Agricultural History Review, Volume 42 Part 2 (1994), pp. 97–114

In the post-Black Death Winchester account roils the information on lost rents and vacant holdings is unusually detailed. This enables us to see how the recorded totals were computed; the results are striking. Careful analysis of the information provided makes it clear that the recorded totals are not what they are said to be. In fact, they represent the balance between the lost rents sensu stricto and any income which was obtained from the vacant holdings in other ways. Furthermore, this paper argues that the money obtained from vacant holdings came from the peasants who, therefore, nmst have exploited them in some profitable way and, thus, such holdings cannot be automatically equated with unused land. Apart from telling its own story, the Winchester evidence may have a lesson for other estates as well: it provides a warning that reliance on the recorded totals alone could be greatly misleading, for the ostensible situation with regard to lost rents and vacant holdings on such estates could be as far removed from the actual reality as it is for the Winchester estates. 

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