Background
The first part of the project
involved the study of one baronial family in England between the years
1066-1320. The second part focuses on Yalding, one of the villages
controlled by the Clare family. Most of the information on Yalding
is based on the village records at the Centre for Kentish Studies
in Maidstone and at the Public Record Office in London. Other information
on the history of Yalding can be found in Tony Kremer's booklets,
Origins of Yalding Parish (Kremer,
1975) and The Parish and the People of Yalding
(Kremer, 1974). There is also a chapter on the history of Yalding
in Edward Hasted's The History and Topographical
Survey of Kent: Volume V (Canterbury, 1798).
Details of the Clare estates
can be found in the following books: Michael Altschul's A
Baronial Family in Medieval England: The Clares, 1217-1314
(John Hopkins Press, 1965) and Gladys Thornton's History
of Clare (Heffer, 1949). Information on the Clare estates
in Kent can be found in articles that appeared in The
Archaeolgia Cantiana: W. V. Dumbreck, The
Lowry of Tonbridge (Volume 72, 1958) and Jennifer C. Ward,
The Lowry of Tonbridge and the Lands of
the Clare Family in Kent: 1066-1217 (Volume 96, 1980).
There is also an article on Yalding Bridge
by A. J. Parsons in the Kent Archaeological
Review (No. 31, Spring 1973).
The drawing of Yalding
is based on archaeological evidence and old maps of the village. The
two wooden bridges were replaced by the current 450 ft. long stone
bridge in the 15th century. Twyford Bridge, which is situated just
outside the village by Yalding Lees, was also built at the same time.
Twyford (twin ford) Bridge was built where the Medway meets the River
Tiese (see Y05). In is believed that an ecclesiastical workforce from
Rochester called the 'Hospitarii Pontifices' built a series of stone
bridges down the Medway during the 15th century.
The Church of St. Peter
and St. Paul was originally built in the 13th century. It has been
restored several times over the years. The leaded onion dome built
in 1734 is a particularly unfortunate addition.
The original Court Lodge
building no longer exists. Court Lodge was rebuilt on a different
site overlooking the village green (see Y05) but this building has
also been demolished. The name remains and the current building on
the site is called Court Lodge Farmhouse. The farmhouse was built
in the 17th century and the high wall helps to give it the look of
a manor house. Court Lodge is one of the largest hop farms in the
area (a subject that we will return to when looking at Yalding and
the 100 Years War).
Yalding was built where
the River Medway meets the River Beult. The name 'Medway' is Old English
and means "mead water", a reference to the sweetness of
the water of this river. The River Beult (pronounced Belt) flows through
the centre of the village. "Beult" is also Old English and
means "the swollen one". The reason for this name is that
the river often floods the flat, low-lying lands through which it
flows. Therefore, the main problem about living in Yalding was the
tendency for the River Beult to flood. The Jutes rejected the site
and the original Saxon settlement was abandoned after serious flooding.
The Saxons returned and a village is recorded at Yalding in a charter
dated 873.
The river provided both
water and a means of transport. It was possible to travel by boat
from Yalding to Chatham on the coast. This enabled the village to
supply goods to towns on the Medway such as Tonbridge and Maidstone.
However, the river did create waterlogged land which was difficult
to use. This type of land was also a source of disease. In the 14th
century malaria was a common problem in villages situated close to
marshland. Yalding was hit several times with outbreaks of disease.
One epidemic in 1510 killed over 50% of those people living in the
village. Tony Kremer believes it was the plague, but sweating sickness
(a form of influenza) was also killing large numbers of people in
England at that time.
Lesson
1: For this lesson the pupils will also need the Family
Information Chart,
Village
of Yalding, Kent
in the 14th Century,
Map
of Yalding in 1336,
Artist
Impression of Yalding,
Medieval
Names and the
Yalding
Manor Records.
One way of using the material is to give each pupil the name of an
individual that lived in the village in the 14th century. In this
way the pupils can explore the possible impact of different events
on one particular family. This has been a very successful aspect of
the course but I am aware that some teachers might feel uncomfortable
about this approach. Although I will provide the information needed
for this strategy, the materials do not have to be used in this way.
The children are given
their names, and details of their savings in Tithing
Group Details: 1336.
Names given should be based on the skills and attributes of the individual
pupil. The strategy is to pair up pupils of different abilities. Two
pairs then make up a tithing group. I have also indicated those who
will have to play important roles in the Manor Court. You may therefore
wish to take into account the oral skills of the pupil. Where possible,
the leader of the tithing group (T/M), should have good organisational
skills.
There are 18 male and 18
female heads of households in the simulation. I have done this to
provide a balance between the sexes but research suggests that in
the 14th century only about 15% of land holdings were in the hands
of women. Pupils are also given copies of the Family
Information Chart.
This should be stuck into their exercise books. Over the next few
weeks they will gradually fill in all the details.
The teacher plays the role
of Hugh de Audley's estate bailiff, John Giffard. As well as Yalding
the estate bailiff looked after the neighbouring hamlets of Nettlestead,
Benover, Twyford and Laddingford. The estate bailiffs were usually
fairly prosperous people. An illustration of their wealth is the money
they gave to the Church. For example, Thomas de Blakebroke, Yalding's
previous estate bailiff, made a donation of £2 11s. 5d. to Tonbridge
Priory in 1326. A bailiff or steward in a smaller village would have
been paid between £2 and £3 a year.
The Domesday Book entry
for Yalding says that "Richard holds two sulungs". There
was not a standardised system of measurement at this time but experts
on the subject have estimated that in Kent a sulung was an area of
about 200 acres. The Medieval
Names sheet makes
a good homework assignment. Pupils could also be asked to research
the meaning of their own family name. Basil Cottle's Dictionary
of Surnames (Penguin, 1967) should provide the meanings
of most of their names.
Yalding
in the 1330s
Lesson
2: For this lesson the pupils will also need the Yalding
Manor Records
and Village
of Yalding. Details
of weather in Kent during the 1330s was taken from J. M. Stratton's
book Agricultural Records (John
Baker, 1969). Questions 2 and 3 will reveal to the pupils the problems
caused by the weather in the Middle Ages. It has been estimated by
lan Kershaw in his book The Great Famine
and Agrarian Crisis in England, (Oxford, 1973) that about
10% of the population died of famines and epidemics between 1315 and
1330. One consequence of this economic hardship was a dramatic increase
in the number of serfs appearing in the Manor Court charged with stealing
sheaves and pilfering hay. A possible homework assignment is to ask
the following question. "A study of the bones in one Medieval
cemetery revealed an average age of 18 years. Give as many reasons
as you can for this very low average age of death."
The
Feudal System
Lesson
3: For this lesson the pupils will also need the Yalding
Manor Records,
Rent
and Taxes and
the differentiated worksheets Feudal
Services (LA/CA) and
Feudal
Services (HA/CA).
