Agricultural History Review, Volume 64 Part 1 (2016), p. 118

Well-produced editions of primary sources in translation are always welcome and this present volume is no exception. The editors have produced a valuable collection of various sources pertaining to the St Albans manor of Norton. These include the translation of the court books of the manor dating from the first extant and very short halmote court held in April 1244, to the final court book entry dating from April 1460. In addition the editors have included surviving court rolls of the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, amongst them some view of frankpledge courts, plus an eleventh-century charter and an account dating from 1488–89. There is a comprehensive and useful introduction explaining the sources at hand while also exploring aspects of the archaeology of the manor. A number of useful maps and illustrations alongside subject, name and place indices have also been included, which undoubtedly add value to the volume. Of particular value, especially perhaps to those less familiar with the obscure terminology of court rolls, is the inclusion of a glossary.

A. E. Levett’s Studies in manorial history (1939) first drew attention to the value and importance of the court books of the various manors belonging to the abbey of St Albans. These were, in effect, edited versions of the manorial court rolls, containing only the types of entries which were of direct significance to the lord. As such, the St Albans court books contain a wealth of information on land transfers (including upon the deaths of tenants), marriage licences and information on various manorial customs and villein dues. The abbey was a notoriously conservative landlord, forever in conflict with its various tenants and famously causing affront to the townspeople of St Albans not only by treating them like villein tenants, but also by insisting on calling them thus. In this respect, then, the existence of the court books can almost be seen as a reflection of the mentality of the lords of St Albans, creating simple short-hand reference guides to all matters pertaining to unfreedom in their manors by extracting the relevant information from the original court rolls. The latter, by their very nature, included a great deal of business concerning relations between the tenants themselves, such as brawls, accusations of debt, petty thefts and broken contracts. Such cases generated revenue for the abbots, but were not of any longer term consequence. Instead it is in land transfers, the rendering of labour services, marriage licences and other cases detailing other villein dues, such as having to use the mill of the lord to grind one’s grain, that tests for unfreedom and the status of individual plots of land can be ascertained. These served as precedents and the compilations were a handy reference to the personal status of individual families and the land they held. Therefore the court books of the St Albans manors, the present example of Norton included, are excellent sources for anybody interested in the long-term development of villeinage and the often conflictual relationships between lord and tenant, including landholding patterns and peasant land markets.

That said, this present edition does include some interesting gems illustrating daily life at medieval Norton and the lord’s attempts to regulate these to safeguard what he considered to be his assets. In May 1338 for example a decree by the lord is included stipulating that none of the unfree tenants were to spend their time at the tavern of Baldock to ‘waste there their goods and chattels to the grave damage of the lord’ (p. 115). This seigniorial decree was not due to moral concerns; instead the lord wanted his tenants to brew for themselves and ordered that they ‘shall have a common brewery in Norton’ to sell ale regulated under the assize, which would have generated an additional income for the lord.

Overall this is a wonderful and useful volume, not least because the documents included span a significant chronology and include key periods of stress in later medieval rural life, including the famine years of the early fourteenth century and the arrival of the Black Death. It is likely to be highly valued as a teaching tool for undergraduate and postgraduate students and to be welcomed by anybody interested in researching daily life in later medieval England.