyt's
Voyages, and the Tours of Defoe and Arthur Young, when they seemed to throw light upon points which could not
easily be illustrated otherwise. The arrangement of our selections caused us some trouble. It is, perhaps, hardly
necessary to urge that a document must be studied with reference to its chronological setting; and the simplest plan, no
doubt, would have been to print them in strict chronological order. We felt, however, that the work of all but the more
expert readers would be lightened if we grouped them under definite, even if somewhat arbitrary, headings of period
and subject, and added short bibliographies of the principal authorities. This seemed to involve the writing of short
introductory notes to explain the contents of each section, which we have accordingly done. But no one need read
them. No one but students beginning the subject will. If an excuse is needed for stopping with the year 1846, we must
plead that to end earlier would have been to omit documents of the first importance for the study of modern economic
history, and that to continue further would have caused our book to be even more overburdened than it is at present.

That the attempt to produce in one volume a satisfactory selection of documents to illustrate English Economic History
from the Norman Conquest to the Repeal of the Corn Laws can hardly be successful, that we have neglected some
subjects—taxation, colonization, and foreign trade—and paid excessive attention to others—social conditions,
economic policy, and administration—that every reader will look for a particular document and fail to find it, of all this
we are sadly conscious. We are conscious also of a more serious, because less obvious, defect. Partly through a
pardonable reaction against the influence of economic theorists, partly because of the very nature of the agencies by
which historical documents are compiled and preserved, the natural bias of economic historians is to lay a perhaps
excessive stress on those aspects of economic development which come under the eyes of the State and are involved in
its activity, and to neglect the humbler but often more significant movements which spring from below, to over-
emphasize organisation and to under-estimate the initiative of individuals. If a reader of these selections exclaims on
putting them down, "How much that is important is omitted!" we can only confess ourselves in mercy and express the
hope that they may soon be superseded.

It remains for us to thank those who have helped us with suggestions and criticisms, or by permitting us to reprint
extracts from documents already published. We have to acknowledge the kind permission to reprint documents given to
us by the Clarendon Press, the Cambridge University Press, the London School of Economics, the Department of
Economics of Harvard University, The Royal Historical Society, The Early English Text Society, the Co-operative
Union, Ltd., the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office, the Corporation of Norwich, the Corporation of Nottingham,
Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench and Trübner, Messrs. Duncker & Humblot, Dr. G. von Schanz, Professor G. Unwin,
Professor F.J.C. Hearnshaw, The Rev. Canon Morris, Miss M.D. Harris, Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Hammond and Mr. F.W.

[Pg v]

[Pg vi]

[Pg vii]

Galton. Among those who have assisted us with suggestions or in other ways we must mention Mr. Hubert Hall, Mr.
M.S. Giuseppi, Mr. S.C. Ratcliff, all of the Public Record Office, The Ven. Archdeacon Cunningham, Mr. W.H.
Stevenson, of St. John's College, Oxford, Mr. A. Ballard, Miss Putnam, Mr. R.V. Lennard, of Wadham College,
Oxford, Mr. K. Bell, of All Souls' College, Oxford, Mr. H. Clay, Mr. F.W. Kolthammer, Miss O.J. Dunlop, Miss
H.M. Stocks, and Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Hammond. For reading our proofs, or part of them, we are indebted to Mr. E.
Barker, of New College, Oxford, Mr. C.G. Crump and Mr. C.H. Jenkinson, of the Public Record Office, Dr.
Knowles, of the London School of Economics, and Professor G. Unwin, of the University of Manchester.

We desire especially to express our gratitude to Mr. A.L. Smith, of Balliol College, Oxford, to whose encouragement it
was largely due that this book was undertaken, and to Professor Unwin, who has not only read through the whole of it
in proof, but by his advice and inspiration has laid us under an obligation that we cannot easily acknowledge.

Messrs. Longman Green & Co.

A.E.B.
P.A.B.
R.H.T.

CONTENTS

PART I: 1000-1485

SECTION I

THE EARLY ENGLISH MANOR AND BOROUGH

1. Rights and Duties of All Persons (Rectitudines singularum personarum), c. 1000
5

2. The form of the Domesday Inquest, 1086
9

3. The borough of Dover, 1086
10

4. The borough of Norwich, 1086
11

5. The borough of Wallingford, 1086
13

6. The customs of Berkshire, 1086
15

7. Land of the Church of Worcester, 1086
15

8. The manor of Rockland, 1086
16

9. The manor of Halesowen, 1086
16

10. The manor of Havering, 1086
17

SECTION II

THE FEUDAL STRUCTURE

1. Frankalmoin, temp. Henry II
22

2. Knight Service, 1308
23

3. Grand Serjeanty, 1319
24

4. Petty Serjeanty, 1329
25

5. An action on the feudal incidents due from lands held by petty serjeanty, 1239-40
25

6. Free socage, 1342
26

7. Commutation of a serjeanty for knight service, 1254
27

8. Commutation of service for rent, 1269
27

9. Subinfeudation, 1278
28

10. Licence for the widow of a tenant in chief to marry, 1316
29

11. Marriage of a widow without licence, 1338
30

12. Alienation of land by a tenant in chief without licence, 1273
30

[Pg viii]

[1]

