OBSERVANCE OF HOLY-DAYS 117 the Manor Court;1 to perform carrying duties;2 to act as a letter bearer3 or to do any kind of work required ;4 and similarly on two at least of the Ramsey manors Sunday carrying might be required.5 As for holy-days other than Sundays, on a great many manors the lord did not allow his serfs to take every holy-day off, as he should have done by strict canon law, but allowed them only one out of every two.6 On some Ramsey manors they were given the day's holiday but had to make it up later on ;7 while on others, no allowance or excuse was contemplated, but the work went on, holy-day notwithstanding.8 This seems to have been the view taken by Walter of Henley, for he reckons the lord can get forty- four working weeks in the year after taking away "eight weeks for holy-days and other hindrances".9 Thus after deducting Sundays he only allows for four " other hindrances " in the shape of holy-days during the year! It will be noticed that nearly all these examples are taken from manors owned by churchmen, and we may fairly argue that con- ditions on lay manors were no better and probably a little worse. We may, therefore, expect to find a widespread ignoring of holy- days, and an examination of the manorial accounts proves that this was so. The reeve, in making his annual reckoning, had to account for all the works owed and how they were discharged; and therefore his account generally included an item under the heading of holy-days, noting how many such days occurred in the year, and the number of works thereby excused. An exami- nation of a large number of such accounts shows no clear-cut rule as to the observance of holy-days, but it does show clearly that few or no lords tried to live up to the requirements of canon law. In no instance has anything like fifty or more days' work relaxed been noticed: something between fifteen and twenty would be a generous estimate of the number of holy-days the 1 Sussex Rec. Soc. xxxi, 15. 8 Ibid. 17, 34, 71 3 Ibid. 36. * Ibid. 37. 5 Ramsey Cart. I, 290, 310; cf. Eynsham Cart. II, 19. 6 Wore. Priory Reg. 33 &; D.S.P. 66; Rot. Hund. n, 630b; Ramsey Cart. l> 350, 384, 398, 463, 486, 492; Sussex Rec. Soc. xxxi, 15, 36, 42, 64 (but see page 7 which says that in total only eight such days are to be allowed). 7 Ramsey Cart. I, 302, 366. 8 Ibid, i, 369; Clutterbuck's Hertford, II, Appendix 10; in, 614; Comb. Antiq* Soc. Proc. xxvii, 170. * Op. dt. 9; cf. Rogers, Wages, I, 256.