MARRIAGE 241
The question of marriage upon the manor presents small
difficulty. The serfs, in general, found themselves subjected to
little control. Unlike other people—the nobles, the great land-
holders, the wards or the rich merchants—no one had much in-
terest in their marriages among themselves and upon the same
manor. This still left both parties in the hands of the lord; and they,
and any future progeny, remained at his will and disposal. At
worst, and as a sign of ownership, a small fine was exacted: "they
must buy their blood."1 At best, they were allowed to marry
freely one with another, and they found it worth while to see that
such a privilege was recorded when the custom of their manor
was written down. This we see on the manors of the monks of
Glastonbury, or on those of the canons of St Paul's.2 Needless
to say, if there was any special reason, e.g. if the girl would her-
self inherit her parent's holding in due course, the lord's consent
to her marriage was necessary,3 since her husband would have
to discharge the duties which went with the holding.
The real difficulties began wrhen marriage outside the manor
was contemplated, or when marriage with one of free birth either
in or out of the manor was in question. Marriage off the manor
involved an entirely different set of considerations, unless both
manors belonged to the same lord. If they did not, the marriage
meant the loss of property to one of the lords, and he, not un-
reasonably, expected compensation. This compensation (some-
times called redemptio or forismaritagium) was fixed at various
prices, but does not seem at any time to have been nearly so
heavy in England as it was in France until the end of the twelfth
century.4 It is rare to find a payment of more than a few shillings
entered in the rolls: the most unsatisfactory conditions were
those obtaining on some estates which left the amount of the
fine to be settled by the serf with his lord on the best terms he
could get. Even here, as on the Ramsey manors, custom had
1 Oust. Raff, 12, cf. 33; Hist. MSS. Com. Wells, I, 327; Crondal Records,
64, 150; Selden Soc. u, 27; Camb. Antiq. Soc. xxvii, 164, etc.
8 Glas. Rent. 83, 92; DJSJP. cxxv.
8 Cust. Raff. 12.
* Cf. Bloch, Libertl et servitude persormettes aa moyen-Łge, 15 n. 23. "Les
amendes 6taient certainement tres fortes: allant, en droit, jusqu'a la con-
fiscation des biens, selon line charte de 1070.... II y avait de tels abus qu'en
1385 le Parlement crut devoir se substituer au chapitre de Laon pour fixer le
taux d'une amende." See also, Luchaire, Les Institutions populairest 302.
BL 16