Medieval Times

 

Dukes, Earls, Barons, Knights, Clergy, Judges, Shire-reeves, Reeves, Bailiffs, Freemen, Villeins, and Serfs comprise the well known heirarchy of medieval times.  Every person knew their place, status, and obligations within this structure.  There were dire consequences for those who either didn't know, didn't want to know, or who tried to rise above their station: although change in status was possible and was often the reward for an exceptional service in some way.

As from pre-conquest days the Manor was the village economic and social governing factor - Pavenham Bury being the most well known - the name is still in use as the street name for the houses built on the site of the old Bury.

The Lords of Pavenham did what the other Lords did: Serve their King.
They collected revenues, provided men and materials at times of war and unrest, held public offices, and generally implemented the King's wishes over his subjects and maintained law and order.

Life for the villagers would still have been one of relentless toil - even during good and plentiful times. Their dwellings were not very substantial, walls being constructed of timber, mud, wattle and daub or even turf with bracken, turf, or thatch roofs. Meat being a luxury, their diet was poor being mainly grain and vegetables and fruits of the season. Those who kept livestock, and the owners of land that produced a surplus would find a ready market among the have-nots that had money to pay for goods.
Most of the local trading at the time was still being done under the barter system with an agreed goods for service exchange. This allowed craftsmen and artisans to concentrate on their art without the worry of producing their own food and saw growth of merchants and guilds.

Another controlling factor of the times was, of course, the Church. Services and the Bible were in Latin and only understood by priests monks and friars. Religion was by way of sermons, bible storiesChurch walls painted with pictures depicting religious themes and scenes.
Christianity came to England in Saxon times but the 'Old Religion' still held tremendous sway over an ignorant and supersticious population. Certainly, by the Eighth Century there was a christian influence at Pavenham but this was probably in tandem with Pagan beliefs - (a modern parallell being the Church in South America).

Famine and disease were an ever-present threat that took lives, and the Church played its part in offering comfort to the bereaved, ministering to the sick, and providing spiritual uplift to the dispirited and downhearted.  But the Church could offer little comfort when the Black Death, thought to have been carried to Gt. Britain by black rats from the holds of ships plying to and from the Continent in 1348, swept through town and country for several years and devastated the population. So great was the reduction of the population that the ensuing labour shortage and migration of workers to towns and cities enabled the rural labourer and craftsman to demand better wages and conditions.

These demands threatened the status quo, but the imposing by government of wage restraints and the Poll Tax in 1380 was cause for the Peasants Revolt of 1381 in which it is known the inhabitants of Pavenham took an active part. The hopes of the antagonists were slow to materialise, but the Poll Tax was abandoned and gradually the practice of a labour force in service to its Lord was relaxed. As feudalism began to wane the growth of the independant farmer or yeoman began to wax. There were also tenant farmers. But the landless, unemployed poor became a charge on the parish.

The Manor and its Lord remained. Still the judicial and administrative power with the greatest influence on aspects of village life, nevertheless, the almost total control over the villagers had gone and the role of the Lord gradually became almost paternalistic.

 

I am still working on on the history from this point and will put up pages as they are completed