This is apparent in Alfred’s laws (34), in Edward’s (12), and Athelstane’s; it is regulated by royal and not by local authority; and disputes between Dane and Saxon lead to the general imposition of the rule of “Commendation” of landless men to lords, which gave rise to the Saxon system later called manorial.
Note the power of the local Witan to try property cases; the co-operation of bishop and chapter in the grant; the instance of commendation; the priest’s position as spokesman of the villagers.
Fitzherbert’s account of the rise of manors ignores the Saxon basis for the grouping of tenants under a lord to whom they paid service for their lands. This system did not begin at the Conquest but earlier (cf. Ine, 67; Alfred, 23; Athelstane, 8, 10, etc.).
It was in most cases a fair, voluntary bargain (cf. Boundary Dispute), in which one party owed protection, military and legal, in return for the labour of the other. This feudal compact enabled the country to pass through the Danish troubles and consequent disorder under the leadership of the lords. Once security had been re-established by the central power of the Angevin kings, both the need for lords and their sense of responsibility for their men faded and their power was abused till the economic forces of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries gave the men a means of resistance.
It is possible from these details to construct a vivid scene of manorial life. Owners of ecclesiastical manors were usually more liberal to their tenants than lay lords. Interesting features are the work of the lord’s officer, the Reeve; the fact that while a half-hide may support a considerable family, the work of only one member is required to do the services; the ease with which the elaborate details of the services led to disputes; the ranks of the various villeins and the consequent difference in the service each paid; the constant use of barter, goods being paid rather than money.
(5) If a man slay another in the king’s tun[1] let him make bot[2] with fifty shillings.
(9) If a freeman steal from a freeman, let him make threefold bot; and let the king have the wite[3] and all the chattels.
(17) If any one be the first to make an inroad into a man’s tun let him make bot with six shillings; let him who follows with three shillings; after, each, a shilling.