Then the price
of wheat went way up and drove up the prices of all other goods
correspondingly. The story of outlaw Robin Hood, who made a living
by robbing, was passed around. This Robin Hood did not give to the
poor. But generally, there was enough grain to store so that the
population was no longer periodically devastated by famine. The
population grew and all arable land in the nation came under the
plough. The acre was standardized. About 1300, the price of an ox
was 9s., a heifer or cow 7s., a hide 2s.6d., a cart horse 2 or 3
pounds. Farm women went to nearby towns to sell eggs and dairy
products, usually to town women.
Although manors needed the ploughmen, the carters and drivers, the
herdsmen, and the dairymaid on a full-time basis, other tenants
spent increasing time in crafts and became village carpenters,
smiths, weavers or millers' assistants. Trade and the towns grew.
Smiths used coal in their furnaces.
Money rents often replaced service due to a lord, such as fish
silver, malt silver, or barley silver. The lord's rights are being
limited to the rights declared on the extents [records showing
service due from each tenant] and the rolls of the manor.
Sometimes land is granted to strangers because none of the kindred
of the deceased will take it. Often a manor court limited a fee in
land to certain issue instead of being inheritable by all heirs.
Surveyors' poles marked boundaries declared by court in boundary
disputes.
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