Note 54 — II. The Necessity for Dissolution.

T. W. Page: ‘End of Villeinage in England’ passim. See, too, Petit-Dutaillis’ introduction to Réville, where the views of Stubbs and Thorold Rogers on this subject are exploded. The period 1349–1381, it is proved, was not marked (as they believed) by the reduction to serfdom of men emancipated before the Black Death, or the re-assertion on the part of landlords of labour services already commuted for money payments. On the contrary, the process of commutation (which had not advanced nearly so far by 1349 as Stubbs thought) proceeded at an increasing rate after 1349.