Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/440

 404 Readings in European History 159. De- scription of an English manor house (1256). Agnes of Cayworth holds half an acre and a cottage and owes at the said term i8d., attendance, relief, and heriot. . . . Total of the rents of the said cottagers, with the value of the hens, 345. 6d. And it is to be noted that all the said cottagers shall do as regards giving their daughters in marriage, having their sons tonsured, cutting down timber, paying heriot, and giv- ing fines for entrance, just as John of Cayworth and the rest of the villeins above mentioned. Note : Fines x and penalties, with heriots and reliefs, are worth yearly 55. The house described below must have been a pretty comfortable one for the time. He received also a sufficient and handsome hall well ceiled with oak. On the western side is a worthy bed, on the ground a stone chimney, a wardrobe, and a certain other small chamber; at i:he eastern end is a pantry and a buttery. Between the hall and the chapel is a side room. There is a decent chapel covered with tiles, a portable altar, and a small cross. In the hall are four tables on trestles. There are likewise a good kitchen well covered with tiles, with a furnace and ovens, one large, the other small, for cakes, two tables, and alongside the kitchen a small house for baking. Also a new granary covered with oak shingles, and a build- ing in which the dairy is contained, though it is divided. Likewise a chamber suited for clergymen and a necessary chamber. Also a henhouse. These are within the inner gate. Likewise outside of that gate are an old house for the servants, a good stable, long and divided, and to the east of the principal building, beyond the smaller stable, a solar for the use of the servants. Also a building in which is con- tained a bed ; also two barns, one for wheat and one for oats. These buildings are enclosed with a moat, a wall, and 1 Namely, payments to the lord by those who acquired land within the manor in any other way than by inheritance. The corresponding payment by those who inherited land was the " relief."