Note 147 — Chapter IV · AGRICULTURAL TRIBES.

But in the course of time money payments were largely substituted for these labour dues. Commutation of the week work went on extensively shortly after the Norman Conquest, and commutation of the whole of the services occurs occasionally as early as 1240. “With the reign of Edward II complete commutation became general”147. The cultivators had now to pay money to the lord instead of working on the demesne.