THE CUSTOM OF THE MANOR 101
himself; and when, during the second half of the thirteenth
century, lords began systematically to put their customs into
writing, they at once arrested any hope of rapid change, and also
protected themselves against the possibility of its being easy to
convince the court of the wisdom or the necessity for any fresh
interpretation of custom. Henceforward the custom of the manor
is on record; it no longer exists merely in the memories of the
"wiser and saner" peasants empanelled to give a "doom", but
can be (and is) constantly turned up while the Court sits, and is
quoted and used on the lord's behalf. Not only is it on record,
but it is a record drawn up by lawyers eager to make all things
clear, who tended to reduce any wavering and uncertain customs
to a steady and clear-cut pattern, and to phrase in the lord's
favour any equivocal or doubtful matters.
Against all this the peasant fought, and was continuously
fighting. He probably found it difficult to realise the implications
of much that happened in the Manor Court when he was called
on for a decision. He knew that it was the custom to ask his
opinion, and that his "dooms" were the result of his own
personal knowledge and of his practical judgment, and had to
leave it at that. Common sense urged him to interpret matters in
his own favour as far as was possible, and the rigid cash basis on
which manorial affairs were conducted encouraged him to buy
himself freedom from this or that liability as he saw the chance.
No general account of this slow process is worth much, for con-
ditions varied enormously from manor to manor, but over several
centuries the fight went on, and the immense variation of custom,
as expressed in these rents and services, is evidence enough of
this. Every variation, could we but read between the lines, has
its own story to tell, for every variation came about only by
pressure on one side or the other. Occasionally the veil is
lifted, and we can see something of what must have happened
again and again up and down the country throughout these
centuries.
Take, for example, the quarrel over the payment of sheep as
part of the heriot by the men of the Abbot of Vale Royal. The
customal says: "And as to sheep, let them be divided like all
other goods of the deceased which ought to be divided." The
revealing sentences, however, follow, and are most illuminating: