The Chancery court interpreted many of these documents
to include rights of inheritance. The common law courts followed
the lead of the Chancery and held that copyhold land could be
inherited as was land at common law. Evictions by lords decreased.
The difference between villein and freeman lessened but landlords
usually still had profits of villein bondage, such as heriot,
merchet, and chevage.
A class of laborers was arising who depended entirely on the wages
of industry for their subsistence. The cloth workers in rural
areas were isolated and weak and often at the mercy of middle-men
for employment and the amount of their wages. When rural laborers
went to towns to seek employment in the new industries, they would
work at first for any rate. This deepened the cleavage of the
classes in the towns. The artificers in the town and the cottagers
and laborers in the country lived from hand to mouth, on the edge
of survival, but better off than the old, the diseased, the
widows, and the orphans. However, the 1400s were the most
prosperous time for laborers considering their wages and the
prices of food. Meat and poultry were plentiful and grain prices
low.
Social mobility was most possible in the towns, where distinctions
were usually only of wealth. So a poor apprentice could aspire to
become a master, a member of the livery of his company, a member
of the council, an alderman, a mayor, and then an esquire for
life.
Pages:
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483