The line of demarcation between free and unfree cultivators has not, however, always been drawn in a strict, scientific manner. Ashley, speaking of the 11th—14th centuries, says: “The term libere tenentes is elastic enough to cover men in very different positions.… But the larger number of those known by that name were, clearly, virgate-holding villeins or the descendants of such, who had commuted their more onerous labour services of two or three days a week for a money or corn payment, and had been freed from what were regarded as the more servile “incidents” of their position. What these exactly were, or, indeed, what was understood by free tenure, it is difficult now to determine, precisely because the lawyers and landlords of the time did not themselves know. The most widely spread idea was that inability to give a daughter in marriage or to sell an ox or a horse without the lord’s consent, for which a fine had to be paid, was the certain mark of servile tenure”[144].
Now we cannot wonder that the lawyers and landlords of the Middle Ages had no very clear ideas about serfdom and freedom. But modern writers on economic history should have the true distinction always before their minds. Some of them, however, we think fail in this respect.
In order to demonstrate this we must speak of a change which, in the later Middle Ages, took place in the manorial economy. The land belonging to each landlord had always been divided into two parts, viz. “that part cultivated for the immediate benefit of the lord, the demesne or inland, and that [[351]]held of him by tenants, the land in villenage”[145]. These tenants were not, however, free tenants, but villeins bound to the soil and obliged to work on the demesne. “The whole of the land of the manor, both demesne and villenage, was cultivated on an elaborate system of joint labour. The only permanent labourers upon the demesne itself were a few slaves; all or almost all the labour there necessary was furnished by the villeins and cotters, as the condition on which they held their holdings, and under the supervision of the lord’s bailiff”. The labour dues of the villeins consisted of week work, i.e. a man’s labour for two or three days a week throughout the year, precariae, i.e. additional labour at ploughing and at harvest time, and miscellaneous services[146].
But in the course of time money payments were largely substituted for these labour dues. Commutation of the week work went on extensively shortly after the Norman Conquest, and commutation of the whole of the services occurs occasionally as early as 1240. “With the reign of Edward II complete commutation became general”[147]. The cultivators had now to pay money to the lord instead of working on the demesne.
Though the change occurred at a time when personal serfdom was gradually declining, it is easy to see that this commutation is not identical with the transition from serfdom to freedom. A free tenant may by contract take upon himself to perform some kind of work for the landlord. This was the case in England where “the rendering of services reappeared in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, not as the incidents of villanage, but as a form of agreement which proved more or less convenient to one party and perhaps to both”[148]. On the other hand, it is quite possible that a cultivator who pays money instead of rendering services, is yet bound to the soil and devoid of personal freedom. Ashley, speaking of the 13th century, states that most of the cultivators “had continued to hold by servile tenure, as villeins or customary tenants, even when they had commuted all or most of their services.… There can be no doubt that … they were bound to the soil; [[352]]in the sense, at any rate, that the lord would demand a heavy fine before he would give one of them permission to leave the manor”[149].
Now, though none of our writers on economic history explicitly say that these two things, the commutation of labour dues for money and the transition from serfdom to freedom, are identical, we think some of them do not sufficiently keep in view the difference existing between the two. Thus only can we account for the prevalence of a theory which seems to be the current mode of explaining the fall of serfdom and rise of freedom.
This theory has been introduced by a German writer, Professor Hildebrand. He distinguishes three stages of economic development: natural economy, money economy, and credit economy.
In the system of natural economy goods are exchanged directly for goods; when money economy prevails use is made of a means of exchange, money; and when credit economy has been developed goods are exchanged for a promise in the future to give back the same or a like value, i.e. on credit. Every nation begins with natural economy, for the use of money as a means of exchange supposes an abundance of labour or products of labour which enables people to procure the precious metals. As long as natural economy prevails capital does not exist: the soil and human labour are the only productive agencies. There are, therefore, two classes of people only; labourers and landowners. Sometimes every landowner is at the same time a labourer; in such cases democracy prevails. But it often occurs that labourers and landowners form separate classes. These are then mutually dependent on each other; for the labourer wants a landlord to give him employment and so enable him to earn his subsistence, and the landlord wants labourers to cultivate his lands. This interdependence effects that the relations existing between the two classes assume a durable character. The labour contracts are made to last for the life of the labourer or even become hereditary. The labourer is bound to the soil and forbidden to leave the manor. [[353]]
As soon as money economy exists, capital arises and takes its place as the third factor of production. The owning classes comprise now both capitalists and landlords. The labourer has no longer to apply to the landlord for employment, but can leave him and work for the capitalist; he is therefore no longer astricted to the soil. The wages he receives from the capitalist are paid in the form of money, and so the labourer is much freer than before, for this money can be turned to various purposes. Moreover, capital (as opposed to land) can be augmented to any extent, and this enables the labourer to become a capitalist himself.
The position of the labourers who remain on the land also undergoes a change. The landlord who brings the agricultural produce to the market can pay wages in money and therefore hire able and dismiss incompetent labourers. His lands, worked with free labourers who serve for wages, yield him a far greater income than formerly when they were cultivated by serfs. Moreover, the fixed labour dues of the serfs do not answer the purposes of an improved economy. It is thus the interest of the landlord to put an end to his fixed and hereditary contracts and loosen the ties with which natural economy had bound the agricultural labourer. The dues in kind and services are commuted for money payments. The labourer, who was a serf, becomes now either a free peasant or a free servant and day-wage worker who is no longer astricted to the soil, but can leave his employer whenever he likes and seek such work as most agrees with his capacity and inclination.