depopulation. The first
remedy these evils suggested was limitation of the amount of land
which one man should be allowed to hold.[88] In 1489 the statutes
begin to prohibit the occupation of more than one farm by the same
man, or to regulate the use of the land so occupied. The statute of
1489 refers to the Isle of Wight, where "Many dwelling places, fermes,
and fermeholdes have of late tyme ben used to be taken in to oon manys
hold and handes, that of old tyme were wont to be in severall persons
holdes and handes."[89] The proclamation of 1514 regulated the use of
land held by all persons who were tenants of more than _one_ farm.[90]
A law of 1533 provides that no person should occupy more than _two_
farms.[91]

The old villain holdings did not necessarily pass intact into the
hands of one holder, but were sometimes divided up and taken by
different men, a few acres at a time. One Richard Grene in 1582 held
lands of which ten and a half acres had been gradually acquired
through as many as ten grants. This land had formed part of six other
holdings, and much of the rest of the land belonging to these holdings
had also been alienated.[92] The Inquisition of 1517 reported numerous
cases of engrossing, and Professor Gay notes some of the entries in
the returns of the Inquisition of 1607 which are also interesting in
this connection: W. S. separated six yardlands from a manor house and
put a widow in the house, a laborer in the kitchen and a weaver in the
barn. The land was divided between two tenants who already had houses,
and presumably, other land, and were taking this opportunity to
enlarge their holdings of land. G. K. took from a farmhouse the land
which formed part of the same tenement and leased the house to a
laborer who had "but one acre of land in every field."[93]

The growing irregularity of holdings, combined with the decrease in
the number of holders whose interests had to be consulted, made it
easier than it had formerly been to modify the traditional routine of
husbandry. Even though the new land acquired by tenants from the
demesne or from old bond-holdings did not happen to be adjacent to
strips already in their possession, exchange could accomplish the
desired result. At Gorleston, Suffolk, a tenant sublet about half of
his holding to eight persons, and at the same time acquired plots of
land for himself from another eight holdings.[94] Before 1350
exchanges, sales and subletting of land by tenants h