Exact details of land holdings in Yalding in 1336 have not survived.
I have used Yalding estate accounts for 1317-20 and the Tax Subsidy
List of 1334 as a basis for my calculations. The Tax Subsidy was money
raised for the king but the decision on how much each individual should
pay was made by the lord of the manor.
The connection between
family size and land holding is based on Zvi Razi's research of Halesowen.
In the book, Life, Marriage and Death in
a Medieval Parish (Cambridge, 1980), Zvi Razi shows that
the size of families was closely related to the size of the land holding.
|
Land
Holding
|
20+
acres
|
10-19
acres
|
|
1-9
acres
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Average
number of children |
5.1
|
2.9
|
|
1.8
|
Most of the details in
the manor records are based on the Yalding estate accounts. Accounts
for the years 1299-1300, 1307-08 and 1317-20 have survived (Public
Record Office, C 47/9/23-24-25). In 1300, Yalding provided Gilbert
de Clare with an income of over £79. By 1320 the value of the
village had fallen to £66 19s 6d. It is difficult to make a
judgement concerning how much £66 in 1320s would be worth today.
One way of doing this is to look at the price of bread. In 1320 a
half-pence would buy one maslin loaf. If we compare this with modern
bread prices, £66 would
be worth about £16,765 in today's money.
Hugh de Audley owned land
in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Gloucestershire,
Hampshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire,
Suffolk, Surrey and Wiltshire. As well as large estates in England,
Audley owned land
in Wales and Ireland. Hugh de Audley's land alone provided and
income of £2,314 a year (1990s - £642,719).
Research has suggested
that the total value of labour services per serf was worth between
10 shillings and 15 shillings a year to the lord of the manor. The
Clare family had always owned a large number of serfs. However, like
many large landowners, the Clares were aware that there were economic
disadvantages to serfdom. In the early part of the 14th century serfs
were allowed to buy their freedom. In 1307-08 the selling of feudal
services produced 7% of Gilbert de Clare's total income. This helps
to explain why a third of Clare's income came from the rent paid by
free peasants living in his villages.
It was at this time that
the Clare family began to increase its ownership of sheep. By the
1320s sheep farming had become an important source of revenue. One
of the attractive features of sheep farming was that it needed less
labour than arable farming. Therefore it could be argued that there
was a strong connection between the decline of serfdom and the growth
in sheep farming on the Clare estates.
The heriot records are
based on those for the villages of Langley, Norton and Codicote. All
these villages were under the control of St. Albans Abbey. The full
details of these manor records can be found in Elizabeth Levett's
book, Studies in Manorial History
(Oxford, 1938).
Rents are based on the
research published in Christopher Dyer's Everyday
Life in Medieval England (Hambleton, 1994). The taxes paid
by the people of Yalding is based on information in J. R. Maddicott's
book The English Peasantry and the Demands
of the Crown 1294-1341 (Past & Present, 1975) and H.
S. Bennett's Life on the English Manor
(Cambridge, 1956).
The details of labour service
is based on those of Cuxham in Oxfordshire and Downton in Wiltshire.
The size of both the demesne and the number of people living in these
villages were very similar to those of Yalding. Information on Cuxham
can be found in P. D. A. Harvey's A Medieval
Oxfordshire Village: Cuxham, 1240-1400 (Oxford, 1965) and
details of Downton is in Paul Vinogradoff's Studies
in Social and Legal History (Oxford, 1916).
A possible homework assignment:
"John Giffard has given you permission to visit Tonbridge Market.
While you are in the town you have a conversation with a man selling
clothes. He asks you what your village is like. Use your drawing of
Yalding to describe your village."
Farming
Lesson 4: For this lesson
the pupils will need the Yalding
Manor Records,
Village
Officials, Food
Production and
Grain
Crops. Michael
Altschul's book A Baronial Family in Medieval
England: The Clares includes an excellent chapter on how
the Clare family administered their estates. The Clare estates were
divided into bailiwicks and placed under the control of a seneschal.
These men were the highest paid officials employed by the Clare family.
The seneschal usually represented the area (and the Clare family)
in Parliament. At least twice a year the seneschal would make a visit
to the villages under his control. These visits were usually timed
to coincide with meetings of the Manor Court. There was also an estate
bailiff in the larger villages. It was the estate bailiff's responsibility
to manage the demesne and to maintain law and order in the village.
Names of the minor officials
in Yalding in the 1330s have not survived. The choice of officials
was influenced by gender and land holdings. This is based on the research
by Judith Bennett on three Medieval villages: Brigstock in Northamptonshire,
Iver in Buckinghamshire and Houghton in Huntingdonshire. In her book,
Women in the Medieval English Countryside
(Oxford, 1987), Bennett argues that it was fairly rare for women to
be elected as officials. However, some villages, such as Halesowen,
did have a tradition of appointing women (usually widows with large
land holdings) as officials. We do not know how these elections took
place. However, it is assumed that the estate bailiff would have made
sure that the election results did not conflict with the interests
of the lord of the manor.
Gilbert de Clare's accounts
of 1307 reveal that wheat, oats and barley were the main crops grown
in his manors. Wheat needed well-manured soil and would have been
the main crop on the demesne. Oats and barley would grow in poor soils.
Oats did particularly well on marshy soils like those close to the
River Beult. Rye and other cereals were also occasionally cultivated.
Rye was an unpopular crop with peasants but its main advantage was
that it would grow on very poor soil.
Detailed crop records for
Yalding in the 1330s have not survived. The figures used in the simulation
are based on the records for the neighbouring Kent villages of East
Farleigh, West Farleigh and Loose. A commentary on these records can
be found in R. A. Smith's Canterbury Cathedral
Priory (Cambridge, 1969). Another useful source of information
on this subject is Ann Smith's Regional Differences
in Crop Production in Medieval Kent that is included in
Margaret Roake (ed.) Essays in Kentish History
(Frank Cass, 1973). There is also an article by Mavis Mate on Farming
Practice and Techniques: Kent and Sussex in Joan Thirsk
(ed.), The Agrarian History of England: 1348-1500
(Cambridge 1991).
Lessons
5: The pupils will need Farm
Animals and Tithing
Groups. In this
lesson the pupils are introduced to the idea of tithing groups.
This was a vital part of
the village economy and was a device that enabled the poor to survive
in difficult circumstances. In most villages only men were members
of tithing groups. This is surprising as tithing groups were a good
form of social control and made it much more difficult for a serf
to run away from the village. In some villages women were members
of tithing groups. For the sake of the simulation, Yalding is a village
where women have the same rights as men.
Animal ownership in Yalding
is based on M. M. Postan's research published in Essays
on Medieval Agriculture (Cambridge, 1973). In the 14th
Century 63% of peasants living in Kent owned at least one ox (average
1.8 oxen per family). Only one serf in three owned a cow. Pigs were
the most common animals owned by peasants. Manor records in Yalding
suggest a gradual growth in sheep ownership in the 1320s. This was
true of other villages in the area. People living in the neighbouring
village of East Farleigh owned a total of 550 sheep in 1330.
