Background to History

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PROF. JONES: Good evening. One of the main elements in any assessment of the medieval open-field farming system is the Availability of plough teams for the winter plowing. Professor Tofts of the University of Manchester puts it like this: (A rocking beat starts and a 60s-style folk rock song with some heavy ska and other Caribbean influence begins.) To plough once in the winter Sowing, and again in Lent Sowing with as many oxen Sowing with as many oxen As he shall have yoked in the plough Oh yes Oh yes As he shall have yoked in the plough Oh yes Oh yes PROF. JONES: But of course there is considerable evidence of open-field villages as far back as the tenth century. Professor Moorhead: (Dramatic metal chords, reminiscent of British punk or perhaps groups like Black Sabbath.) Theeeeeere's ev-i-de-ence Theeeeeere's ev-i-de-ence There's evidence (evidence) Evidence (evidence) Evidence (evidence?) There's evidence (evidence!) Evidence of settlements with one long village street Farmsteads, hamlets, little towns - the framework was complete By the tiiiiime ... (OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST!) The rural framework was complete Rur-al Frame-work Wa-as Com-plete PROF. JONES: This is not to say, of course, that the system was as sophisticated as it later came to be. I asked the Professor of Medieval studies at Cambridge why this was PROF. HEGERMAN: (stuttering) Well, i-it may not have been a - a statutory obligation, but, uh, I mean, uh, a guy who was a freeman whuh - was obliged in the medieval system to... PROF. JONES: To do boon work? PROF. HEGERMANN: That's right. There's an example, ah, from the village rolls, ah, in 1313 PROF. JONES: And I believe you're going to do it for us now PROF. HEGERMAN: That's right, yeah... (Pop beat sets in, reminiscent of the Beatles in their later period, right down to the Hey Jude "nananana", but with some of the spastic quality of a Joe Cocker.) Oh it's written in the village rolls That if one plough-team wants an oxen And that oxen is lent Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the loooord's consent Yeah, yeah Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent (na na na na) Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent (na na na na) Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent (na na na na) Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's consent That was a talk on the open-field farming system by Professor Angus Jones. Some of the main points covered in this talk are Now available on a long-playing record entitled "The Ronettes Sing Medieval Agrarian History."