i72 MANORIAL ADMINISTRATION
Hence, whoever was holding that particular piece of land was
liable for this service. In all such cases the result was that the
greater part of the community went free, and the burden of
office was thrown upon a mere handful of people. An amusing
instance of the way in which men would evade office, if possible,
is furnished by the proceedings at a Dulwich Court of 1333.
Three of those who should have been present were absent, and
as there were three vacant reeveships to be filled, their fellows
seized the opportunity to elect them forthwith to these offices;
and, in case there should be any doubt in the matter, the Court
reaffirmed the election the next time it met.1
Whatever method was employed in the election of the reeve,
and however many men avoided the office, at last one man was
chosen, and there and then was sworn in by the lord or his
steward in the presence of the whole Court. Thus there could be
no question who was the new reeve, or that everybody knew
about it.2
We may now turn to consider what were the duties which
faced the newly elected reeve, and what powers he had at his
disposal. We may put the matter briefly by saying that every
item of the manorial economy was his concern. The estate
manuals excel themselves in setting out his duties, and their
detail runs to many pages. He must, they say, see that the farm
servants rise in good time and get to work quickly; he must over-
look the ploughing, carting, marling, seeding; he must keep a
watch on the threshers so that they neither waste nor steal; he
must supervise the livestock and see to their well-being. It is his
duty to issue the various food allowances to the servants at
stated intervals, and he is expected to hale before the Manor
Court all those who fail in their service. The proper upkeep of
the manor house, the farm-buildings and all the agricultural
implements is his concern—in short there is no end to the variety
or the extent of his labours. Nor is he always to be found about
the manor, for at times his duties take him to distant parts. The
reeve of Cuxham, for example, might have been seen one day in
1 W. Young, Hist. Dulwich College, n, 272. Cf. E.H.R. xxxix, 122, where
Mr Hilary Jenkinson suspects similar occurrences on East Kent manors. For
several reeves on one manor, see Levett, op. cit. 37, where it is shown that
Waltham had no less than six!
* Durham Halmote Rolls, 36; Tatenhttl, n, 48, 66; cf. Fleta, 164.