Average
price of animals between 1330-40
|
|
Ox
|
12s.
6d.
|
|
Horse
|
10s.
2d.
|
|
Cow
|
9s.
6d.
|
|
Pig
|
2s.
8d.
|
|
Ewe
|
Is.
6d.
|
|
Wether
|
Is.
Id.
|
Lesson 6 and 7: An opportunity
for the pupils to do an extended writing assignment. The pupils will
need Food
Production, Harvesting,
Medieval
Farm Tools, The
Croft, Food
and Drink, Farm
Animals, Tithing
Groups and The
Farming Year.
Most of the farming scenes
are illustrations from Books of Hours. These books were very popular
in France in the 1330s. Charles V, king of France commissioned several
of these books in the 1340s and this helped to make them very fashionable
with nobles in both France and England.
A Book of Hours is a collection
of prayers and psalms to be read in private. These books were usually
commissioned by rich families. Sometimes the person asked for extra
information to be included in the book. This often took the form of
farming scenes. Others included pictures of the changing seasons and
leisure pursuits. Most people used their Book of Hours to record family
births, marriages and deaths. The Book of Hours was also employed
to teach children to read.
John, Duke du Berry's Book
of Hours (sources 14 and 15) was painted by the three Limbourg brothers.
The Duke du Berry's Book of Hours is considered by many to be the
most beautiful book produced during the Middle Ages. Unfortunately,
soon after they produced the book, the three brothers died of the
plague.
The Luttrell Psalter (sources
24, 25, 26 and 27) was commissioned in about 1325 by Sir Geoffrey
Luttrell, a large landowner in Lincolnshire. As well as the usual
collection of saints and figures from the Bible, the book also includes
a superb collection of pictures that illustrate everyday life on the
Luttrell estate. These illustrations are the most detailed and realistic
pictures of everyday life that have survived from the 14th century.
The artist (we do not know his or her name) produced a range of pictures
that has given historians vital information of what life must have
been like for ordinary people living during this period.
The information on food
is based on several books including: Reay Tannahill's Food
in History (Eyre Methuen, 1973); Maggie Black's Food
and Cooking in Medieval Britain (English Heritage, 1985);
J. C. Drummond's The Englishman's
Food (Jonathan Cape, 1957) and H. A. Monckton's A
History of English Ale and Beer (Bodley Head, 1966). Pupils
could be given the opportunity to make some of the Medieval
Recipes at home (Y20). Horse bread is particularly recommended.
The freedom to catch fish
from local rivers was a constant source of conflict. Eels were plentiful
in the River Beult. They were also very large. Eels as long as five
feet nine inches and weighing over 40 pounds have been caught in Yalding.
Fish were very expensive to buy.
Market
prices for fish in the 1330s
|
|
Pike
|
12d.
|
|
Tench
|
6d.
|
|
Chubb
|
4d.
|
|
Bream
|
5d.
|
|
Perch
|
2d.
|
|
Roach
|
1d.
|
Lesson
8: For this lesson the pupils will need The
Farming Year,
Weather
and Harvest and
Farming
Calculations.
The pupils do their
work in their tithing groups in this lesson. Some pupils might have
trouble with their calculations and the person who is good at mathematics
in each group can
help other members of his or her team.
After the pupils have
finished their tasks on the Tithing Groups worksheet, the class
studies The
Farming Year.
It might be worth reminding pupils of what harvesting
entailed and to draw attention to the importance of the weather in
this process.
The teacher reads out
the information from months January-June on the sheet Weather:
1337 and the
pupils fill in Weather
and Harvest.
In July, the pupils
are given details of the weather, week by week. The pupils have to
decide when the harvesting
should begin. After harvesting, the pupils are asked to predict
the quality of their harvest.
The pupils are then told
that it was a good harvest and an average of 44 sheaves per acre was
produced in Yalding. The pupils then fill in their Assets and Debits
Chart for 1337. You may wish to give them the Farming
Calculations
sheet at the beginning or
you might like to see if the pupils can work it out for themselves.
Pupils will probably have
to be reminded that each family gave a tenth of their food production
to the Church. For those who are free, rent is 13 pence (or 13 sheaves)
per acre. Those who
are serfs pay their rent in labour and so therefore do not fill in
this box.
Research suggests that
families who owned in the region of 20 acres of land needed to employ
extra labour. Four members of the class do not have enough people
in their families to successfully farm their land. These people have
to pay wages (one sheaf or one pence per day). Benedict Dunn (60 pence),
John Nash (50 pence), Elizabeth Clarke (100 pence) and Alice Taylor
(80 pence) fill in their wages column (A5).
While they are filling
in their Assets and Debits Chart the teacher walks round and informs
each pupil of the wages the people in their families have received
for the year. Once they have this information they can complete their
charts. Every family has a surplus in 1337. However, for most people
the surplus is small. As this was a good harvest they should become
aware that after a bad harvest they will have difficulty feeding their
families. I have produced a Yalding village Farming
Calculations
chart so that you can check the children's figures.
Families who have a surplus
have the opportunity to sell their crops. For the purpose
of the simulation the pupils receive one pence per sheaf. However,
when sold in bulk, the price that could be obtained depended on market
forces. After a
good harvest prices fell. The pupils are then told the prices of the
four main crops. These prices come from John Thirsk's Agrarian
History of England: Volume II (Cambridge,
1988).
Pupils now fill in their
profit details in Section 9 of their Family
Information Chart.
Pupils could be asked what they intend to do with their profits. Serfs
should be warned that the lord of the manor would impose a tallage
tax after a good harvest. The amount demanded would depend on the
number of animals they owned, the amount of land they rented and the
quality of the harvest.
If they have enough money
left after paying tallage the serfs might want to buy their freedom.
At this time a lord of the manor would have charged at least £2
- a sum that would have taken a serf a long time to save. Maybe the
pupils are interested in investing their profits in land, animals
or equipment. This investment might help them
to increase production in future years. Alternatively they might want
to hold on to their reserves in case they have a bad harvest next
year.
The Clare accounts reveal
that the sale of grain provided the family with an average of 45%
of their manor income. Another 10% was obtained from the sale of livestock
and dairy products such as butter, cheese and milk. Most of this was
sold at local markets but some of it went to large cities such as
London.
A possible homework assignment
is to ask the pupils to "Make a list of the different fruit and
vegetables that you can buy in your local shops. Compare this list
with the fruit and vegetables available in the 14th century. Explain
why we have a lot more different types of food today than we did in
the 14th century."
