i3a SERVILE BURDENS
bread for that day; and if the peasant cannot grind there that day
then he may take his corn elsewhere at his will.... From August i till
Michaelmas each man may grind where he will, if he be unable to
grind at my lord's mill on the day whereon he has sent the corn.
Moreover, if it chance that my lord's mill be broken or his milldam
burst, so that the tenant cannot grind there, then, as in the former case,
he may take it elsewhere at his will.1
The greatest difficulty that faced the lord, however, was how to
deal with the secret milling that went on in the peasant's own
home. The hand-mill (or quern) was an object of the greatest
antiquity, and its working was extremely simple and was known
to all. One of these small machines set up in the house, if it re-
mained undiscovered, could cope with the limited amount of
grain many holdings provided. Hence they were a great tempta-
tion to the poor man and were in common use. The lord tried to
prevent this, and wherever possible fined those found in pos-
session of hand-mills. The Court Rolls arc full of such matters:
"It is presented that A.B. does not mill at hisS lord's mill, and
further that he has a hand-mill at home. It is ordered that the
mill be seized, and he is fined 6rf."2 At the next Court he still has
the mill, but is made to come before the Court and find pledges
not to use it in future, and it is to be taken from him.3 An in-
teresting case at Cirencester, in 1300, shows us the seizure being
made. The bailiff of the Abbot was accused of entering several
houses, and of seizing the millstones and taking them to the
Abbey. The bailiff admitted that as bailiff of the manor he had
gone to certain men's houses with a white rod in his hand, in the
name of his bailiwick as was the custom, and had ordered the
nuisance to be abated. When the men had utterly refused to
obey, he had gone again at the Abbot's command and removed
the stones. The justices upheld the Abbot's right, and it cost the
men of Cirencester the large sum of 100 marks to make their
peace with him. A side-note in the cartulary states that the
Abbot could seize the mills, but ought not to destroy them.4 It
will, perhaps, be remembered that in the famous quarrel be-
1 Ramsey Cart, i, 473. Cf. n, 313, where if a mill is out of action for two
days serfs may go elsewhere.
8 Abbots Langley folk, 20; Wakefield Rolls, n, 8, 164; Selden Soc. n, 47;
rv, 123; Page, op. cit. 47 n. 3.
8 Abbots Langley Rolls, 21 v.
* Bristol and Gloucester Arch. Soc. DC, 315.