BALANCING THE ACCOUNT 191
They also broke open their barns and took wheat and corn"—
and the reeves ask to be exonerated.1 Sometimes the reeve paid out
money by authorisation from his superiors, and this authorisa-
tion he has to produce before he can avoid being charged with
the debt.2 Generally, however, he does not produce actual
letters, but hands over his various tallies or his little parchment
"bills", which he has taken care to claim before parting with his
lord's goods to any man.3 Once he has been foolish enough to
allo\v grain or stock to go without a written order from a superior
authority, or without first claiming a "bill" or tally from the
purchaser, it will go hard with him before he can persuade the
auditors that he has not made away with his lord's goods.4
So the accountants worked through the roll; here adding a few
small items either omitted or sold since the account was drawn
up,5 there reducing a charge which they consider excessive.6
They account for items forgotten in the previous year's account,7
and make such allowances as they think justifiable.8 At last they
come to an end; the balance is struck, and the year's profit or loss
stands revealed. This was an anxious moment for the reeve: if
there were a balance he was called on to produce the money, but
often he had not yet demanded it all, or had failed to collect it
when he applied. On the other hand, a deficit on the year's
working was an unpleasant matter for him and his fellows, since
his lord's livelihood depended on the successful farming of his
manors, and a bad year was liable to lead to increased demands
and a tightening up of conditions in the coming year.
In general, however, there was a balance to the lord's credit,
and the reeve was held strictly accountable for this. The auditors
had discretionary powers, and would, at times, forgive a debt
because of the "weakness and poverty"9 of the reeve, or as a
matter of special grace of the lord.10 Most reeves were not so
fortunate, and their debt was firmly fastened upon them, and
1 Lives of the Berkeley*, I, 286.
2 Min. Ace. 936/15; Cunningham, op. cit. 600.
3 Min. Ace. 367/1139; 870/9, 10; 1017/14; 1280/5.
4 Davenport, op. cit. 25 n. 3, where a reeve seeks an allowance for payments
made sine writ or tally, and also Reynolds* Register; 44, 45, 51.
6 Min. Ace. 918/4. * Ibid. 913/16.
7 Ibid. 1017/8. 8 Crawley, 273.
9 Obed. Rolls S. Switkin, 150. 10 Min. Ace. 1024/19.