Page:Massingberd - Court Rolls of the Manor of Ingoldmells in the County of Lincoln.pdf/30

xxx [nativus] of the lord the king belonging to his manor of Ingoldmells,’ is said to have married Alicia, daughter of Sir Robert Sylkeston of East Kirkby, a Lincolnshire knight, and certainly with Richard, his son, acquired in 1392 considerable freehold property at East Kirkby, and elsewhere, which they held in bondage [in bondagio] according to the custom of the manor, paying a rent of 40s. yearly, wards, marriages, reliefs, and escheats to the king being reserved. Robert Gryn died before 3 July 1411, and 7 August 1411, Richard, his son and next heir of blood, was admitted to his inheritance. We ﬁnd Richard on the inquisition of bond-tenants up to A.D. 1422, but in 1433 his younger son, William, was on the inquisition of freemen, and the eldest son, John, is described in 1437 as ‘of Kirkby,’ so probably they acquired their freedom before 1433. In 1477 Richard Grenne, son of John, is described in a deed as ‘gent.’; but as late as 1492 the Kirkby property was treated as held according to the custom of the manor of Ingoldmells, and Richard Skepper and his wife had to come to the court, and ask to be admitted, and pay a ﬁne of 10l. for entry. Additional evidence of the prosperity of the Ingoldmells villein may be found in the fact that one was willing to give as much as 6l. in 1376 to enter on two acres of arable land, and in 1404 land was worth 3s. 6d. an acre as an annual rent beyond the dues and customs of the lord.

I have been fortunate enough to find amongst the Ingoldmells papers an inventory of the goods of a villein A.D. 1569. He had 2 cows, 15 ewes, 6 other sheep, and 1 pig; indoors he had a feather bed and some other comforts. His goods were valued at 10l. 10s. 8d. perhaps 90l. of our money. But his debts amounted to 6l. 14s., of which 4l. 4s. was for rent, and 2l. 4s. 8d. for money borrowed.

I must now make an attempt to consider the difficult question of what changes can be discerned in the condition of the Ingoldmells villein. It is not to be expected that we should ﬁnd any sudden changes in the social life of the peasant here but I think we may perceive some indications of a struggle between the claims of the lord and of his villein, and, though I cannot pretend to ﬁx any but approximate dates, there can be