his meadows to mow,
to drive his ploughs,
for the sustenance of us all.
This is the knights’ law,
see that it goes well.
III. In the middle of the thirteenth century, at the period of the Barons’ wars, we have the passage to which this forms a note.
IV. In the reign of Edward III. the writer of Piers Ploughman gives us the following description of the relative duties of the different orders of society.
Thanne kam ther a kyng,
knyȝthod hym ladde,
miȝt of the communes