306 THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
Notwithstanding this, when once the serf made up his mind to
run away it was difficult to restrain him. Once the four days had
elapsed in which the lord could pursue his serf and take him
wherever he found him, henceforth he had power of arrest
only in his own manor. The serf, therefore, had only to get out-
side the manor—which in many cases simply meant crossing a
road and walking a mile to the town—and in a few days he had
sufficient preliminary protection to keep his lord at bay. Hence-
forward, if the lord wanted him, he must take due legal action to
get him, and in the meanwhile he might disappear again.1
Naturally the lord did what he could to insist on the immo-
bility of his peasantry. Every serf was a potential source of in-
come, and was not lightly to be allowed to escape from his
obligations. Hence it is that in such comprehensive instructions
as we find the Abbot of Gloucester issuing to his officials, he
includes clauses which prohibit the practice of leaving the manor
without leave,2 while the Prior of Worcester in his inquiry into
the state of his manors demands an account of those who have
left them and by what authority.3 But such instructions, in the
nature of things, were more academic than practical. No doubt
the officials did their best, and the steward at the Manor Court
often explained that the whole duty of man was to stay where he
was put, yet something more than words was needed on many
occasions. It frequently happened that the lord got to know that
a man was uneasy and threatened to desert,4 so that he was able
to take precautionary measures. In general these took the form
of requiring the suspect to produce pledges for his good be-
haviour: John Boneffant, in 1275, was forced to find two pledges
that he would not withdraw himself from the lord's land, and that
he would be prompt to obey the lord's summons.5 On some
manors sureties had to be found to answer that the man would
not remove his goods and chattels from the lord's manor,6 or in
others his cattle are seized into the lord's hands in the hope of
keeping him from flight.7 A man's relatives are at times held
1 For all this see below, p. 309, and compare V.C.H. Sussex, n, 178, n. 63,
x>n the difficulty of recovering a fugitive serf.
2 Glouc. Cart, m, 318, and compare 176. 8 Wore. Priory Reg. 2$b.
4 Page, op. cit. B Selden Soc. n, 22.
16 WdkefieldRolls, 1,2552,257; n, xix; and cf. Econ. Documents (Tawney), 69.
13 Hales Rolls, 120, 121, 124, 125, 169, etc.