irty-two
virgates were all commuted at three shillings each, and the same sum
was paid by each of twenty-three virgates at Waltham.[70]

At Forncett and on the manors of the Berkeley estates commutation had
little part in the disappearance of labor dues. The vacated land was
leased in larger or smaller parcels at the best rents which could be
obtained. This rent bore no relation to the value of the services
formerly due from the land. The customary tenements which had been the
units upon which labor dues were assessed were broken up, and the
acres leased separately, or in new combinations, to other men.[71] At
Forncett, as in the case of the Winchester manors where the services
were commuted, the terms of the new arrangement can be compared with
those of the old, and it is seen that the money rent obtained was less
than the value of the services formerly due. The customary services
were here valued at over two shillings per acre; the average rent
obtained was less than one shilling an acre. The net pecuniary result
of the change, then, was the same as though the services had been
commuted for money at less than their value.

Another method of reducing rents in this period was the remission of a
part of the services due. Miss Levett notes the extent to which this
took place on the Winchester manors, and suggests that the Bishop
wished to avoid the wastefulness and inefficiency of serf labor.[72]
She overlooks the fact that he failed to exact the money payment in
place of the services for which manorial custom provided. It was a
well established custom that in case work owed by the tenants was not
used they should pay money instead. The amount of work needed each
year on the demesne varied according to the size of the harvest, etc.,
but the number of days' works for which the tenants was liable was
fixed. The surplus of works owed above those needed were "sold" each
year to the villains. Frequently the number of works sold exceeded the
number performed, although formal commutation of dues had not taken
place. At Nailesbourne (1348-1349), 4755 works were due from the
villains, but nearly 4000 of these were sold.[73] If the Bishop had
merely wished to avoid waste, then, in ceasing to require the
performance of villain services on his manors, he would have required
the payment of the money equivalent of these services. When the
services were excused, and the customary alternative of a money
payment also, the change was cle