[Pg ix]

13. Wardship and marriage, 1179-80
30

14. Grant of an heir's marriage, 1320
31

15. Wardship, 1337
31

16. Collection of a carucage, 1198
32

17. An acquittance of the collectors of scutage of a sum of £10 levied by them and repaid, 1319
33

18. Payment of fines in lieu of knight service, 1303
34

19. The assessment of a tallage, 1314
35

20. A writ Precipe, c. 1200
36

21. Articles of enquiry touching rights and liberties and the state of the realm, 1274
36

22. Wreck of sea, 1337
40

SECTION III

THE JEWS

1. Charter of liberties to the Jews, 1201
44

2. Ordinances of 1253
45

3. Expulsion of a Jew, 1253
46

4. Punishment for non-residence in a Jewry, 1270
47

5. Grant of a Jew, 1271
47

6. Ordinances of 1271
48

7. Removal of Jewish communities from certain towns to others, 1275
50

8. Disposition of debts due to Jews after their expulsion, 1290
50

SECTION IV

THE MANOR

1. Extent of the manor of Havering, 1306-7
56

2. Extracts from the Court Rolls of the manor of Bradford,1349-58
65

3. Deed illustrating the distribution of strips, 1397
76

4. Regulation of the common fields of Wimeswould, c. 1425
76

5. Lease of a manor to the tenants, 1279
79

6. Grant of a manor to the customary tenants at fee farm, ante 1272
81

7. Lease of manorial holdings, 1332
82

8. An agreement between lord and tenants, 1386
84

9. Complaints against a reeve, 1278
84

10. An eviction from copyhold land, temp. Henry IV.-Henry VI
85

11. Statute of Merton, 1235-6
87

12. An enclosure allowed, 1236-7
88

13. An enclosure disallowed, 1236-7
89

14. A villein on ancient demesne dismissed to his lord's court, 1224
89

15. Claim to be on ancient demesne defeated, 1237-8
90

16. The little writ of right, 1390
91

17. Villeinage established, 1225
92

18. Freedom and freehold established, 1236-7
93

19. A villein pleads villeinage on one occasion and denies it on another, 1220
93

[Pg x]

[Pg xi]

20. An assize allowed to a villein, 1225
95

21. A freeman holding in villeinage, 1228
96

22. Land held by charter recovered from the lord, 1227
97

23. The manumission of a villein, 1334
97

24. Grant of a bondman, 1358
98

25. Imprisonment of a gentleman claimed as a bondman, 1447
98

26. Claim to a villein, temp. Henry IV-Henry VI
100

27. The effect of the Black Death, 1350
102

28. Accounts of the Iron Works of South Frith before and after the Black Death, 1345-50
103

29. The Peasants' Revolt, 1381
105

SECTION V

TOWNS AND GILDS

1. Payments made to the Crown by gilds in the twelfth century, 1179-80
114

2. Charter of liberties to the borough of Tewkesbury, 1314
116

3. Charter of liberties to the borough of Gloucester, 1227
119

4. Dispute between towns touching the payment of toll, 1222
121

5. Dispute with a lord touching a gild merchant, 1223-4
123

6. The affiliation of boroughs, 1227
124

7. Bondman received in a borough, 1237-8
125

8. An inter-municipal agreement in respect of toll, 1239
126

9. Enforcement of charter granting freedom from toll, 1416
126

10. Licence for an alien to be of the Gild Merchant of London,1252
127

11. Dispute between a gild merchant and an abbot, 1304
128

12. Complaints of the men of Leicester against the lord, 1322
131

13. Grant of pavage to the lord of a town, 1328
133

14. Misappropriation of the tolls levied for pavage, 1336
135

15. Ordinances of the White Tawyers of London, 1346
136

16. Dispute between Masters and Journeymen, 1396
138

17. Ordinances of the Dyers of Bristol, 1407
141

18. Incorporation of the Haberdashers of London, 1448
144

19. Indenture of Apprenticeship, 1459
147

20. A runaway apprentice, c. 1425
148

21. Incorporation of a gild for religious and charitable uses, 1447
148

SECTION VI

THE REGULATION OF TRADE, INDUSTRY, AND COMMERCE

1. Assize of Measures, 1197
154

2. Grant to the lord of a manor of the assize of bread and ale and other liberties, 1307
155

3. An offence against the assize of bread, 1316
156

4. Inquisition touching a proposed market and fair, 1252
157

5. Grant of a fair at St. Ives to the abbot of Ramsey, 1202
158

6. Grant of a market at St. Ives to the abbot of Ramsey, 1293
158

[Pg xii]

