第37章

instancesofverygreatdisparityarerare，andsupposesomelocalandspecialreasonswhichwecannottrace。Suchdisparitiesseemtopoint，however，toarotationaccordingtotwocourses，becausethefallowofthethreecoursescouldhavebeenleftoutofthereckoningonlyifallthepartsinthefieldswereequal。(14*)IthinkthatacarefulinspectionofthesurveysfromthispointofviewmayleadtotheconclusionthatthetwocoursesrotationwasveryextensivelyspreadinEnglandinthethirteenthcentury。

Amostimportantfeatureofthemediaevalsystemoftillagewasitscompulsorycharacter。Theseveraltenants，evenwhenfreeholders，couldnotmanagetheirplotsattheirownchoice。(15*)Theentiresoilofthetownshipformedonewholeinthisrespect，andwassubjectedtothemanagementoftheentirevillage。Thesuperiorrightofthecommunityfoundexpressioninthefactthatthefieldswereopentocommonuseaspastureaftertheharvest，aswellasintheregulationofthemodesoffarmingandorderoftillagebythetownship。Eventhelordhimselfhadtoconformtothecustomsandrulessetupbythecommunity，andattemptstobreakthroughthem，althoughtheybecomefrequentenoughatthecloseofthethirteenthcentury，andespeciallyinthefourteenth，aremetbyaresistancewhichsometimesactuallyleadstolitigation。(16*)Thefreeholdersalonehaveaccesstothecourts，butinpracticetheentirebodyofthetenantryisequallyconcerned。Thepassagetowardsmoreefficientmodesofcultivationwasverymuchobstructedbythesecustomaryrulesastorotationofcrops，whichflownotfromthewillandinterestofsingleowners，butfromthedecisionofcommunities。

TheseveralplotsandholdingsdonotlieincompactI

patches，butareformedofstripsintermixedwitheachother。Theso-calledopen-fieldsystemhasbeentreatedsoexhaustivelyandwithsuchadmirableclearnessbySeebohm，thatIneednotdetainmyreadersinordertodiscussitatlength。IshallmerelytakefromtheEynshamCartularythegeneraldescriptionofthearableofShifford，Oxon。Itconsistsofseveralfurlongsorareas，moreorlessrectangularinshape；eachfurlongdividedintoacertainnumberofstrips(seliones)，mostlyhalfanacreorarood(quarteracre)inwidth；someofthesestripsgetshortened，however(selionescurtae)，orsharpened(gorae)，accordingtotheshapeofthecountry。Atrightangleswiththestripsinthefieldsliethe’headlands’(capitales)，whichadmittootherstripswhenthereisnospecialroadforthepurpose。(17*)Whentheareaundertillageabutsagainstsomeobstacles，asagainstahighway，ariver，aneighbouringfurlong，thestripsarestunted(buttae)。Everystripisseparatedfromthenextbybalksonevenground，andlinchesonthesteepslopesofahill。Theholdingofapeasant，freeorvillain，hasbeenappropriatelylikenedtoabundleofthesestripsofdifferentshapes，thecomponentpartsofwhichlieintermixedwiththeelementsofotherholdingsinthedifferentfieldsofthetownship。Thereise。g。intheAlvinghamCartularyadeedbywhichJohnAysterbygrantstothePrioryofAlvinghaminLincolnshirehisvillainRobertandhalfabovateofland。(18*)Thehalf-bovateisfoundtoconsistoftwelvestripswestofAlvinghamandsixteenstripseastofthevillage；theseveralplotslieamongsimilarplotsownedbytheprioryandbyotherpeasants。Thedemesnelandoftheprioryisalsosituatednotincompactareas，butinstripsintermixedwiththoseofthetenantry，inthe’communalfields’accordingtothephraseologyofourdocuments。

Suchadistributionofthearableseemsoddenough。Itledundoubtedlytoverygreatinconvenienceinmanyways：itwasdifficultfortheownertolookafterhispropertyintheseveralfields，andtomoveconstantlyfromoneplacetoanotherforthepurposesofcultivation。Athriftyhusbandmanwasmoreorlessdependentfortheresultsofhisworkonhisneighbours，whoverylikelywerenotthrifty。Thestripswerenotalwaysmeasuredwithexactness，(19*)andoursurveysmentioncuriousmisunderstandingsinthisrespect：ithappensthatasmuchasthreeacresbelongingtoaparticularpersongetmislaidsomehowandcannotbeidentified。(20*)Itisneedlesstosaythatdisputesamongtheneighbourswererenderedespeciallyfrequentbytheroughwayofdividingthestrips，andbythecuttingupoftheholdingsintonarrowstripsinvolvingaverylonglineofboundary。Andstilltheopen-fieldsystem，withtheintermixedst