to gafole. ne þearf he him onfón gif he lum nan botl ne selð. . . .
OF A YARD OF LAND.
If a man agree for a yard-land or more at a fixed gafol and plough it, if the lord desire to raise the land to him to work and to gafol, he need not take it upon him, if the lord do not give him a dwelling. . . .
[p143] The meaning of it apparently is that if a man agree for a yard-land or more to 'ræd-gafol' (i.e. at such gafol payments as have been described), and plough it, still the lord cannot put the new holding 'to weorce and to gafole,' that is, make the holder completely into a gebur or villanus, owing both gafol and week-work to his lord, unless the lord also supply the homestead ('botl').
That the 'botl' or homestead was looked upon as the essential part of a man's holding is shown by another law of King Ine:—
LXVIII. Gif mon gesiðcundne monnan adrife. fordrife þy botle. næs þære setene
68. If a gesithcund man be driven off, it must be from the botl, not the setene.
The manor and serfdom in seventh century.