7. Proceedings in the court at the fair of St. Ives, 1288
159

8. The Statute of Winchester, 1285
160

9. The recovery of debt on a recognisance, 1293
161

10. Procedure at a fair pursuant to the Statute for Merchants, 1287
162

11. The aulnage of cloth, 1291
163

12. The Ordinance of Labourers, 1349
164

13. Presentments made before the Justices of Labourers, 1351
167

14. Excessive prices charged by craftsmen, 1354
169

15. Fines levied for excessive wages, 1351
169

16. Writ to enforce payment of excess of wages to the collectors of a subsidy, 1350
170

17. Application of fines for excessive wages to a subsidy, 1351-2
171

18. Labour Legislation: the Statute of 12 Richard II, 1388
171

19. Labour Legislation: a Bill in Parliament, 23 Henry VI, 1444-5
176

20. Organisation of the Staple, 1313
178

21. Arguments for the establishment of home staple towns, 1319
180

22. Ordinances of the Staple, 1326
181

23. The election of the mayor and constables of a Staple town, 1358
184

24. Royal letters patent over-ruled by the custom of the Staple, c. 1436
185

25. Prohibition of export of materials for making cloth, 1326
186

26. Commercial policy, temp. Edward IV
187

27. The perils of foreign travel, 1315
188

28. Grant of letters of marque and reprisals, 1447
190

29. Grant of liberties to the merchants of Douai, 1260
192

30. Aliens at a fair, 1270
193

31. Confirmation of liberties to the merchants of Almain, 1280
194

32. Alien weavers in London, 1362
195

33. The hosting of aliens, 1442
197

34. An offence against Stat. 18 Henry VI for the hosting of aliens, 1440
198

35. Imprisonment of an alien craftsman, c. 1440
199

36. Petition against usury, 1376
200

37. Action upon usury, c. 1480
201

SECTION VII

TAXATION, CUSTOMS AND CURRENCY

1. Form of the taxation of a fifteenth and tenth, 1336
204

2. Disposition of a subsidy of tonnage and poundage, 1382
206

3. The king's prise of wines, 1320
206

4. The custom on wool, 1275
207

5. The custom on wine, 1302
208

6. The custom on general imports, 1303
211

7. Administration of the search for money exported, 1303
216

8. Provisions for the currency, 1335
217

9. Opinions on the state of English money, 1381-2
220

[Pg xiii]

PART II: 1485-1660

SECTION I

RURAL CONDITIONS

1. Villeinage in the Reign of Elizabeth, 1561
231

2. Customs of the Manor of High Furness, 1576
232

3. Petition in Chancery for Restoration to a Copyhold, c.1550
234

4. Petition in Chancery for Protection against Breach of Manorial Customs, 1568
241

5. Lease of the manor of Ablode to a Farmer, 1516
245

6. Lease of the Manor of South Newton to a Farmer, 1568
246

7. The Agrarian Programme of the Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536
247

8. The Demands of the Rebels led by Ket, 1549
247

9. Petition to Court of Requests from Tenants Ruined by Transference of a Monastic Estate to lay hands, 1553
251

10. Petition to Court of Requests to stay Proceedings against Tenants Pending the Hearing of their Case by the

Council of the North, 1576
254

11. Petition from Freeholders of Wootton Bassett for Restoration of Rights of Common, temp. Charles I
255

12. Petition to Crown of Copyholders of North Wheatley, 1629
258

13. An Act Avoiding Pulling Down of Towns, 1515
260

14. The Commission of Enquiry Touching Enclosures, 1517
262

15. An Act Concerning Farms and Sheep, 1533
264

16. Intervention of Privy Council under Somerset to Protect Tenants, 1549
266

17. An Act for the Maintenance of Husbandry and Tillage, 1597
268

18. Speech in House of Commons on Enclosures, 1597
270

19. Speeches in House of Commons on Enclosures, 1601
274

20. Return to Privy Council of Enclosers furnished by Justices of Lincolnshire, 1637
275

21. Complaint of Laud's Action on the Commission for Depopulation, 1641
276

SECTION II

TOWNS AND GILDS

1. A Protest at Coventry against a Gild's Exclusiveness, 1495
282

2. A Complaint from Coventry as to Inter-Municipal Tariffs, 1498
282

3. The Municipal Regulation of Wages at Norwich, 1518
282

4. The Municipal Regulation of Markets at Coventry, 1520
283

5. The Municipal Regulation of Wages at Coventry, 1524
284

6. An Act for Avoiding of Exactions taken upon Apprentices in Cities, Boroughs, and Towns Corporate, 1536
284

7. An Act whereby certain Chantries, Colleges, Free Chapels and the Possessions of the same be given to the

King's Majesty, 1547
286

8. Regrant to Coventry and Lynn of Gild Lands Confiscated under 1 Edward VI, c. xiv (the preceding Act), 1548
291

9. A Petition of the Bakers of Rye to the Mayor, Jurats, and Council to prevent the Brewers taking their trade,

1575
294

10. Letter to Lord Cobham from the Mayor and Jurats of Rye concerning the Preceding Petition, 1575
295

11. The Municipal Regulation of the Entry into Trade at Nottingham, 1578-9
295

12. The Municipal Regulation of Markets at Southampton, 1587
296

13. The Municipal Regulation of Wages at Chester, 1591
296

[Pg xiv]