Lesson
9: The simulation now moves on to 1338. The procedure is
the same as 1337. This time it is the best harvest for 50 years. As
a result, all villagers should be able to add to their savings. The
situation is very different in 1339. After this harvest most people
in the village have a deficit. As it is a bad harvest, John Giffard
and Gilbert Hughes will require
less help on their land. As this bad harvest follows two good harvests,
most villagers will be able to use their savings to buy the necessary
food. However, as a result of the shortages, the price of food has
escalated. For example, the price of wheat per quarter went from 3s.
4d. in 1338 to 5s. 11d. in 1339. Those without enough
money saved will need to sell property or seek help from the Church.
Pupils should be asked to speculate about what happened after a series
of bad harvests. Pupils are then referred back to the situation in
the early 1330s when bad harvests resulted in large numbers of people
dying in Yalding.
It has been calculated
that an average sized family in the 14th century (two adults and three
children) would have needed 12 acres to produce enough food for their
needs. However, the vast majority had far less than this and a bad
harvest would create serious difficulties for these families. Overall,
only a third of children survived into adulthood. There were several
reasons for this but famine was a major factor in the high death-rate.
Possible homework assignment
"Explain the influence that the weather had on the harvest."
The
Village Fair
Lesson
10: For this lesson pupils will need Map
of Yalding in 1336,
Village
Fair and Objections
to Yalding Fair.
Edward III agreed to grant
Hugh de Audley's request for a fair at Yalding. The first Yalding
Fair took place on 15th October, 1339. Fairs were a common feature
of village life in Kent and some historians argue that it helped to
undermine the feudal system in the county. Although Kent had one of
the highest percentages of unfree peasants in the country in the 11th
Century (according to the Domesday survey) by the late 14th Century
serfdom had declined dramatically. According to R. H. Hilton, Bond
Men Made Free (Temple Smith, 1973), the prosperity and
bargaining power of peasants in Kent had enabled many of them to purchase
their freedom by the time of the Peasants' Revolt. However, as Hilton
points out, the owners of the large estates in Kent such as the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Cathedral Priory at Canterbury "tended
to preserve servile aspects of peasant status even when the forces
making for free status were very powerful, within as well as outside
these estates."
Yalding Fair took place
on the Lees, an area of land by Twyford Bridge Hugh de Audley owned
the land but it was too marshy to grow crops. Fairs are still held
on the Lees today.
Possible homework assignment
Look at your Family Information Chart. Do you think your character
would have been in favour of a fair being held in Yalding? The people
of Yalding plan to hold a meeting about the possibility of holding
a fair in Yalding. Write a speech expressing your views on the subject."
The
Manor Court
Lesson
11: For this lesson pupils will need Yalding
Manor Records,
Manor
Court and Court
Rolls. The Custumal
of Yalding has not survived (in many Kent and Essex villages the Custumal
was destroyed during the Peasants' Revolt). However, it is possible
to reconstruct the Custumal from other sources. We do have an inventory
of Yalding that was recorded in 1263 that provides considerable information
on manorial customs in the village. So also does the Yalding manor
records for the years 1299-1300, 1307-08 and 1317-20.
Some of these cases are
taken from Yalding's Manor Court. Other entries have been based on
court records from the villages of Havering, Crawley, Longbridge,
Basingstoke, Baslow, Chalgrave, Pennington and Sedgefield. The best
collection of court rolls can be found in Nathaniel Hone's The
Manor and Manorial Records (Kennikat Press, 1971).
About 5% of the Clare's
income came from their manorial courts. In 1263 Gilbert de
Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, declared that he expected to raise
12s. a year from marriage
licenses in Yalding. This probably explains why there was a high incidence
of cases in the Manor
Court of people in Yalding having sex outside of marriage. In Yalding
this offence was usually punished by whipping.
To stop people from avoiding
this tax, the lord of the manor also charged people for permission
not to marry. To encourage women to remarry after the death of their
husbands, the lord
of the manor charged widows a fee for permission to have custody
of their children. The 2 shillings paid by both Mariota Cooper and
Cristina Carpenter
in 1335 enabled them to remain widows for life. Male serfs were also
fined for not getting
married.
All the characters appear
at least twice in the manor records. Research indicates that
on average, serfs appeared in the manor records for breaking local
by-laws once every
two years. The most common reasons were brewing and baking offences.
Stealing marl from a better off neighbour was another crime that often
appeared in the manor
records. Marl was expensive (£2 for every 10 acres) but did
result in higher
crop yields. The spreading of marl before sowing could increase wheat
production by a third.
It would seem that people
were more violent in the 14th century than they are today. Studies
of manor court records indicate that the murder-rate (per 1,000 population)
was much higher in the 14th century than it is in Britain (and the
USA) in the 1990s.
The manor records also
show several women fined for "falsely raising the hue and cry".
In Judith Bennett's study of the manor court records of Brigstock
she discovered that only 28% of assaults mentioned in manor court
records were against women. Nearly half of these attacks were by other
women. Bennett also noticed that several women were punished by the
manor court for falsely raising the hue and cry against men charged
with assault. Bennett concludes that it was very difficult
for women to achieve justice if attacked by men. As a result very
few women bothered to report such attacks to the manor court.
Court
Rolls was taken
from a document that did not include the name of the manor or the
date it took place. However, it has been used because it provides
some good examples of how people attempted to defend themselves in
the manor court. It is also one of the few documents of the period
that contains the actual words spoken by peasants.
Question 1: The phrase
"take him away and let him have a priest" meant that the
convicted person had been sentenced to death. The condemned man went
to the priest to make his final confession.
Question 3: The clues are
in the names of the people who attended the court Combe is a surname
that originates from Cornwall, Devon and Somerset William of the Street
provides another clue. Street refers to someone living close to a
Roman road. The only Roman road in the west country is the road from
Bath to Exeter. Another clue is that three of the people had the name
"of the Moor". Again
this suggests the West Country but it is impossible to say exactly
where the manor was situated.
Lesson
12: After reading The
Longbow
and Medieval
Hunting the pupils
get the opportunity to experience what it would have been like to
attend the Manor
Court. At the
beginning of the lesson pupils are given Manor
Court Cards (1) and
Manor
Court Cards (2).
They will need ten minutes to think about what they are going to say
in court. I found it profitable to spend five minutes with each character
to make sure that they fully understood their part.
It is important to stress
that no one other than the characters themselves should see the cards.
Those playing the roles should be warned that as all witnesses had
to swear on the Bible, it was unusual for people to tell lies in court.
The date of the Manor Court is 7th October, 1340. After the evidence
had been presented by the characters the jury has the responsibility
of reaching a verdict. In keeping with the tradition of the time,
these verdicts have to be unanimous.
Possible homework assignment
"Write a report of the trials of Aymer Walter and Emma Brattle.
Lesson
13: For this lesson pupils will need the information sheets
The
Hundred Years' War,
Jean
Ie Bel and Geoffrey
Ie Baker and
the men's Archery
Ability Ratings .
