| The Background to History, Part IV
|
| PROF. |
| JONES: Good evening. |
| One of the main elements in any assessment of the
|
| medieval open-field farming system is the availability of plough teams for the
|
| winter plowing. |
| Professor Tofts of the University of Manchester puts it like
|
| this:
|
| (A rocking beat starts and a 60s-style folk rock song with some heavy caribbean
|
| influence begins.)
|
| To plough once in the winter Sowing, and again in Lent,
|
| Sowing with as many oxen
|
| Sowing with as many oxen
|
| As he shall have yoked in the plough
|
| Oh yes
|
| Oh yes
|
| As he shall have yoked in the plough.
|
| Oh yes
|
| Oh yes
|
| PROF. |
| JONES: But of course there is considerable evidence of open-field
|
| villages as far back as the tenth century. |
| Professor Moorhead: (Dramatic metal
|
| chords, reminiscent of British punk or perhaps groups like Black Sabbath.)
|
| Theeeeeere’s ev-i-de-ence
|
| Theeeeeere’s ev-i-de-ence
|
| There’s evidence (evidence)
|
| Evidence (evidence)
|
| Evidence (evidence?)
|
| There’s evidence (evidence!)
|
| Evidence of settlements with one long village street,
|
| Farmsteads, hamlets, little towns — the framework was complete
|
| By the tiiiiime … (OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST!) The rural framework was complete
|
| Rur-al
|
| Frame-work
|
| Wa-as
|
| Com-plete.
|
| PROF. |
| JONES: This is not to say, of course, that the system was as sophisticated as it later came to be. |
| I asked the Professor of Medieval studies
|
| at Cambridge why this was.
|
| PROF. |
| HEGERMAN: (stuttering) Well, i-it may not have been a — a statutory
|
| obligation, but, uh, I mean, uh, a guy who was a freeman whuh — was obliged in the medieval system to…
|
| PROF. |
| JONES: To do boonwork?
|
| PROF. |
| HEGERMANN: That’s right. |
| There’s an example, ah, from the village rolls,
|
| ah, in 1313. - |