14. The Company of Journeymen Weavers of Gloucester, 1602
297

15. Petition of Weavers who are not Burgesses, 1604-5
299

16. Extracts from the London Clothworkers' Court Book, 1537-1627
300

17. The Feltmakers Joint-Stock Project, 1611
302

18. The Case of the Tailors of Ipswich, 1615
305

19. The Grievances of the Journeymen Weavers of London, c. 1649
307

SECTION III

THE REGULATION OF INDUSTRY BY THE STATE

1. Proposals for the Regulation of the Cloth Manufacture (temp. Henry VIII)
317

2. Administrative Difficulties in the Regulation of the Manufacture of Cloth, 1537
319

3. An Act Touching Weavers, 1555
320

4. Enactment of Common Council of London as to Age of Ending Apprenticeship, 1556
323

5. William Cecil's Industrial Programme, 1559
323

6. The Statute of Artificers, 1563
325

7. Proposals for the Better Administration of the Statute of Artificers, 1572
333

8. Draft of a Bill Fixing Minimum Rates for Spinners and Weavers, 1593
336

9. Draft Piece-list Submitted for Ratification to the Wiltshire Justices by Clothiers and Weavers, 1602
341

10. An Act empowering Justices to fix Minimum Rates of Payment, 1603-04
342

11. Administration of Acts Regulating the Manufacture of Cloth, 1603
344

12. Assessment made by the Justices of Wiltshire, dealing mainly with other than Textile Workers, 1604
345

13. Assessment made by the Justices of Wiltshire, dealing mainly with Textile Workers, 1605
351

14. Administration of Wage Clauses of Statute of Artificers, 1605-08
352

15. Administration of Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1607-08
353

16. The Organisation of the Woollen Industry, 1615
354

17. Proceedings on the Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1615
356

18. A Petition to Fix Wages Addressed to the Justices by the Textile Workers of Wiltshire, 1623
356

19. Appointment by Privy Council of Commissioners to Investigate Grievances of Textile Workers in East Anglia,

1630
357

20. Report to Privy Council of Commissioners appointed above, 1630
358

21. High Wages in the New World, 1645
360

22. Young Men and Maids ordered to enter Service, 1655
360

23. Request to Justices of Grand Jury of Worcestershire to assess Wages, 1661
361

24. Proceedings on the Apprenticeship Clauses of the Statute of Artificers, 1669
361

SECTION IV

THE RELIEF OF THE POOR AND THE REGULATION OF PRICES

1. Regulations made at Chester as to Beggars, 1539
366

2. A Proclamation concerning Corn and Grain to be brought into open Markets to be sold, 1545
367

3. Administration of Poor Relief at Norwich, 1571
369

4. The first Act Directing the Levy of a Compulsory Poor Rate, 1572
372

5. The first Act requiring the Unemployed to be set to Work, 1575-6
373

6. Report of Justices to Council Concerning Scarcity in Norfolk, 1586
373

[Pg xv]

[Pg xvi]

7.

Orders devised by the Special Commandment of the Queen's Majesty for the Relief and Ease of the Present
Dearth of Grain within the Realm, 1586
374

8. The Poor Law Act, 1601
380

9. A note of the Grievances of the Parish of Eldersfield, 1618
381

10. Petition to Justices of Wiltshire for Permission to Settle in a Parish, 1618
382

11. Letter from Privy Council to Justices of Cloth-making Counties, 1621-2
382

12. Letter from Privy Council to the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace in the Counties of Suffolk and

Essex concerning the Employment of the Poor, 1629
383

13. The Licensing of Badgers in Somersetshire, 1630
385

14. Badgers Licensed at Somersetshire Quarter Sessions, 1630
385

15. The Supplying of Bristol with Grain, 1630-1
385

16. Proceedings against Engrossers and other Offenders, 1631
386

17. Order of Somersetshire Justices Granting a Settlement to a Labourer, 1630-1
386

18. Report of Derbyshire Justices on their Proceedings, 1631
387

19. Letter from Privy Council to Justices of Rutlandshire, 1631
390

20. Judgment in the Star Chamber against an Engrosser of Corn, 1631
391

SECTION V

THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

1. Letters Patent granted to the Cabots by Henry VII, 1496
400

2. The Merchant Adventurers' Case for Allowing the Export of Undressed Cloth, 1514-36
402

3. The Rise in Prices, the Encouragement of Corn growing, and the Protection of Manufactures, c. 1549
404

4. Sir Thomas Gresham on the Fall of the Exchanges, 1558
416

5. The reasons why Bullion is Exported (temp. Eliz.)
419

6. The Italian Merchants Explain the Foreign Exchanges, 1576
420

7. An Act Avoiding divers Foreign Wares made by Handicraftsmen Beyond the Seas, 1562
424

8. An Act Touching Cloth Workers and Cloth Ready Wrought to be Shipped over the Sea, 1566
426

9. Incorporation of a Joint Stock Mining Company, 1568
427

10. An Act for the Increase of Tillage, 1571
428

11. Instructions for an English Factor in Turkey, 1582
431

12. The Advantages of Colonies, 1583
434

13. Lord Burghley to Sir Christopher Hatton on the State of Trade, 1587
438

14. A List of Patents and Monopolies, 1603
440

15. Instructions Touching the Bill for Free Trade, 1604
443

16. The Establishment of a Company to export Dyed and Dressed Cloth in place of the Merchant Adventurers,

1616-17
454

17. Sir Julius Cæsar's proposals for Reviving the Trade in Cloths, 1616
460

18. The Grant of a Monopoly for the Manufacture of Soap, 1623
461

19. The Statute of Monopolies, 1623-4
465

20. An Act for the Free Trade of Welsh Cloths, 1623-4
468

21. The Economic Policy of Strafford in Ireland, 1636
470

22. Revocation of Commissions, Patents and Monopolies Granted by the Crown, 1639
472

23. Ordinance establishing an Excise, 1643
475

PART III: 1660-1846

[Pg xvii]