After reading the The Hundred Years War worksheet the pupils are told
it is now May, 1346. King Edward III has decided to take another army
to France. He plans to leave Porchester harbour in July. John Giffard
has been asked by Hugh de Audley to find four archers to join King
Edward's army. A meeting is held and the villagers discuss who should
go to France.
One way of doing this is
to get those who want to join the king's army to write a speech on
why the village should select them. The class then vote on the four
people they believe should go. Villagers should take several factors
into consideration before making their decision. First, they have
to look after the families of the archers who are chosen. The smaller
the family, the less food they will have to supply. Another factor
is the ability of the individual to use the longbow (see rating sheet).
The villagers would also take into account the willingness of the
individual to go to war. Some peasants wanted to join the army as
they saw it as an opportunity to make their fortune. In other cases,
the peasants saw recruitment to the king's army as a way of removing
unpopular individuals from the village.
The English army of 2,400
knights and 12,000 archers landed at St. Vaast in Normandy on 12th
July. Edward's army headed for Paris. On the way they stole valuables,
burnt towns and villages and destroyed crops. The French army reached
Paris first. Edward, outnumbered three to one, decided it would be
impossible to take the heavily defended walled city. Edward and his
army now headed north for Calais. King Philip's French army followed
them and managed to cut them off just after they crossed the River
Somme. On 26th August, 1346 the two armies lined up to face each other
at Crecy in Northern France. Jean Ie Bel and Geoffrey Ie Baker provided
two different versions of the battle. Baker wrote his account to please
Edward III and historians generally regard Bel's account
to be more reliable. Bel's account refers to the Earl of Stafford
as being one of the English commanders of the Battle of Crecy. The
following year, the Earl of Stafford became Yalding's lord of the
manor.
At the end of the lesson
the four chosen archers are given their Hundred Years War Cards (A10).
The four selected archers have to write a speech explaining what happened
to them while they were in France. These speeches will be read out
at the beginning of the next lesson.
Possible homework assignment:
"Explain the possible advantages and disadvantages of joining
King Edward Ill's army."
Lesson
14: At the start of the lesson pupils read through the
information sheet Earl
of Stafford.
The Staffords, like the Clares, first arrived in England with William
the Conqueror in 1066. Ralph de Tonei was rewarded for his part
in the
conquest with 100 manors. He became known as Ralph de Stafford because
of the land he owned in that area.
The family failed to increase
their land holding until the 14th century. Ralph, Earl of Stafford
served with distinction against the Scots in 1327. By 1332 he was
one Edward III most valued military
advisers. It was therefore no surprise when in 1336 Edward refused
to take action against Ralph when he kidnapped and raped Margaret
de Audley. Margaret was Hugh de Audley's only child and Stafford knew
she would eventually inherit her father's large estates. Audley wanted
Margaret to marry someone with more land and status and rejected Ralph
de Stafford's proposal to marry Margaret. When Ralph took the law
into his own hands, Audley was powerless to act without the support
of his king (see notes on Edward
and the Clare Estates for information on English law in the 14th
century concerning abduction and rape).
In 1337 Ralph, Earl of
Stafford, became steward of the king's household. The following year
he was one of Edward Ill's military commanders in Flanders and in
1346 took a leading role in England's successful victory over France
at the Battle of Crecy.
Most of the information
on Ralph, Earl of Stafford comes from Carole Rawcliffe's The
Staffords, Earl of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham (Cambridge,
1978).
In the second-half of the
lesson the class is told that it is now June 1348. The four returning
archers make their speeches about their experiences in France. Their
rewards can be compared with those of military commanders such as
the Earl
of Stafford.
The person with card 2
should include in his speech his discovery of beer. Most of the soldiers
who visited France with Edward Ill's army developed a liking for this
drink. Attempts were made to import French hops but the government
was worried that it would create problems for the English economy.
Parliament therefore decided to ban the importation of hops. The ban
was eventually lifted and hops first began arriving in England in
1424. It was not until the 16th century that farmers in England began
growing hops. It became a very popular crop with farmers in Kent
and by the nineteenth century
the parish of Yalding had the highest production of hops per acre
in the country.
One of the four archers
is given the Pestilence
Card (A) to
read. The pupils are them given Pestilence
(Stage 1). It
is important to always use the word pestilence rather than the Black
Death. This is what it was called at the time (the Black Death is
a 19th century term). If it is called the Black Death some of the
pupils will know
about the connections between fleas, rats and the disease.
The Stage 1 cards are concerned
with keeping the pestilence out of Yalding. If possible, each person
in each tithing group should have a different card. The pupils should
write out these ideas in their own words. The tithing groups then
discuss the different proposals. The children will probably be surprised
by the ideas expressed in some cards. However, these were common reactions
to the plague in the 14th century. Pupils should make notes on the
different ideas that are suggested.
Possible homework: "Write
a speech saying what the village should do to prevent the pestilence
arriving in Yalding."
Lesson
15: At the beginning of the lesson Pestilence
Card (B) is given
to one of the freemen who travel to other villages (Benedict Dunn,
Aymer Walter, Thomas Wood or Robert Golding). The class is told that
the pestilence arrived in England in September 1348 but did not reach
this part of England. In November it appeared to die out. We now know
that the reason for this is that the infected fleas were only active
in temperatures of 15°C - 20°C.
The class is told it is
now May 1349. The chosen freeman is asked to read out his card. The
class now knows that there is a very good chance of the plague arriving
in Yalding. The class therefore has to decide what measures to take
to stop it entering the village.
The class is told the important
role that women play in health care. Juliana Foreman, Elicia Godfrey,
Agnes Singyard, Rosa Seamark, Emma Brattle, Joanna Browne, Emma Ashdown
and Alice Minchin have all got good reputations for
knowing how to cure people of disease. Pestilence
(Stage 2) are
given to these girls. If these characters are not being used give
these theories to other girls in the class.
Pupils now write a speech
where they argue that the village should adopt their proposals. When
this has been finished they discuss their ideas in their tithing groups.
Each tithing group has to select three measures from Pestilence
(Stage 2) to
stop the pestilence entering Yalding. The class then comes together
to decide the three measures the village should adopt.
After the decision has
been made the class is told that Katerina Dunn has a high temperature,
is shivering and has pains all over her body. You then inform the
class that she has developed swellings under the armpits. The pestilence
has arrived in Yalding.
The class now have to debate
(a) how to treat the victims of the pestilence; (b) how to stop it
spreading in the village. They discuss their ideas in their tithing
groups. Each tithing group has to select three measures. The class
then comes together to decide the measures the village should adopt.
Possible homework assignment:
"Write up the measures that you think the village should take
once the disease arrives in Yalding."
Lesson
16: For this lesson you will need Pestilence:
Victims, and
Disease
in the 14th Century.
The teacher reads out the names of the people who caught the pestilence.
