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A Short History of English Agriculture by W. H. R. Curtler
page 46 of 551 (08%)
and minute accounts became general, and the accounts of the bailiff of
those days would be a revelation to the bailiff of these.

At the same time we must not forget that the earliest improvements in
English agriculture were largely due to the monks, who from their
constant journeys abroad were able to bring back new plants and seeds;
while it is well known that many of the religious houses, the
Cistercians especially, who always settled in the remote country, were
most energetic farmers, their energy being materially assisted by
their wealth. It is said that the great Becket when he visited a
monastery did not disdain to labour in the field.

Among other benefits that the landed interest gained at this time was
the more easy transference of land provided, _inter alia_, by the
statute of _Quia Emptores_, which led to many tenants selling their
lands, provided the rights of the lord were preserved, and to a great
increase consequently of free tenants, many of whom had quite small
holdings.[77] The amalgamation of holdings by the more industrious and
skilful has, as we should expect, been a well-marked tendency all
through the history of English agriculture, and began early. For
instance, according to the records of S. Paul's Cathedral, John
Durant, whose ancestor in 1222 held only one virgate in 'Cadendon',
had in 1279 eight or ten at least. At 'Belchamp', Martin de Suthmere,
one of the free tenants, held 245 acres by himself and his tenants,
twenty-two in number, who rendered service to him; one of them being
de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who held 17 acres under Martin. To such a
position had the abler of the small holders of a century or so before
already pushed their way, in spite of the heavy hand of feudalism,
which did much to hinder individual initiative. At this period and
until Tudor times England, as regards the cultivated land, was
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