NOTE ON THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS

Abstract

JN I9I7 Miss Bertha Putnam sent a note to The Athenurnml pointing out that there was evidence elsewhere of some convictions under the Statutes of Labourers among the tenants of the Bishop of Winchester, although I had failed to discover any such evidence in the Winchester Pipe Roll.2 In I9I7, however, there were problems in Europe even more urgent than historical research, and Miss Putnam's criticism remained unanswered. Many years after, the " Pipe Rolls " have yielded more information as to offences under the Statutes than seemed at all likely. The relevant entries are easily overlooked, as they appear under the heading of Virida Cera,3 on certain manors which possessed the right to the profits of royal justice, and hence received the fines imposed by the Justices of Labourers. These entries appear at Esher (Surrey), West Wycombe (Bucks), Downton (Wilts), Witney (Oxon), Wargrave (Berks), Brightwell (Berks), Ivinghoe (Bucks), in the years I356-57 and I36o-6i,4 and possibly in other rolls. There are none, apparently, in Hampshire. The number of offences varies sharply. Thus Esher and West Wycombe have only one case apiece; Downton has 27, Witney 54, Wargrave about 26, Brightwell has 8, and Ivinghoe 57. The fines imposed seem to have been somewhat stereotyped; they range from 2d., 4d., up to 6s. 8d., never more: the majority are under is. If they represent, as is generally stated, the difference between the statutory wage and the actual wage, it is difficult to understand the relation between the fine and the time for which excess wages were paid. It is unlikely that most cases were stopped after one or two days. At Witney or Downton a large proportion of the population was involved, and the men who appear as pledges for an offender often figure a little lower on the list as offenders themselves. Unfortunately the entries are not made on a uniform plan;5 sometimes the occupation of the offender is given, sometimes not. Thus at 1 The A thencsum, July, I9I7, P. 348. Cf. Enforcement of the Statutes of Labourers, I48, note 4. 2 Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History (ed. Vinogradoff), v. I44. 3 I.e., Estreats of Green Wax. & Eccles. Comm. Vaarious, I59,368 and I59,372. For the correct dating of these rolls cf. THE ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Vol. II., No. I, P. 93. 5 The usual entry is as follows: " De Radulfo Lovring Tannere de finibus pro excessibus per plegium J. Tyny et Henrici Baker xiid.