Note 184 — Chapter IV · AGRICULTURAL TRIBES.

At the beginning of the 14th century most of the cultivators were still bound to the soil184, but the first germs of a thorough change were already present. There were free tenants who could sell their lands; tenancies at will already occurred, though not frequently185; and a class of free labourers arose. In Grossteste’s rules, dating from 1240 or 1241, it is said that servants and retainers “are to do what they are bid immediately without any grumbling or contradiction; if they show any such disloyal spirit they must be dismissed, for many can be had to fill their places”186. And there were also agricultural labourers who, though holding small pieces of land, had not enough land to live upon, and were partially dependent on wages. Even where the peasants were still obliged to cultivate the demesne, they did not usually perform such work themselves, but hired labourers to do it; the usual phrase is that they have to “find” a man for the work187.