iS4 MANORIAL ADMINISTRATION
In order to aid them in their work it was necessary for the
lord to give the chief officials the clearest account possible of
what were the lands and people they had to control, and what
things they might expect from the manorial population, in
money, in service and in kind. Two main classes of documents
gave them this information: the rentals or extents, and the
customals. The rental or extent set out in the greatest detail
exactly what was to he demanded of every single landholder on
the manor. It first dealt with the freeholders, and this was a
comparatively brief matter, for once their rent was paid little but
an occasional service, such as attendance at the Manor Court on
special occasions, or coming to oversee the workers during harvest
was expected of them* The unfrec, however, were another matter:
they had to render numerous rents and services, and often every
detail of what was to be demanded of them was set out in the
minutest fashion* And it did not follow that because one man
did certain things his fellow would do likewise. Further, as we
have seen, there were many groups in the manorial society, and
the services of each of these groups demanded its own space in
the extent. Once he had got this, however, the official knew
what he might legitimately demand from everyone who held
land of his lord.
We have already noted the way in which the customal came
into being. It embodied the many by-laws, as we may call them,
which had gradually been evolved, and which, henceforth, re-
presented "the custom of the manor". Both official and serf
knew full well what these customs were, and after he had grasped
what were a man's services as laid down in the extent, the wise
official was careful to see how far (if at all) it was modified by
anything laid down in the customal before he took any action.
Our information concerning the manorial organisation comes
from these two primary sources and also from the detailed
accounts which the manorial officials were required to make
yearly, and also from the Manor Court proceedings about which
much will be said later,* In addition to this, we have a number of
1 These detailed accounts or campoti are classed in the Public Record
Office as Ministers' Accounts, i.e. accounts rendered by an official appointed
to minister affairs on the lord's behalf. They are discussed in detail below on
pp. 186 ft. The Manor Court and its proceedings are dealt with in chapter vm,
PP-195 ff-