SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY worth 24J. per year,' *^ and of the same manor five years later we are told that the price of the arable land by the year is 3^. per acre only, ' and not more since the time of the pestilence, because of the small number of workers.'" The wages given at Oakham during the autumn of 1349 illustrate the sudden rise in the price of labour which took place all over the country. During the first week of harvest the reapers received ^d. and the ordinary labourers 3d', per day ; during the second week the reapers received 6h^- and the other labourers (or helpers) from 2<J. to 4!^. ; during the third week the reapers were paid at the rate of 6d., while the helpers received 2d. and 4</. ; during the fourth week the reapers' wages went down to 5^., but those of the helpers still varied from 2d. to ^.d. Apparently the workers were fed, as in each case there are accounts for food — bread, beer, flesh, herring, and fish.'^ In the following year, however (1350), the notorious Statute of Labourers was passed, and workmen were forbidden to receive such high remuneration, the vv^ages paid in the year 1347 being taken as the standard for the future. Haymakers were not allowed to take more than id. per day, mowers of meadows more than ^d., and reapers more than 2d. and 3^. But in Rutland, as elsewhere in England, the statute was by no means strictly obeyed, as may be seen from a minister's account for Oakham in the autumn of 1350. The wages, though not as high as in the preceding year, are shown to exceed the limits laid down in the statute, for the reapers received 4^. per day instead of the regulation price of 3^.** Workmen such as tilers, thatchers, &c., were also to have 3^. only, while their helpers were to have no more than ihd., but in 1353 we find 3J-. 4^. or 4^. per day given to one man for ten days' work at the roofing of Brooke Barn, while his helpers received 2d. The same amount was given for similar work at Langham and Oakham." If further proof is wanted that the labourers and artisans of Rutland resisted the regulations of the statute of 1350, we have it in certain Assize Rolls, where occasional entries are to be found such as the following: 'Hugh Plumer took in excess for leading the church and other buildings in Overton, 6s.' 'Thomas Chapman took in excess 18^. for Autumn works.' 'Thomas a servant took 4^. in excess wages.' *^ Records of such instances are not as numerous as for some other counties in England, but they are sufficiently frequent to show that Rutland took some part in the general struggle against the regulations laid down in the Statute of Labourers. The greatest outburst of resistance to the reactionary statute was the Peasants' Rising of 1 38 1, which was also in large measure due to the imposition of poll- taxes in 1377 and 138 i. There is, however, no record of any disturbance in Rutland at this time, and the only known connexion of the county with the rising belongs rather to political than to social history. *^^ The statute was confirmed in 1360 and 1368, and various others concerning wages were enacted during the next 200 years, but we have no record of the actual effect of these in Rutland until 1563, the date of the famous Statute of Artificers. This statute differed from that of 1350 in so far as legislators had at last ^ Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill (2nd part), no. 153. ^ Ibid. 27 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 65. '^ Wcstm. Abbey, Rut. Doc. press 10, shelf i, 20263. Ibid. 20266. " Ibid. 20359. °' Assize R. 731, m. 7. " See the article on ' Political History.' ^19