After the death of Agnes Minchin you tell the class that it appears
that the outbreak of the bubonic plague in Yalding appears to be over.
You remind them how the pestilence died out at this time last winter.
The reason for this can
be understood by an explanation of how people caught the bubonic plague.
The pestis bacterium establishes itself in the flea's stomach where
it multiplies rapidly until the organ is completely filled. The flea's
stomach eventually becomes blocked. The infected fleas now becomes
ravenously hungry because no blood can enter its stomach. To obtain
more food it has to regurgitate some of the blood in its stomach.
The plague bacilli now enters the rat. The rat will eventually die
of the plague. When this happens the flea has to find a new host.
It will try to find a rat but if none are available it will find another
animal. Failing that, it will bite the nearest human being. In virtually
every case the cause of infection is from animal to man. It is fairly
rare for bubonic plague to be spread from person to person.
The first symptoms include
a high temperature, tiredness, shivering and pains over the body.
The next day sees the appearance of the bubo (a hard, painful, haemorrhagic
swelling of a lymphatic gland). There are lymph glands in the groin,
neck and armpit. The precise site of the bubo is determined by the
location of the flea-bite. The pain from the growing bubo gradually
increases and the person normally dies in great agony on the fourth
or fifth day.
If the person is still
alive by the seventh day the bubo will burst, expelling a foul-smelling,
blackish liquid. The ragged ulcer takes a long time to heal. However,
the patient will gradually get better.
At the beginning of the
outbreak of the bubonic plague the death-rate is about 90%. This falls
to about 30% as the epidemic subsided. Overall, the death-rate is
about 70%. The arrival of the colder weather causes the fleas to hibernate.
The bubonic plague will now come to an end.
However, in the winter
of 1349, the bubonic plague developed into pneumonic plague. This
is when the pestis bacterium becomes localised in a person's lungs.
The victim of pneumonic plague will begin to cough up blood. The plague
will now spread directly from human to human by 'droplet' infection.
This is the deadliest bacterial disease known to humankind and virtually
everyone who catches the disease will be dead in four days.
You then inform the class
that on 17th October, Luke Clarke is taken ill. He has difficulty
breathing and begin to cough up blood. Luke dies the following day.
The same day Geoffrey Golding develops the same symptoms. He dies
soon after. The bubonic plague has turned into the pneumonic plague.
Lesson
17: The pupils now look at the harvest for Weather:
1350. The teacher
reads out the information for months January-June on the sheet Weather:
1350 and the pupils fill in Weather
and Harvest Chart.
In July, the pupils are given details of the weather, week by week.
Each group has to decide when the harvesting should begin. After harvesting,
the pupils have to predict the quality of their harvest.
The pupils are then told
that it was a good harvest and an average of 44 sheaves per acre was
produced in Yalding. The pupils then have to fill in their Assets
and Debits Chart for 1350. While the pupils are doing this they
are given details of their wages for 1350.
All pupils should have
made a decent profit in 1350. The pupils are reminded that the harvest
is the same as 1337. They can then be given the task of comparing
the figures for these two years and explaining why they were better
off in 1350 than they were in 1337. Hopefully they will be able to
work out why wages went up and why food consumption went down in 1350.
One reason for the demand
for higher wages was that the peasants had to pay higher food prices.
This can be seen by comparing the prices obtain for crops before and
after the Black Death.
|
Crops
(per qtr.)
|
1345
|
1351
|
| |
|
|
|
Wheat
|
3s.
9d.
|
10s.
2d.
|
|
Oats
|
2s.
0d.
|
3s.
7d.
|
|
Barley
|
2s.
9d.
|
6s.
9d.
|
|
Peas
|
2s.
3d.
|
6s.
0d.
|
|
Beans
|
5s.
5d.
|
6s.
1d.
|
Possible homework assignment:
(a) Who would have been upset by the increase in wages in 1350? (b)
What might these people have done to try and solve this problem?
Lesson
18: The lesson could start with a discussion of the homework.
Hopefully, some would have considered the possibility of a law being
passed by Parliament. Yalding's lord of the manor, Ralph, Earl of
Stafford, played a leading role in the campaign to control labourers'
wages. The children then read Statute
of Labourers Act and
answer questions 1 to 5.
The higher wages and food
prices were of great benefit to the small tenant farmer. Many serfs
were now in a position to buy their freedom. However, after the Black
Death, most lords of the manor were desperately short of labour and
were reluctant to give their serfs their freedom. Whereas lords of
the manor were often willing to allow serfs to buy their freedom in
the early part of the century, this was not the case after the Black
Death. In fact, some lords of the manor attempted to reassert their
feudal rights over the peasants. This continued for the next thirty
years and was one of the major reasons for the Peasants' Revolt in
1381.
Lesson
19: The pupils will need a copy of Kent
in the 14th Century,
14th
Century Towns,
Trade
& Industry,
Medieval
Houses, Sanitary
Conditions in Towns and
East
Grinstead in 1360.
The pupils are told that attempts to restrict people's wages in villages
encouraged some people to run away to towns. Pupils look at a copy
of Kent
in the 14th Century and
then consider where they would go if they ran away from Yalding. Tonbridge
(7 miles away) was owned by Ralph, Earl of Stafford (he also lived
in the castle) and so this would not have been a realistic option.
Maidstone and Sevenoaks are also very close to the area that he controlled.
To obtain their freedom serfs had to remain in the town for a year
and a day. There was a good chance that they would have been caught
if they ran away to towns like Tonbridge, Maidstone and Sevenoaks.
The Earl of Stafford also
had a home in London. However, as London had an estimated population
of 50,000 people in 1360, the runaway serfs had a good chance of remaining
free. Pupils could be asked to think about the advantages and disadvantages
of living in London. After their experiences of the Black Death, the
problems of disease in London would have been a major concern for
people thinking of a new place to live.
The Earl of Stafford did
not own any property in Sussex so East Grinstead would have been a
good choice. As East Grinstead was only 19 miles away it could have
been reached in about five hours. People probably did leave Yalding
for East Grinstead during this period. The earliest parish records
for East Grinstead (1560) show that there were people with the Yalding
surname living in the town. There are also examples of people in Yalding
with the name Grinstead.
East Grinstead provides
an example of what a small town was like in 1360. This gives the pupils
the opportunity to look at the differences between towns and villages
in the 14th century.
Some of the buildings shown
in East Grinstead in 1360 (Y44) are still there today (Wilmington
House, Amherst House, Broadleys). Although rebuilt on the same site,
St. Swithun's Church was demolished by the fall of the tower in 1785.
Hermitage Lane (facing St. Swithun's) and Church Lane (on the left
of St. Swithun's) are also still there. The road facing Thomas Rous'
large farm house on the left of drawing was known as Washwell Lane.
The foul-smelling pond at the bottom of the High Street remained a
problem for the town until the laying of sewage pipes in 1880.
