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twenty…one acres in one field and twenty…one in another。(11*) The charter does not contain any description of campi in the territorial sense; and it is evident that the expression 'in the fields' is meant to indicate a customary and well…known husbandry arrangement。 The same meaning must be put on sentences like the following:  R。A。 holds a virgate consisting of forty…two acres in both fields。(12*) The question may be raised whether we have to look for 'both fields' in the winter and springfield of the three courses rotation; or in the arable and fallow of the two courses。 In the first of these eventualities; the third reserved for pasture and rest would be left out of the reckoning; it would be treated as an appurtenance of the land that was in cultivation。 Cases in which the portions in the several fields are unequal seem to point to the second sense。(13*) It was impossible to divide the whole territory under cultivation like a piece of paper: conformation of the soil had; of course; much to do with the shape of the furlongs and their distribution; and the courses of the husbandry could not impress themselves on it without some inequalities and stray remnants。 It may happen for this reason that a man holds sixteen acres in one field and fourteen in the other。 There is almost always; however; a certain correspondence between the number of acres in each field; instances of very great disparity are rare; and suppose some local and special reasons which we cannot trace。 Such disparities seem to point; however; to a rotation according to two courses; because the fallow of the three courses could have been left out of the reckoning only if all the parts in the fields were equal。(14*) I think that a careful inspection of the surveys from this point of view may lead to the conclusion that the two courses rotation was very extensively spread in England in the thirteenth century。     A most important feature of the mediaeval system of tillage was its compulsory character。 The several tenants; even when freeholders; could not manage their plots at their own choice。(15*) The entire soil of the township formed one whole in this respect; and was subjected to the management of the entire village。 The superior right of the community found expression in the fact that the fields were open to common use as pasture after the harvest; as well as in the regulation of the modes of farming and order of tillage by the township。 Even the lord himself had to conform to the customs and rules set up by the community; and attempts to break through them; although they become frequent enough at the close of the thirteenth century; and especially in the fourteenth; are met by a resistance which sometimes actually leads to litigation。(16*) The freeholders alone have access to the courts; but in practice the entire body of the tenantry is equally concerned。 The passage towards more efficient modes of cultivation was very much obstructed by these customary rules as to rotation of crops; which flow not from the will and interest of single owners; but from the decision of communities。     The several plots and holdings do not lie in compact I patches; but are formed of strips intermixed with each other。 The so…called open…field system has been treated so exhaustively and with such admirable clearness by Seebohm; that I need not detain my readers in order to discuss it at length。 I shall merely take from the Eynsham Cartulary the general description of the arable of Shifford; Oxon。 It consists of several furlongs or areas; more or less rectangular in shape; each furlong divided into a certain number of strips (seliones); mostly half an acre or a rood (quarter acre) in width; some of these strips get shortened; however (seliones curtae); or sharpened (gorae); according to the shape of the country。 At right angles with the strips in the fields lie the 'headlands' (capitales); which admit to other strips when there is no special road for the purpose。(17*) When the area under tillage abuts against some obstacles; as against a highway; a river; a neighbouring furlong; the strips are stunted (buttae)。 Every strip is separated from the next by balks on even ground; and linches on the steep slopes of a hill。 The holding of a peasant; free or villain; has been appropriately likened to a bundle of these strips of different shapes; the component parts of which lie intermixed with the elements of other holdings in the different fields of the township。 There is e。g。 in the Alvingham Cartulary a deed by which John Aysterby grants to the Priory of Alvingham in Lincolnshire his villain Robert and half a bovate of land。(18*) The half…bovate is found to consist of twelve strips west of Alvingham and sixteen strips east of the village; the several plots lie among similar plots owned by the priory and by other peasants。 The demesne land of the priory is also situated not in compact areas; but in strips intermixed with those of the tenantry; in the 'communal fields' according to the phraseology of our documents。     Such a distribution of the arable seems odd enough。 It led undoubtedly to very great inconvenience in many ways: it was difficult for the owner to look after his property in the several fields; and to move constantly from one place to another for the purposes of cultivation。 A thrifty husbandman was more or less dependent for the results of his work on his neighbours; who very likely were not thrifty。 The strips were not always measured with exactness;(19*) and our surveys mention curious misunderstandings in this respect: it happens that as much as three acres belonging to a particular person get mislaid somehow and cannot be identified。(20*) It is needless to say that disputes among the neighbours were rendered especially frequent by the rough way of dividing the strips; and by the cutting up of the holdings into narrow strips involving a very long line of boundary。 And still the open…field system; with the intermixed strips; is quite a prevalent feature of mediaeval husbandry all over Europe。 It covers the whole area occupied by the village community; it is found in Russia as well as in England。     Before we try to find an explanation for it; I shall call the attention of the reader to the following tale preserved by an ancient survey of Dunstable Priory。 I think that the record may suggest the explanation with the more authority as it will proceed from well…established facts and not from suppositions。(21*) The story goes back to the original division of the land belonging to the Wahull manor by the lords de Wahull and de la Lege。 The former had to receive two…thirds of the manor and the latter one…third: a note explains this to mean; that one had to take twenty knight…fees and the other ten。 The lord de Wahull took all the park in Segheho and the entire demesne farm in 'Bechebury'。 As a compensation for the surrender of rights on the part of his fellow parcener; he ordered the wood and pasture called Northwood to be measured; as also the neighbouring wood called Churlwood。 He removed all the peasants who lived in these places; and had also the arable of Segheho measured; and it was found that there were eight hides of villain land。 Of these eight hides one…fourth was taken; and it was reckoned that this fourth was an equivalent to the one…third of the park and of the demesne farm; which ought by right to have gone to the lord de la Lege。 On the basis of this estimation an exchange was effected。 In the time of the war (perhaps the rebellion of 1173) the eight hides and other hides in Segheho were encroached upon and appropriated unrighteously by many; and for this reason a general revision of the holdings was undertaken before Walter de Wahull and Hugh de la Lege in full court by six old men; it was made out to which of the hides the several acres belonged。 At that time; when all the tenants in Segheho (knights; freeholders; and others) did not know exactly about the land of the village and the tenements; and when each man was contending that his neighbours held unrighteously and more than they ought; all the people decided by common agreement and in the presence of the lords de Wahull and de la Lege; that everybody should surrender his land to be measured anew with the rood by the old men as if the ground had been occupied afresh: every one had to receive his due part on consideration of his rights。 At that time R。F。 admitted that he and his predecessors had held the area near the castle unrighteously。 The men in charge of the distribution divided that area into sixteen strips (buttos); and these were divided as follows: there are eight hides of villain land in Segheho and to each two strips were apportioned。     The narrative is curious in many respects。 it illustrates beautifully the extent to which the intermixture of plots was carried; and the inconveniences consequent upon it。 Although the land had been measured and divided at the time when the lord de Wahull took the land; everything got into confusion at the time of the civil war; and the disputes originated not in violence from abroad but in encroachments of the village people among themselves: the owners of conterminous strips were constantly quarrelling。 A new division became necessary; and it took place under circumst

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