The Priory of Durham and its Demesnes in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries

O NE of the most important economic changes in the later Middle Ages was the retreat by landlords, particularly those with large, dispersed estates, from the direct of their manorial demesnes. Until the early years of the fourteenth century it was normal for landlords to practise high farming, which has been described as the exploitation of the demesne for commercial purposes.2 By the second quarter of the century, however, many landlords were faltering in this policy; in particular, rising costs and the increasing value of land were encouraging them to let portions of their demesnes on short leases. Then, following the Black Death, they began to dispose of their demesnes entirely and permanently on longer leases, until by themid-fifteenth century they were completely or virtually rentiers. This change is generally seen as a response to worsening conditions: the cost of hired labour rose, in spite of attempts at statutory limitation; tenants became increasingly unwilling to submit to the traditional manorial regime with its heavy demand for labour service; prices fell and markets contracted. Clearly, if landlords could earn less from the sale of products that were costing more in money and effort to produce, it was natural and sensible of them to abandon an increasingly profitless exercise and to hand over their demesnes to men more willing to cope with the changed conditions. However, although landlords may ultimately have adopted the same solution, it is clear that their timing varied considerably. Direct of the demesnes of Canterbury Cathedral Priory was terminated suddenly and swiftly in the I390's by Prior Thomas Chillenden; on the other hand, the change to leases on the neighbouring archiepiscopal estate was a protracted business, extending from c. I 380 to c. I 440 and covering the reigns of several archbishops. In even greater contrast were two west-country estates: on the lands of the Duchy