Thomas Rous and Johannes
Alfrey were the town's two M.P.s. In theory, every man who owned or
rented a house in the town could vote in parliamentary elections.
However, the candidates were decided by the main landowners in the
district. In fact, the first contested parliamentary election did
not take place in East Grinstead until 1640 (the result of conflict
between Anglicans and Puritans).
The two main landowners
in the East Grinstead district in 1360 were Thomas Rous and Johannes
Alfrey. Thomas Rous' farmhouse is now the site of Sackville College.
Johannes Alfrey lived at Gulledge Farm on the Imberhorne Estate just
outside of the town. Gulledge Farmhouse still exists but it has been
considerably altered since 1360.
The row of shops in the
middle of the High Street facing the church is an example of encroachment
- a common feature in medieval towns. These houses were originally
a series of shacks put up by traders trying to take advantage of the
increased number
of people visiting the town. These shops were in many towns called
the 'Shambles', however in East Grinstead this area became known as
Middle Row. Court
records in the 14th century reveal that the traders in Middle Row
were primarily involved in the selling of meat.
The town's public well
can be seen at the end of Middle Row. The well remained in the High
Street until covered over in the 1880s. Most of the larger houses
in the town had them in their portlands. Some of these wells are still
there today.
Information on East Grinstead
in the 14th century can be found in two articles in The
Sussex Archaeological Collections: R. T. Mason, East
Grinstead High Street (Volume 80, 1939), P. D. Wood, The
Topography of East Grinstead Borough (Volume 106, 1968).
Other sources of information include P. Wood and P. Gray's article
East Grinstead: A Borough and its Buildings
in J. Warren (ed.) Wealden Buildings
(1990). Several articles on East Grinstead in the Middle Ages have
appeared in the East Grinstead Society Bulletin.
The most important of these are P. D. Wood, Middle
Row (Volume 8, 1972); P. D. Wood, East
Grinstead Borough
in the Middle Ages
(Volume 19, 1976); M. J. Leppard, Leather
Working in East Grinstead (Volume 19, 1976) and M. J. Leppard,
Expansion in the Borough of East Grinstead
in the Middle Ages (Volume 57, 1995).
Possible homework assignment:
If you were considering leaving Yalding what would be the advantages
and disadvantages of going to live in (a) Tonbridge; (b) London; (c)
East Grinstead?
Lesson
20: You will need worksheet Education
for this lesson. Elizabeth
de Clare (also
known as Elizabeth de Burgh) inherited a third of the Clare estates
on the death of her brother Gilbert at the Battle
of Bannockburn. This included manors in Dorset, Essex, Hertfordshire,
Kent, Norfolk, Somerset and Suffolk. She was also given extensive
land in Wales and Ireland including Usk, Caerleon, Llantrissent, Trellech
and Kilkenny.
Widowed for the third time
at the age of 27, she never remarried. After the execution of her
husband, Roger Damory, in 1322, she managed the family estates until
her death in 1360. A brief account of Elizabeth's life can be found
in Margaret Labarge's Women in Medieval Life
(Hamish Hamilton, 1986). C. A. Musgrave's The
Household of Elizabeth de Burgh (University of London,
1923) provides a detailed study of how she managed her estates.
Lesson
21: You will need a copy of Yalding
Church and details
of pupils characters in 1375 (Tithing
Group Details: 1375).
The date is 1375. Pupils
now become the sons and daughters of their parents. The teacher adopts
the role of the new estate bailiff, Thomas de Edenbridge. Thomas is
also one of Hugh, Earl of Stafford's sixty knights.
The name Edenbridge appears
several times in the Clare accounts. This is not surprising as the
village of Edenbridge was also under the control of the Clare family.
Tonbridge Priory school was used to educate peasants from Clare villages.
Most of them went on to
become priests but others were given posts such as seneschals, estate
bailiffs and stewards in Clare villages.
The Yalding Church sheet
also provides information on what has happened to Yalding since 1360.
Possible homework assignment:
"Compare your property in 1375 with what your family owned in
1336. Explain why these changes might have taken place. Use these
details to tell the story of your life over the last forty years".
Lesson
22: The pupils will need copies of John
Ball 1350-80.
This lesson links with the information on the Franciscans in the last
lesson.
The pupils are told that
John Ball visited Yalding in 1377. What he tells them is based on
accounts of John Ball's speeches in books by Jean Froissart, Thomas
Walsingham and Henry Knighton and the six letters from John Ball that
were found on captured serfs.
Richard
II was only 10 years old when he became king in 1377. John Ball
tells the village that he will send a message when the time is right
for a march on London. It is not known what the actual message said
but nearly all Ball's surviving letters that he sent to the villages
contained the phrases: "Now is the time" and "Stand
together in God's name."
Possible homework assignment:
Will you be marching to London when John Ball sends his message to
Yalding.
Lesson
23: The pupils will need copies of Taxation
in the 14th Century.
The first Poll Tax was
introduced by King Edward Ill's Parliament in January, 1377. One of
its main supporters was Hugh, Earl of Stafford, Yalding's new Lord
of the Manor. It was the first time Parliament had imposed a tax that
was to be paid by the whole of the adult population. The tax was unpopular
but the 4d. a head was paid because people believed it was needed
in order to defeat the French.
Edward was a dying man
at the time and his eldest son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster,
took the blame for the tax. John of Gaunt, who owned Ashdown Forest,
was an unpopular figure in the south after he stopped local people
from using the forest in 1372. When Edward III died in June 1377,
his 10 year old grandson, Richard II (son of Edward, the Black Prince),
became king.
In March, 1379, Hugh, Earl
of Stafford, became a member of the committee appointed to examine
the state of the government's finances. In December, 1380, Parliament
accepted John of Gaunt's request for another poll tax (to be paid
in March, 1381). The people of England were furious when they heard
that they had to pay their third poll tax in four years. They were
also unhappy with Parliament's decision to abandon the idea of a graduated
tax and to increase the basic rate from 4d. to 12d. per head.
Possible homework assignment:
"How much will the poll tax cost you in March 1381?
How can you avoid paying this tax?"
Lesson
24: The class are told that large numbers of people in
England have avoided paying the 1381 poll tax. King Richard II and
John of Gaunt have instructed the tax collectors to return to the
villages to obtain the missing money. Sir John Legge, the king's tax
collector for Kent, should be visiting Yalding soon. Before Legge
arrives, Yalding is visited by William Gildbourne from Fobbing. The
name of the man who visited Yalding is not known, but William Gildbourne
was one of the people from Fobbing who took an active role in the
revolt.
After reading through Rebellion
the villagers have to decide
if they are going to march on Maidstone. It is worth pointing out
to the children that the lord of the manor, Hugh, Earl of Stafford,
and Thomas de Edenbridge, are in Scotland with John of Gaunt's army.
Possible homework assignment:
"Write a speech where you argue for or against going to Maidstone
to join Wat Tyier, John Ball and the other rebels."
