CHAPTER VII
MANORIAL ADMINISTRATION
FROM what has already been said about the rents and services
which the lord demanded from the peasants it will be
obvious that some organisation was required by which to
collect these rents from time to time, and to arrange for the
punctual and efficient rendering of the various services. Not only
this: the lord had also to make provision for the farming of his
own part of the manor—the demesne lands as they were called,
on which, as we have seen, the unfree peasants laboured through-
out the year. A large part—sometimes the whole—of a lord's
livelihood came from these' sources, and it was of vital conse-
quence to him to arrange for their efficient exploitation.
When the lord himself resided in the manor house and could
supervise the work of his men, it was, no doubt, a comparatively
simple matter for him to see that his lands and stock were
properly kept, and that everyone who owed him rent or service
paid it whenever it was due. But for many lords the problem
was not so simple. They frequently held more than one manor—
sometimes they held many—and these might be scattered over a
county, or perhaps over half England. Even had they no other
affairs, it would have been wellnigh impossible for them to have
overseen the whole of their manors efficiently; but, in many
cases, they were busy servants of the King, or great soldiers
engaged on foreign wars and crusades, or merely idle men of
fashion who followed the Court and despised the country boors
and the life of the fields, save as necessary adjuncts to the
delights of the chase. For very different reasons the great
ecclesiastical landowners, such as Cathedral chapters or the
innumerable religious houses of monks and nuns, were equally
unable to supervise their many manors. It was impossible for
these people to be absent long from their homes, and here again,
they had to employ others to look after their interests. Hence we
find that a widespread system sprang up, whereby manors were
controlled by paid agents of the lord, and a whole hierarchy of
officials and minor servants was created.