io6 RENTS AND SERVICES
have been, by the thirteenth century the week-works were, at least in
many places, not regular, but largely occasional They were, so to
speak, kept in stock by the reeve, and demanded when and where
most needful, a strict account being rendered at the end of the year.1
This point of view is emphasised by Miss Levett from her in-
tensive study of the Bishop of Winchester's manors, where she
finds that
there was always a very considerable margin [of works] of which the
lord may take advantage when crops are exceptionally heavy, when
the weather was unfavourable, or the Saints' days fell unfortunately,
or when some change of method, such as increased fencing or en-
closing, caused an unprecedented demand for labour.2
If, as sometimes happened, the lord had no need to take ad-
vantage of this margin, the works were cither excused or sold to
the peasants. A common item in the manorial compoti, which
gives a full account of " works sold " or " works acquitted ",3 is a
reminder to us that many more works were often owed than were
in fact ever demanded. Hence, here again, the seemingly heavy
demand of the cartulary or extent needs some scrutiny before it
can be taken at its face value.
With these considerations in mind we may turn to examine
the various types of work exacted from the peasant. His obliga-
tions here fall into two main divisions, week-works, and "boon"
works. Week-works, as the name implies, were rendered week
by week throughout the year; "boon" works were only per-
formed occasionally and as "extras". The working year was
divided into two parts—from Michaelmas to the beginning of
August, and from then on to Michaelmas again. During this
latter period, on account of the corn harvest, rather more work
was demanded from the serf, so that whereas for the greater part
of the year he had to perform say two or three days* work a week,
during this period he was called on for three to five days a week,
as well as for a number of " boon " works in addition.
The week-works may be grouped conveniently about certain
operations, and of these the most important was the ploughing.
Whether the lord's land (the demesne) was a separate part of the
1 Sussex Arch. Soc. Lin, 172.
2 Levett, op. cit. 65; cf. 88, 180; V.C.H. Berks, i8x.
8 E.H.R. ix, 420 ff.; Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. xiv, 124; Levett, op. cit. 65;
Glouc. Cart, in, 185, 194.