Lesson
25: The pupils will need maps of London
and District in 1381,
Map
of London in 1381,
Peasants'
Revolt Chronology,
South
West England in 1381,
The
Peasants' Revolt and
Death
of Wat Tyler.
The first part of the lesson
is a debate on whether the villagers should go to Maidstone. When
the decision is made the villagers leave for Maidstone. It is not
known how many peasants joined Wat Tyler and John Ball. The chroniclers
suggest it was between 30,000 and 60,000. Modern historians tend to
believe that it was more likely to be closer to the lower figure.
Maps of Map
of London in 1381,
London
and District in 1381 and
South
West England in 1381 can
be given to the pupils. Pupils will need to fill in details of the
rebellion as they go. It is best if this is read out to them stage
by stage (see Peasants'
Revolt Chronology).
Pupils should be encouraged to discuss what they should do when they
are in London. The teacher could play the role of Richard II. According
to the Anonimalle Chronicle, the
king first spoke to the rebels on the 13th June from the Tower (on
the turret facing St. Catherine's Wharf area) where he told them to
put their grievances in writing. Jean Froissart claims that the first
meeting took place at Rotherhithe.
At each stage the pupils
should be given the opportunity to return to Yalding. After the meeting
at Mile End on 14th June, the rebels who are willing to go home, should
be given a copy of the Charter
issued by King Richard.
The contents of the charter is based on the one granted to people
living in Hertford (this charter is included in Thomas Walsingham's
History of England).
The chroniclers agree that
most peasants left London after the meeting at Mile End. However,
it is not clear how many remained in London. The behaviour of the
peasants after the death of Wat Tyier suggests they were outnumbered
by the army raised by Walworth (estimated to have been about 5,000
men). At this stage most of the villagers are likely to return to
Yalding. The last part of the lesson deals with the meeting at Smithfield
and the death of Wat Tyier.
Lesson
26: Another opportunity for a piece of extended writing.
The pupils will need John
Ball, John
Ball 1350-81,
Taxation
in the 14th Century,
Rebellion,
London
and District in 1381,
Map
of London in 1381,
Peasants'
Revolt Chronology,
South
West England in 1381,
Death
of Wat Tyler
and The
Peasants' Revolt.
Lesson
27: The pupils will need copies of South
West England in 1381 and
Punishment
of the Peasants.
Yalding is visited
by King Richard II and his army. Pupils can read Jean Froissart's
account (source A)
of the visits that Richard made to the villages in Kent and Essex
during June and July.
Pupils are asked to identify those people who encouraged the
villagers to join the rebels. Those who joined the rebels in London
are fined 2 shillings
by the lord of the manor.
Pupils are then told about
the planned attempt to capture Maidstone. Thomas Harding,
the leader of this conspiracy, lives at Linton (3 miles away). The
meeting to plan the
rebellion is to be held at Boughton Heath on 30th September (4 miles
away). Is anybody
willing to join the rebellion after their experiences in London?
The account of the rebellion
led by Thomas Harding is based on W. E. Flaherty's article Sequel
to the Great Rebellion in Kent
in Archaeolgia Cantiana: Volume IV (1861).
This account includes John Cote's full confession and details of the
trial. One man, William
de Delton of Linton, claimed trial by battle. Delton was defeated
and executed. Another
nine were found guilty of treason and were hung, drawn and
quartered. It is not known why Cote betrayed the rebellion. Loyalty
to the king and a
desire for a reward, are two obvious possibilities. Cote was a mason,
the same trade as
Thomas Harding, the man accused of being the leader of the proposed
rebellion. One historian has suggested that maybe the two men were
involved in some
trade dispute.
In January 1382, Cote
named another group of men involved in a plan to overthrow the
king. At their trial in July 1382, the accused men were found not
guilty and acquitted.
Cote was then found guilty of false accusations. He was sentenced
to death but in April,
1383, he was pardoned by the king.
Possible homework assignment:
"Describe your feelings about the way the peasants were treated
after the 1381 revolt. How might these feelings have affected your
behaviour in Yalding?"
Lesson
28: Pupils will need a copy of Decline
of Feudalism.
The lesson could be started
with a discussion of the pupils' homework. There is a good change
that their comments will reflect the feelings of the peasants in 1381.
After the Peasants' Revolt large landowners like the Earl of Stafford
had considerable difficulty obtaining feudal duties from their serfs.
Some serfs ran away to towns while others put very little effort into
their work on the demesne. In some villages serfs joined together
and refused to do their labour service.
Feudalism was becoming
economically inefficient and many landowners realised they would be
better off employing free workers. A large number of landowners agreed
to allow the serfs to buy their freedom. The price depended on several
different factors (age, health, etc.) but the average price was now
only 30 shillings. This is something that the teacher can negotiate
with the pupils.
Lesson
29: Pupils will need a copy of Yalding:
1340-1384 and
History
of Yalding.
The pupils are told that
the Earl of Stafford has given Thomas de Edenbridge a journal
kept by John Giffard, Yalding's previous estate bailiff. The Earl
of Stafford has asked
Edenbridge to use this journal to help him write a history of the
village.
The pupils are given a
copy of Thomas de Edenbridge's history. One possible strategy
is to ask the pupils to make a list of points that they disagree with.
Alternatively, they
could be asked to write down sentences that say unpleasant things
about the people living in Yalding. The final activity is for the
pupils to write their
own history of the village.
Summary
Some of the pupils might be interested to find out what happened to
their descendants living in Yalding. Many of names used in the simulation
were still in the village in the 19th century. This included the following
families: Baker, Barfoot, Brattle, Brooker, Cheeseman, Chowring, Clarke,
Dunn, Foreman, Grinstead, Herenden, Seamark, Singyard, Mannering,
Taylor and Wood. It is interesting that people with the fairly unusual
names of Singyard and Seamark still live in Yalding today.
Several of the role-playing
names appeared in the court records over the years. Some interesting
examples include:
1570
"Andrew Herenden miserably cut his own throat and is buried in
waste ground"
1598
"Richard Garrett, tailor and James Chowring, husbandman, stole
from the house of
Ralph Roife at Yalding, three pounds in a purse. Guilty."
1600
"Thomas Furner, husbandman and John Baker of Yalding, with others
unknown, behaved
in a warlike manner on 29th September, at Yalding between
10 and 11 at night and entered a place called the Orchard and assaulted
John Brickenden. Fined 40 shillings."
1600
"Edward Grinstead of Yalding, broadweaver, has not cleaned out
his ditch, filled
with clay, mud and other filth, so the highway is flooded. Fined
12d."
1600
"Jeremy Fleete of Yalding, constable, allowed John Baker to escape
from custody."
1600
"Thomas Hale of Yalding, yeoman, assaulted Elizabeth Barfoot,
widow of Yalding.
Fined 6d."
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