[Pg xviii]

SECTION I

INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

1. Defoe's account of the West Riding Cloth Industry, 1724
482

2. Defoe's account of the Woollen Trade (temp. George II)
483

3. Defoe's account of the Corn Trade (temp. George II)
487

4. Defoe's account of the Coal Trade (temp. George II)
491

5. A description of Middlemen in the Woollen Industry, 1739
492

6. Report on the Condition of Children in Lancashire Cotton Factories, 1796
495

7. Newcastle Coal Vend, 1771-1830
497

8. The Old Apprenticeship System in the Woollen Industry, 1806
499

9. A Petition of Cotton Weavers, 1807
500

10. Depression of Wages and its Causes in the Cotton Industry, 1812
501

11. Evidence of the Condition of Children in Factories, 1816
502

12. Change in the Cotton Industry and the Introduction of Power Loom Weaving, 1785-1807
505

13. Evidence by Factory Workers of the Condition of Children, 1832
510

14. Women's and Children's Labour in Mines, 1842
516

15. Description of the Condition of Manchester by John Robertson, Surgeon, 1840
519

SECTION II

AGRICULTURE AND ENCLOSURE

1. Enclosure Proceedings in the Court of Chancery, 1671
525

2. Advice to the Stewards of Estates, 1731
526

3. Procedure for Enclosure by Private Act, 1766
528

4. Farming in Norfolk, 1771
530

5. A Petition against Enclosure, 1797
531

6. Extracts on Enclosure from the Surveys of the Board of Agriculture, 1798-1809
532

7. Arthur Young's Criticism of Enclosure, 1801
536

8. Enclosure Consolidating Act, 1801
537

9. General Enclosure Act, 1845
541

SECTION III

GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF WAGES, CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT, AND PUBLIC HEALTH

1. An Act against Truck, 1701
545

2. A Wages Assessment at a Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, 1738
546

3. Spitalfields Weavers Act, 1773
547

4. A Middlesex Wages Assessment under the Spitalfields Act, 1773
551

5. Agricultural Labourers' Proposals for a Sliding Scale of Wages, 1795
552

6. Debates on Whitbread's Minimum Wage Bill, 1795-6
554

7. Arbitration Act for the Cotton Industry, 1800
568

8. Amendment of the Arbitration Act, 1804
570

9. The First Factory Act, 1802
571

9A. Minutes of Committee on Children in Factories
573

[Pg xix]

10. Calico Printers' Petition for Regulation, 1804
573

11. Report on Calico Printers' Petition, 1806
574

12. Cotton Weavers' Petition against the Repeal of 5 Elizabeth, c. 4, 1813
576

13. Debates on the Regulation of Apprentices, 1813-14
577

14. Resolutions of the Watchmakers on Apprenticeship, 1817
588

15. Report of the Committee on the Ribbon Weavers, 1818
590

16. The Cotton Factory Act of 1819
591

17. Oastler's First Letter on Yorkshire Slavery, 1830
592

18. Factory Act, 1833
594

19. Proposals for a Wages Board for Hand-Loom Weavers, 1834
596

20. Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1842
598

21. Debate on Factory Legislation, 1844
599

22. Factory Act, 1844
612

23. Recommendations of the Commission on the Health of Towns, 1845
614

SECTION IV

COMBINATIONS OF WORKMEN

1. A Strike of the Journeymen Feltmakers, 1696-99
619

2. A Petition of Master Tailors against Combination among the Journeymen, 1721
622

3. A Dispute in the Northumberland and Durham Coal Industry, 1765
625

4. Sickness and Unemployment Benefit Clubs among the Woolcombers, 1794
626

5. Combination Act, 1799
626

6. Combination Act, 1800
627

7. The Scottish Weavers' Strike, 1812
631

8. The Repeal of the Combination Acts, 1824
633

9. A Prosecution of Strikers under the Common Law of Conspiracy, 1810
635

10. An Act Revising the Law affecting Combinations, 1825
636

11. The Conviction of the Dorchester Labourers, 1834
638

12. An Address of the Working Men's Association to Queen Victoria, 1837
641

13. A Chartist Manifesto on the Sacred Month, 1839
642

14. The Rochdale Pioneers, 1844
643

SECTION V

THE RELIEF OF THE POOR

1. Settlement Law, 1662
647

2. Defoe's Pamphlet "Giving Alms no Charity", 1704
649

3. The Workhouse Test Act, 1722
650

4. Gilbert's Act, 1782
652

5. Speenhamland "Act of Parliament", 1795
655

6. The Workhouse System, 1797
657

7. Two Varieties of the Roundsman System of Relief, 1797
660

8. Another Example of the Roundsman System, 1808
660

9. A Report of the Poor Law Commission, 1834
661

[Pg xx]

