MANUMISSION 283
Both lay and ecclesiastical lords made the best of both worlds:
their charters were embellished with the words of God, but their
account rolls noted with exactitude the "eight marks of silver",
or the £10 "legalis monete Anglie" which went with them.1
But seldom do we find the lord's motives so candidly expressed
as they are in a charter of 1355 whereby Grandisson (one of our
greatest bishops) freed one of his serfs. He writes:
Whereas thou, being now come to thy fifty years, hast no longer
any wife or offspring lawfully begotten of thy body, and art so in-
sufficient in worldly goods that thou must needs live from thine own
labour, and knowest no art but that of a boatman, having learned none
other from thy youth upward, therefore we cannot hold it unprofitable
to us or to Our Church of Exeter to restore thee to thy natural liberty.
Wherefore, in order that thou mayest be able to labour more freely
and seek thy daily food and clothing by boatmanship, in considera-
tion of the aforesaid facts and moved by pity, We do hereby, insofar
as pertaineth to Ourselves, manumit thee and restore to natural
liberty both thyself and all goods and chattels whatsoever, occupied
or possessed by thee in any manner, specially reserving for Ourselves
and Our successors and Our Church the patronage of thyself, and all
thine offspring if perchance thou do beget any such.2
Without wife or children, and growing old with straining at the
oar, he was no doubt of little use to the Bishop (although it will
be noted that a *' patronage "3 of him is reserved), but what future
had this serf, and what kind of piety was it that liberated him?
The fact that the majority of manumissions of which we have
record are accompanied by an entry of the price paid for such
freedom is one of great significance. Economic pressure in
various directions rather than humanitarian sentiments were the
dissolving agents employed. "Ah! Freedom is a noble thing!"
cried the poet Barbour (although, in passing, it may be noted that
he himself was an owner of serfs and a seller of serfs). But noble
things are not to be had merely for the asking, and so the peasant
1 A fair number of these charters have survived, but in general our in-
formation conies from the compoti and entries in court rolls and business
documents. For the former, e.g. see Manydown^ 102; Crondal, 34; Eynsham
Cart, n, 268; V.C.H. Durham, n, 207, etc. For entries in compoti, etc., see
Winton Pipe Roll, 28, 74; Vale Royal Ledger, 28, 29; Selden Soc. n, 175;
Blomneld, Bicester, 145; Glouc. Cart. Hi, 190; Hales Rolls, 421, etc.
2 Reg. Grand. 1159.
8 By this the Bishop probably reserved his right of a heriot, etc. See p. 143.