A community was usually an extended family. Its members lived a
village in which a stone church was the most prominent building.
They lived in one-room huts with walls and roofs made of wood,
mud, and straw. Hangings covered the cracks in the walls to keep
the wind out. Smoke from a fire in the middle of the room filtered
out of cracks in the roof. Grain was ground at home by rotating by
hand one stone disk on another stone disk. Some villages had a
mill powered by the flow of water or by horses. All freeholders
had the duty of watch [at night] and ward [during the day], of
following the hue and cry to chase an offender, and of taking the
oath of peace. These three duties were constant until 1195.
Farmland surrounded the villages and was farmed by the community
as a whole under the direction of a lord. There was silver,
copper, iron, tin, gold, and various types of stones from remote
lead mines and quarries in the nation. Silver pennies replaced the
smaller scaetts. Freemen paid "scot" and bore "lot" according to
their means for local purposes.
Everyone in the village went to church on Sunday and brought gifts
such as grain to the priest. Later, contributions in the form of
money became customary, and then expected. They were called
"tithes" and were spent for church repair, the clergy, and poor
and needy laborers. Local custom determined the amount. There was
also church-scot: a payment to the clergy in lieu of the first
fruits of the land.
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