10. The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834
663

11. Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order, 1844
664

SECTION VI

FINANCE AND FOREIGN TRADE

1. Act abolishing Tenure by Knight Service, etc., 1660
670

2. Navigation Act, 1660
670

3. Proposals for Free Exportation of Gold and Silver, 1660
671

4. An Attack on the Navigation Act, c. 1663
672

5. Free Coinage at the Mint Proclaimed, 1666
674

6. The East India Company and the Interlopers, 1684
675

7. Foundation of the Bank of England, 1694
676

8. The Need for the Recoinage of 1696
677

9. Speech by Sir Robert Walpole on the Salt Duties, 1732
678

10. Pitt's Sinking Fund Act, 1786
679

11. The Suspension of Cash Payments, 1797
681

12. Pitt's Speech on the Income Tax, 1798
683

13. Foreign Trade in the early Nineteenth Century, 1812
689

14. Debate on the Corn Laws, 1815
692

15. The Corn Law of 1815
697

16. Free Trade Petition, 1820
698

17. The Foundation of the Anti-Corn-Law League, 1839
701

18. The Bank Charter Act, 1844
702

19. Debate on the Corn Laws, 1846
705

PART I: 1000-1485

SECTION I

THE EARLY ENGLISH MANOR AND BOROUGH

1. Rights and Duties of All Persons [Rectitudines singularum personarum], c. 1000—2. The form of the
Domesday Inquest, 1086—3. The borough of Dover, 1086—4. The borough of Norwich, 1086—5. The
borough of Wallingford, 1086—6. The customs of Berkshire, 1086—7. Land of the Church of Worcester,
1086—8. The manor of Rockland, 1086—9. The manor of Halesowen, 1086—10. The manor of Havering,
1086.

The task of reconstructing the economic life of Saxon England is not easy, and while the document translated below
(No. 1) vividly analyses the obligations and rights of the various classes of tenants and officers on Saxon estates of the
eleventh century, it raises many difficulties and is probably only true for the more settled parts of the country. It affords,
however, clear proof of a high agricultural and social development; and though the exact significance of specific terms,
and the status of different classes, may remain obscure, a comparison of the Rectitudines and the Gerefa[2] with later
extents and custumals, and with Domesday Book itself, establishes the essential continuity of English economic life and
customs, notwithstanding the shock of the Norman Conquest.

The further study of Domesday Book will undoubtedly yield valuable results supplementing the information derived from
Saxon documents. While it is primarily a supreme example of the defining spirit and centralising energy of the
conquering race, it is also a permanent record of England before and at the time of the Norman invasion. Especially,
perhaps, is this apparent in the detailed descriptions of the boroughs, which at once set forth Saxon customs and
illustrate the effects of the Conquest. The extracts given below are intended to show in brief, first, the methods both of

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[Pg 4]

the commissioners who conducted the survey, and of the officials who reduced the information to a common form;[3]
second, the fiscal preoccupation of the government; third, the origin and character of the early borough, especially
manifest in the case of Wallingford (No. 5), and fourth, the different classes of tenants, free and unfree. Of particular
interest are the following features: the manner of levying the feudal army (No. 6), the evidence of the looser organisation
of the Eastern Counties, and the greater degree of freedom prevailing among tenants in the Danelaw (Nos. 4 and 8), the
ample franchises that might be enjoyed by a great Saxon prelate (No. 7), the saltpans of Worcestershire (No. 9), and
the gildhall of the burgesses of Dover (No. 3).

AUTHORITIES

The more accessible writers dealing with the subject of this section are:—Kemble, The Saxons in England;
Maine, Village Communities in the East and West; Seebohm, The English Village Community; Vinogradoff,
Villeinage in England, The Growth of the Manor, and, English Society in the Eleventh Century; Andrews,
The Old English Manor; Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond; Pollock and Maitland, History of English
Law; Ballard, The Domesday Boroughs, and, The Domesday Inquest; Round, Domesday Studies, and, The
Domesday Manor (Eng. Hist. Rev. xv.); Stubbs, Constitutional History, and, Lectures on Mediæval History;
Ellis, Introduction to Domesday Book; Gomme, The Village Community; de Coulanges, Origin of Property
in Land; Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest of England; Petit Dutaillis, Studies Supplementary
to Stubbs' Constitutional History.

Almost the whole of Domesday Book has now been translated and is printed county by county in the
Victoria County History series.

For a general survey of the Saxon period the student should refer to Cunningham, Growth of English
Industry and Commerce, Mediæval Times, pp. 28-133.

1. Rights and Duties of all Persons [Rectitudines Singularum Personarum. Cambridge, Corpus Christi, 383], c.
1000.

The Thegn's Law.—The thegn's law is that he be worthy of his book-right,[4] and that he do three things for his land,
fyrdfare,[5] burhbote[6] and bridge-work. Also from many lands a greater land-service arises at the king's command,
such as the deer-hedge at the king's abode and provision of warships (scorp to fyrdscipe)[7] and sea-ward and head-
ward[8] and fyrd-ward, almsfee and churchscot, and many other diverse things.

The Geneat's Service.—Geneat-service is diverse according to the custom of the estate. On some he must pay land-
gafol[9] and grass-swine[10] yearly, and ride and carry and lead loads, work, and feast the lord, and reap and mow and
cut the deer-hedge and maintain it, build and hedge the burh,[11] bring strange wayfarers to the tun, pay churchscot and
almsfee, keep head-ward and horse-ward, go errands far and near whithersoever he be told.

