Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-29 00:00:00

A POPULAR
lIISTORY OF THE WORKING

CLASSES

RISE_ ..!..-I,ID PROGRESS-SOCIAL

AND POLITICAL ;

Fes- „,
- 'FIE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD DOWN TO THE

PRESENT DAY

'Addressed to the Working Classes themselves)

PART SECOND

EgFECT CHAPTER FIRST.
OF THE NORMAN INVASION ON THE
reONDITION OF THE PEOPLE—STRUGGLE FOR
Nslt, FREE
IN THE FAMOUS INSURRECTION OF
\T AT TYLER—THE REBELLION OF JACK CADE,
D THE DEMAND FOR POPULAR RIGHTS.
ZThough the Norman revolution effected a great
MaorlY, material changes in the condition of the
ope of England, some considerable time elapsed
advantages. op ?re the labouring classes came in for any share
ttsl its
Their services, in fact, were
tb,sneeessary to the new comers, the Normans, as
CY had been to their old masters, the Anglo-
b:cis ; and as the terms on which these had
to_l3. exacted could hardly be made more onerous,
tre3'ontinued without alteration. For long after
Continued
the same sub-divisions of society
Were
• maintained, and the people continued divided
into the t
The • two great classes of freemen and slaves (1).
Mitigation and final extinction of slavery
rwel.ts the slow and gradual work of time. In the
Will remember
°l' Edward the First, however, if my readers
?ernember, we beheld the condition of the
lainb so far ameliorated that, instead of being
Red to perform every mean and servile office
Pat the arbitrary will of his lord demanded, he
nad
t acquired a tenure in lands, on condition of
g to him such slight services as reaping
e,,Corn, or cleansing out his fish-pond, And as
Tally as the year 1257 (the reign of Henry the
we also saw that a servile tenant, if
eMplosed before mid-summer, received wages, and
was likewise permitted, instead of working him-
Beif, to provide a labourer for the lord ; while free
labourers were at liberty to barter their services to
the highest bidder. Now these, it will readily be
Perceived, were important transitions, indicating
the rise of a Middle class, and giving birth at the
Beane time to a race of free and independent
Workmen. By granting to the serfs the right to
possess property, they thus encouraged them to
acquire more.; and by conceding to them a part of
the immunities of freemen, they were raised by
these means one step in the social scale, and
placed in a position to treat and contend with their
°Ppressors for the remainder, ,At length, as I
stated_ in my last chapter, we find the serfs, for the
first time, noticed as a distinct class of people by
he Legislature in 1350. It was to this period
'Pat I then succeeded in conducting this inquiry.
I shall, therefore, resume the thread .of our
narrative from here.
Notwithstanding the amount of freedom which
Nlarge proportion of the labouring population now
oyed, they were still subjected by their rulers
raw severe wrongs and injustice. Statutes of the
.._°st oppressive and unjust character were
iootistantly being enacted by successive legislatures
°PPose their efforts towards their perfect
inere do ra. and independence. Not the least
alnpus among these was that which was
ng afterwards known as the " Statute of
-uttoonrers." It appears that in 1349 this country
Was
tamsvisited with a terrible pestilence, which in its
vao. ,
s carried off nearly one-half of the inhabi-
Suela a calamity as this necessarily made
ieensuer scarce and in extra demand ; and the
-and !clinence was, that those who were left behind,
those able to work, sought extra wages to
The p"Aileh they had been accustomed to receive.
evil arlient, however, in order to remedy this
,issuedd proclamation fixing-the piice of labour
puni enforcing its obedience bylines and corporal
s.
onshment. This statute, amongst other provi-
i;i_ set forth:—that in districts where the labour-
shsoue,?-sses had been severally paid in wheat, they
t(i receive wheat or money at the option of their
"IPlor er
year • that they were to be hired by the
Y
an_ and other accustomed periods, and not by the
day t.hat all agricultural labourers were to carry
hams unPiements of husbandry openly in their
to mark public et-towns, and to apply for hire in a
to
r_ quarter of the town ; that servants were not
,4"love from one place to another ; and finally
Justices
conclude those oppressive enactments_
,of i_itees of peace were empowered to fix the price
buorour every Easter and Michaelmas, by procla-
dir_u°n. But not only were these unjust statutes
woretted against the freedom and industry of the
less man, but others of a more absurd and still
re defersdefensible character were actually framed to
gulate his diet and apparel. With what astonish-
nient
and true indignation would an artizan or
Pc°ininon labourer -of the present day listen to a
,roposition being brought before the House of
•enitia
ons directing what food he should eat, and.
wh t quality of cloth should enter into the menu-
Iyiof his garments. Yet, such statute was
4)eted and put into force in the year 1363. It
directed that artificers and servants should be
served with meat and fish once a day, or the waste
that they
victuals, according to their station ; and
they should wear cloth of which the whole
Price •
did not cost more than tweLvepence per
Cult :Agricultural servants were to use no other
.nd of cloth but that called black russet. These
7ind of -cloths clothiers were commanded to manu-
a4etnre, and tradesmen were to have a sufficient
'heck upon hand at the established legal prices.
It would be superfluous, says Mr. Wade,
enlarging on a species of law-making so
°bvionsly at variance with the feelings and intelli-
gence of the present age. It cannot, however, be
denied that these enactments were in good keep-
ing ; for it was not more preposterous to fix the
rate at which a labourer should work than what
he should eat, or wherewithal be clothed, and one
is almost surpris ad the legislators of the day did
,Ilot descend to regulations still more minute and
intrusive. One important fact may be elicited
from these provisions—namely, the evidence they
!afford of the new social elements that had risen
into importance, A great portion ,of the labourers
had dearly extricated themselves from the grasp
of-their feudal masters, who, in lieu of the direct
power of compulsory servitude, were compelled to
resort:to acts of Parliament; which, though partial,
had the semblance of law in place of the arbitrary
will of :their employers.
Had the Working Classes been subjected to no
greater grievances than those which are embodied
in the humiliating enactments I have just quoted,
the probability is they might have gone on silently
enduring for a time those haughty insults heaped
upon them by their superiors ; but when, in addition
to these, the legislature sought to burden them
With taxes of an insupportable character, in order
to defray the costs of an extravagantly managed
state's expenditure, they then felt acutely the
injustice which was being done to them, and boldly
resolved to make a stand and resist their imposition.
or were the oppressed class in those days wanting
iu a number of sturdy leaders to work upon their
'quads, and rouse them into a conciousness of their
3.iitical wrongs. Prominent among these are
;_°l3/1 Ball, a zealous and enthusiastic priest belong-
rig to the county of Kent, and the still more
'l,l,aously, though not more deservedly, known Wat
er, a native of Dartfor d, in the same county,
u Who is described by Froissart as being
indeed
a tyler of houses."
Alia • The former
.made it
villages,
n mission to go about the different
s they -11 Sundays, and address the people, a

.
(1) Attempts have been made to class the population,
existing at the close of the Anglo-Saxon period, into its
several proportions
of nobles, freemen, and those of
rervie le condition, but with no great pretension to.
eit•lllleY. In thirty-four counties the burgesses and
102 ens are made to amount to 17,105 ; the villeins to
the e"; the bordars to 74,823; the cottars to 5,947;
consisted i:fs,
rsor thralls, to 26,552: the remaining populaion
labd owneof freemen ecclesiastics, knights, thanes, and