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The Peasants' Revolt was a culmination of many years of unrest following the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century. The reduction in population after the plague meant that labour was in short supply and peasants had greater bargaining power with their landlords. The Statutes of Labourers 1349-51 attempted to fix wages and restrict peasants' mobility, affecting both poor peasants/labourers and rich peasants, as employers of labourers. Conflict was greatest in the south and midlands, where landlords had exercised stronger control over their peasantry and where market production was more advanced. Discontent took the form of widespread refusal of labour services on the part of tenants, arrears of rent and flight from manors. Increasingly, claims were made for complete emancipation from serfdom.
The financial demands of the Hundred Years' War led to the government levying three poll taxes in four years. The third, that of 1380, demanded a flat rate of 12d per adult (the poll tax of 1379 had demanded 4d, with a higher amount payable by the wealthier) and was levied in April 1381. In June, groups of peasants from Kent and Essex marched on London, where they were joined by townspeople, and attacked specifically targeted places and people. The 14-year-old King Richard II met the rebels and agreed to their demands, but after their dispersal the leaders were pursued, captured and executed, and the king's concessions were revoked.
Conflicts over wages appear in Conisbrough in this year in relation to unpaid wages for ploughing, mowing, harvest service and work at the mill. Some of these unpaid wages were owed by the grave of Conisbrough, William Lumbard, and these wages may have been claimed for work on the manor or for work on William's own holding. Wealthier tenants could hire poorer or landless inhabitants of the manor to work on their own holdings or to perform labour services they themselves owed. In the session of 23 January, the court decided that William Lumbard owed John Page wages for mowing, but not as much as claimed. John Page also rightly claimed wages from William for the custody of a man held in the stocks. An indication of wage rates is given in the account of the grave of Conisbrough for 1379/80 that appears at the end of the 1380/81 roll. It appears that wages paid by the lord of the manor for work outside the customary service works were: 2d/day for light work; 3d/day for heavy work; 4d/day for skilled work (carpentry). These rates help to put into perspective the amercements imposed on offenders and the fees for settling cases in the manor court. An apparently small amercement of 2d could easily amount to a day's wages.
In addition to wage disputes, some indication of a shortage of servants is provided in the roll. In the session of 23 January, a father was unjustly accused of withholding the service of his son, claimed to have been hired from Martinmas to Pentecost. At the 10 July session, there was a dispute over a contract of service relating to John Rotur on the part of Elissot Neleson, William del Hill and William Thornor, all of whom claimed to have hired him.
Sessions held on the 10 July, 31 July and 21 August refer to cases adjourned for lack of jurors, along with fines for nonattendance by the offending jurors. This roll specifies the reason for adjournment; it is likely that the failure of jurors to attend sessions delayed the resolution of cases in other years when the reason for adjournment is not given, and this may be one of the reasons for the frequent postponement of cases over many months.
Some interesting cases of conflict between individuals appear in the roll. In the session of 21 August, John Codonore, who was indebted to Robert Frere, wrongly accused Robert and his children of taking garden produce and wood from his garden. In the same session, Robert Frere, his wife and children were wrongly accused by Robert Bussel of taking wheat, garden produce and breaking his garden wall. At the same session, John Codonore was found to have owed William Milner for wood. At the 11 September session, William Milner was accused by John Codonore of debt, and William Milner accused John Codonore of beating and killing his horse and striking his servant so that he left William's service (this charge being another indication that servants may have been in short supply). At the session of 17 October, there was conflict between the hayward, William Codonore, and Thomas Page. William Codonore was adjudged to have been negligent in allowing animals to stray into Thomas Page's wheat. William had found Thomas's horse in his neighbour's wheat, and Thomas wrongfully took his horse from the pound, but William was found to have wrongly accused Thomas of breaking into the pound.
In the period after the Black Death, landlords were gradually beginning to lease some of their demesne lands and, where possible, areas of commons in an attempt to maintain their estate incomes. In Conisbrough manor, demesne leases are noted in the session of 20 February: the castle grange, the knight's chamber, an area called "le Shepen" and the mill. The accounts at the end of the roll indicate some rents payable for lands taken in from the commons ("the lord's waste") and licence to dig marl or clay at Firsby for making pots to William le Potter, Robert Tornor and, originally, to Roger Potter. Due to a felony on Roger's part, his licence was granted to William Potter.
17 Oct:
Hayward: [officer responsible for preventing animals straying into
crops]
19 June: Bark could be used for making
roofing shingles, dyes, inks and in tanning of leather.