The Cotter's Service.—The cotter's service is according to the custom of the estate. On some he must work for his
lord each Monday throughout the year and for three days each week in harvest. On some he works through the whole
harvest every day and reaps an acre of oats for a day's work, and he shall have his sheaf which the reeve or lord's
servant will give him.[12] He ought not to pay land-gafol. It bents him to have 5 acres; more, if it be the custom of the
estate; and if it be less, it is too little, because his work shall be oft required; he shall pay his hearth-penny on Holy
Thursday, as all free men should; and he shall defend his lord's inland,[13] if he be required, from sea-ward and the
king's deer-hedge and from such things as befit his degree; and he shall pay his churchscot at Martinmas.

The Gebur's Services.—The gebur's services are diverse, in come places heavy, in others moderate; on some estates
he must work two days at week-work at such work as is bidden him every week throughout the year, and in harvest
three days at week-work, and from Candlemas[14] to Easter three. If he do carrying, he need not work while his horse
is out. He must pay on Michaelmas[15] Day 10 gafol-pence, and on Martinmas[16] Day 23 sesters of barley and two
henfowls, at Easter a young sheep or two pence; and from Martinmas to Easter he must lie at the lord's fold as often as
his turn comes; and from the time of the first ploughing to Martinmas he must plough an acre every week and himself
fetch the seed in the lord's barn; also 3 acres at boonwork and 2 for grass-earth[17]; if he need more grass, he shall earn
it as he shall be allowed; for his gafol-earth he shall plough 3 acres[18] and sow it from his own barn; and he shall pay
his hearth-penny; two and two they shall feed a hunting-hound; and every gebur shall pay 6 loaves to the lord's
swineherd when he drives his herd to mast. On the same lands where the above customs hold good, it belongs to the
gebur that he be given for his land-stock[19] 2 oxen and 1 cow and 6 sheep and 7 acres sown on his yardland;
wherefore after that year he shall do all the customs that befit him; and he shall be given tools for his work and vessels
for his house. When death befals him, his lord shall take back the things which he leaves.

This land-law holds good on some lands, but, as I have said before, in some places it is heavier, in others lighter, for all
land-customs are not alike. On some lands the gebur must pay honey-gafol, on some meat-gafol, on some ale-gafol.
Let him who keeps the shire take heed that he knows what are the ancient uses of the land and what the custom of the
people.

Of those who keep the Bees.—It belongs to the bee-churl, if he keep the gafol-hives, that he give as is customary on
the estate. Among us it is customary that he give 5 sesters of honey for gafol; on some estates more gafol is wont to be
rendered. Also he must be oft ready for many works at the lord's will, besides boon-ploughing and bedrips[20] and

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[Pg 7]

meadow-mowing; and if he be well landed[21], he must have a horse that he may lend it to the lord for carrying or drive
it himself whithersoever he be told; and many things a man so placed must do; I cannot now tell all. When death befals
him, the lord shall have back the things which he leaves, save what is free.

Of the Swineherd.—It belongs to the gafol-paying swineherd that he give of his slaughter according to the custom of
the estate. On many estates the custom is that he give every year 15 swine for sticking, 10 old and 5 young, and have
himself what he breeds beyond that. To many estates a heavier swine-service belongs. Let the swineherd take heed also
that after sticking he prepare and singe well his slaughtered swine; then is he right worthy of the entrails, and, as I said
before of the bee-keeper, he must be oft ready for any work, and have a horse for his lord's need. The unfree
swineherd and the unfree bee-keeper, after death, shall be worthy of one same law.

Of the Serf-Swineherd.—To the serf swineherd who keeps the inherd[22] belong a sucking-pig from the sty and the
entrails when he has prepared bacon, and further the customs which befit the unfree.

Of Men's Board.—To a bondservant (esne) belong for board 12 pounds of good corn and 2 sheep-carcases and a
good meat-cow, and wood, according to the custom of the estate.

Of Women's Board.—To unfree women belong 8 pounds of corn for food, one sheep or 3d. for winter fare, one sester
of beans for Lent fare, in summer whey or 1d.

To all serfs belong a mid-Winter feast and an Easter feast, a ploughacre[23] and a harvest handful,[24] besides their
needful dues.

Of Followers.[25]—It belongs to the follower that in 12 months he earn two acres, the one sown and the other unsown;
he shall sow them himself, and his board and provision of shoes and gloves belong to him; if he may earn more, it shall
be to his own behoof.

Of the Sower.—It belongs to the sower that he have a basketful of every kind of seed when he have well sown each
sowing throughout the year.

Of the Ox-herd.—The ox-herd may pasture 2 oxen or more with the lord's herd in the common pastures by witness of
his ealdorman[26]; and thereby may earn shoes and gloves for himself; and his meat-cow may go with the lord's oxen.

Of the Cow-herd.—It belongs to the cow-herd that he have an old cow's milk for seven days after she has newly
calved, and the beestings[27] for fourteen nights; and his meat-cow shall go with the lord's cow.

Of Sheep-herds.—The sheep-herd's right is that he have 12 nights' manure at mid-Winter and 1 lamb of the year's
increase, and the fleece of 1 bellwether and the milk of his flock for seven nights after the equinox and a bowlful of
whey or buttermilk all the summer.

