Medieval
society and the medieval landscape were for the common person predominantly
rural and agricultural in nature.
Very little
of the landscape was not utilised, and in some areas such as the ‘Champion’
(from the French champ- for field) landscapes of the Midlands,
almost every inch was turned over to arable- especially in the boom years of
population expanse during the 13th century.
In Sherwood Forest it was similar, in that almost every
resource was used.
Every
village had its great open fields, where crops were rotated through the season,
and the people farmed strips of land spread throughout them. Each year one
field stood fallow to recover for the following years crops.
This fallow
field was fertilized by the animals of the village. Pigs and sheep would be
concentrated at night into temporary pens to ‘focus’ their fertilization efforts.
Between
these times it was necessary to graze animals away from the open fields.
No matter
how much an animal fertilizes a field it will always take more nutrients than
it returns, if it grazes exclusively from the same field that it fertilizes, as
it requires nutrients to grow.
An external
source of nutrients and energy was therefore required, and in Sherwood
Forest this came from the great heaths and Lyngges ( Old
Scandinavian for heather- see There’s Vikings in the Heather entry).
Shepherds
and swineherds would tend their flocks and herds on these vast swathes of
lowland heath around Sherwood Forest that
stretched for mile after mile across the open countryside. Vast areas such as
‘Basforde Lyngges’, the heaths of Rufford Abbey Lordship, ‘Budby Oute Fieldes’ and
the ‘Moor of Kirby’, would be dotted with these herds, and the sight of flocks
and shepherds would have been common to the traveller passing through the
forest.
Each parish
had their own areas of woodland, usually at their edges.
In the more
populated southern ‘Thorneywood’ area they occupied the high ground between
parishes, such as on the ridges between the villages of Lambley, Woodborough
and Calverton.
These woods
often joined together to form giant woods that could cover miles, but they each
had names reflecting to whom they belonged. Carleton Wode, Gedling Wode,
Basforde Wode (named after villages) Kettulbarne Haw, Fox Swaht, Prior Stobyn,
Samson Wode (after landscape features or owners past and present).
In the
‘High Forest’, (the northern part of Sherwood Forest) these woods were
sometimes vast such as the great Maunsfelde (Mansfield) Wode, Sutton Wode,
Blidworth Wood and Hay Wode, as well as the great crown woods of the Hay of
Birklands, Bilhaugh and Lyndhurst Wood (see Lyndhurst Wood- the chief wood of Sherwood entry).
It is worth
reminding that nobody could actually cut down the tress in these woods for
timber because it was forbidden by Forest Law (see Forest Law page). However the
rights to the woods were heavily guarded by the people, because they had other
kinds of rights within them.
As well as
the rights to pasture on the great heaths and commons peasants had the right to
graze their animals in woodland at certain times of the year. One such time was
the ‘Pannage’ season (just after the acorns fell) when peasant could graze
their pigs on acorns in the woods of the forest.
 |
| Picutre: A peasant beating acorns from the tree for his pigs |
These
rights to access woods were strictly controlled under Forest Law with ‘Agisters’
acting as tax collectors to control quotas and extract fines (see Forest Law
Page)
Peasants
also had the right to take some smaller timber from the woods for ‘Haybote’
(hedge repair) and ‘Husbote’ (house repair).
These
rights were often jealously guarded!
An
Inquisition Post Mortem into the rights of the people of Clipstone Manor, dated
20th April 1327 early in the reign of Edward III shows some of the rights of the peasant to the
resources of their land.
The
Inquisition was presented in front of John De Crombwell Keeper of the Kings
Forest beyond Trent, by the oath of John de Annesley; Philip de Caltoft,
knight; Thomas Whaton; Richard Russell; Richard Ingam; John de Holm; Richard de
Bestewod (Bestwood); Thomas de Lyndeby; Simon de Lameley; John le Warde of
Crathethopre; William Basage; and john Moigne of Carleton…
‘The King’s tenants of his manor of Clypston in Shirwod (Sherwood), which is of ancient
demesne of the crown of England, and their ancestors, tenants of the same
manor, from time immemorial have been accustomed to have all ferns growing in a
place which is now called the park of Clypston, for thirteen shillings and six
pence, to be rendered yearly to the King’s ancestors by the hands of the
justice of the Forest; and to collect the leaves fallen from the trees in the
same place for manuring their lands, without rendering anything therefor; and
to have pasture for all kinds of beasts in the same, doing in return the
custody of the vert and venison in the same place by two of the tenants’.
This shows
how the peasants had customary rights to access the ‘park’ for livestock
grazing, and to gather ferns and leaves for fertilizer, (in exchange for
looking after the deer and timber for the King)
It also
shows that they were empowered enough to appeal through the court system to
protect those rights.
The reason
for the inquest is that Edward II had closed off access to the park, preventing
them from their customary rights. The newly crowned Edward III was being
petitioned by the men of Clipstone to have their rights returned. They also
informed the King that he was losing the money they would normally pay for
their rights!!!
Presumably
he would be more likely to listen if his wallet was affected.
The men
also pointed out that they could not get sufficient pasture outside of the park
for their needs- as stated earlier nutrients for flocks and open fields needed
to come from somewhere other than the fields themselves.
So as can
be seen the landscape of Sherwood Forest provided opportunities for people to
make their living from agriculture and from accessing the resources that the
Forest provided around them. It was also the case that people would guard these
rights vigorously, petitioning through the courts and to the legal system.
The laws of
the land prevented many people from having many things, but they also enshrined
rights over generations and the law could be called upon to protect those
rights if they were threatened.
(More on
farming practices in Medieval Sherwood Forest including the ‘Breck System’, and
more on the courts and laws of everyday medieval life coming soon).
