Also, if a son
predeceased his father but left a child, that child would succeed
to the father's land in the same way that the deceased would have.
Manors averaged about ten miles distance between each other, the
land in between being unused and called "wasteland". Statutes
after a period of civil war proscribing the retaking of land
discouraged the enclosure of waste land.
Some villeins bought out their servitude by paying a substitute to
do his service or paying his lord a firm (from hence, the words
farm and farmer) sum to hire an agricultural laborer in his place.
This made it possible for a farm laborer to till one continuous
piece of land instead of scattered strips.
Looms were now mounted with two bars. Women did embroidery. The
clothing of most people was made at home, even sandals. The
village tanner and bootmaker supplied long pieces of soft leather
for more protection than sandals. Tanning mills replaced some hand
labor. The professional hunter of wolves, lynx, or otters supplied
head coverings. Every village had a smith and possibly a carpenter
for construction of ploughs and carts. The smith obtained coal
from coal fields for heating the metal he worked. Horse harnesses
were home-made from hair and hemp. There were water mills and/or
wind mills for grinding grain, for malt, and/or for fulling cloth.
The position of the sails of the wind mills was changed by manual
labor when the direction of the wind changed.
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