Of the Goat-herd.—To the goat-herd belongs his herd's milk after Martinmas Day and before that his share of whey
and one kid of the year's increase, if he have well cared for his herd.

Of the Cheese-maker.—To the cheese-maker belong 100 cheeses, and that she make butter of the wring-whey[28] for
the lord's table; and she shall have for herself all the buttermilk save the herd's share.

Of the Barn-keeper.—To the barn-keeper belong the corn-droppings in harvest at the barn-door, if his ealdorman give
it him and he faithfully earn it.

Of the Beadle.—It belongs to the beadle that for his office he be freeer from work than another man, for that he must
be oft ready; also to him belongs a strip of land for his toil.

Of the Woodward.—To the woodward belongs every windfall-tree.

Of the Hayward.—To the hayward it belongs that his toil be rewarded with land at the ends of the fields that lie by the
pasture meadow; for he may expect that if he first neglects this, to his charge will be laid damage to the crops; and if a
strip of land be allowed to him, this shall be by folk-right next the pasture meadow, for that if out of sloth he neglect his
lord, his own land shall not be well defended, if it be found so; but if he defend well all that he shall hold, then shall he be
right worthy of a good reward.

Land-laws are diverse, as I said before, nor do we fix for all places these customs that we have before spoken of, but
we shew forth what is accustomed there where it is known to us; if we learn aught better, that will we gladly cherish and
keep, according to the customs of the place where we shall then dwell; for gladly should he learn the law among the
people, who wishes not himself to lose honour in the country. Folk-customs are many; in some places there belong to
the people winter-feast, Easter-feast, boon-feast for harvest, a drinking feast for ploughing, rick-meat,[29] mowing
reward, a wainstick at wood-loading, a stack-cup[30] at corn-loading, and many things that I cannot number. But this is
a reminder for men, yea, all that I have set forth above.[31]

See Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, i., 570-576.

cf. Dialogus de Scaccario: "Finally, that nothing might be thought lacking, he brought the whole of
his far-seeing measures to completion by despatching from his side his wisest men in circuit

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[2]

[3]

throughout the realm. The latter made a careful survey of the whole land, in woods and pastures and
meadows and arable lands also, which was reduced to a common phraseology and compiled into a
book, that every man might be content with his own right and not encroach with impunity on that of
another."

The right conferred by his book or charter.

Military service.

Repair of the king's castles or boroughs.

Reading with Leo fyrdscipe for frithscipe. For the difficult word "scorp" cf. Pat. 9 John m. 3. Rex
omnibus scurmannis et marinellis et mercatoribus Anglie per mare itinerantibus. Sciatis nos misisse
Alanum ... et alios fideles nostros scurimannos ... ad omnes naves quas invenerint per mare
arrestandas.

Guard of the king's person.

Rent or tribute. Gafol is sometimes a tax payable to the king, and sometimes a rent or dues payable to
the lord.

Payment for pasturing swine.

The lord's house.

This clause appears only in the Latin version.

i.e., Acquit his lord's inland or demesne.

February 2.

September 29.

November 11.

Pasture-land.

i.e., He must plough 3 acres as his rent (gafol).

Outfit.

Reaping at the lord's command.

If he have good land, good, that is, either in quality or quantity or both.

The lord's herd.

An acre for ploughing.

A sheaf from each acre in harvest.

A free but landless retainer.

The reeve (gerefa).

The first milk of a milch-cow after calving.

The residue after the last pressing of the cheese.

2. The Form of the Domesday Inquest [Inquisitio Eliensis, Domesday Book, Additamenta, p. 497], 1086.

Here below is written the inquest of the lands, in what manner the King's barons enquire, to wit, by the oath of the
sheriff of the shire, and of all the barons and their Frenchmen and of the whole hundred, of the priest, the reeve, six
villeins of each town. Then how the manor is named; who held it in the time of King Edward; who holds it now; how
many hides; how many ploughs on the demesne, and how many of the men; how many villeins; how many cotters; how
many serfs; how many freemen; how many socmen; how much wood; how much meadow; how many pastures; how
many mills; how many fishponds; how much has been added or taken away; how much it was worth altogether; and
how much now; how much each freeman or socman there had or has. All this for three periods; to wit, in the time of
King Edward; and when King William granted it; and as it is now; and if more can be had therefrom than is had.

A feast on the completion of the hayrick.

Probably a feast at the completion of corn-stacking.

The best printed text is in Liebermann, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, I. 444.

3. The Borough of Dover [Domesday Book, I, 1], 1086.

Dover in the time of King Edward rendered 18l., of which money King Edward had two parts and Earl Godwin the
third. On the contrary the canons of St. Martin had another moiety.[32] The burgesses gave twenty ships to the King
once a year for fifteen days and in each ship were twenty-one men. This they did for that he had fully granted to them
sac and soc.[33] When the King's messengers came there, they gave for the passage of a horse 3d. in winter and 2d. in
summer. The burgesses, however, found a pilot and one other assistant, and if need were for more, it was hired from
the messenger's own money.

From the feast of St. Michael[34] to the feast of St. Andrew[35] the King's truce (that is, peace) was in the town. If any

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

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[19]

[20]

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[27]
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