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 A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK had no doubt improved, but this could not satisfy the sons and grandsons of independent cultivators. On the other hand the vi^ealth drawn by the lord from the soil was much greater. The income of Bury Abbey doubled during the 14th century, and it was mainly derived from rent.'" A couple of illustrations, one drawn from the history of a manor, and the other from that of an individual, will give point to these generaliza- tions. The manor of Hawstead had on it, as we have seen, in 1280, a dozen villeins with about two hundred acres among them. In 1358 there were 146 acres held by eleven villeins, of whom only one had a full holding of 30 acres, while four had half holdings, six had quarter holdings, and all of them were paying the full value of their land in money rent of 8d'. or (^d. an acre. They owed, it is true, between them forty-two days of mowing and sixty days of reaping, but these works were reckoned of no value by the lord's bailiff, because they need not be done unless an equivalent was given in money and produce, which included all the milk of the manor for one day. In 1388 the villein tenants have almost disappeared. Two-thirds of their holdings have fallen back into the lord's hands. The harvesting is done by hired labour at ^d. and A^d. a day with food, the head reaper getting 6j. 8d'. for the season. The total rent paid has increased nearly fifty per cent, since 1358. The dairy produce brings in nearly as much as the crops. The old communal arrangements linger somewhere in the background no doubt, but the bailiffs accounts show little sign of them. The Hawstead of 1388 is already in essentials a modern village." A chance glimpse into the affairs of a typical individual reveals no less vividly the progress of change. Whatever may have been the grievance or the ambition of Thomas Sampson of Harkstead who led the rising in south- east Suffolk, he was no mediaeval peasant confined within the manor that reared him and obliged to till the soil of his lord on servile conditions. When his property fell into the hands of the king he was found to be farming land which is almost unmistakably an aggregate of half a dozen peasant holdings of 30 acres each. One of these was at Freston, two at Kersey, and four at Harkstead where he lived. The crops of corn, peas, oats, and barley standing on these holdings at the time of his death were such as would have been sown in the common course of cultivation by the original customary tenant, and part of the stock in each case was such as the ordinary peasant holder would possess ; the teams of two, four, and six oxen respectively, each ox worth loj., the cart-horses worth 5J. apiece, the tumble-down cart worth zs. 6d., the plough worth is., the half-dozen pigs at IS. apiece, a stack of hay, and a couple of quarters of wheat and malt. No doubt Thomas Sampson had managed to free the tillage of these holdings from some of the old communal restrictions, but in any case tillage was becoming a secondary part of his farming. At Freston he had a herd of fifteen cows, with a bull grazing, and a hundred hogs fattening. At Hark- stead a fine flock of 300 sheep worth £1 ^ was producing wool for the neighbouring clothiers. Nor was this the full extent of Sampson's enter- prise. When he had sold his wool and produce at Ipswich market he did " y.C.H. Suff. ii, 68-9. " These particulars are obtained from a transcript of an Extent of Hawstead for 1358, and a Compotu* Roll kindly lent me by Mr. Edgar Powell. 654