11. LEARNING TO MANAGE ESTATES AND MANORS: THE “RULES OF SAINT ROBERT”

INTRODUCTION

A significant component to the education and training of children of the landed classes—the aristocracy and gentry—was how to oversee and manage their estates. This was true for girls and women as well as for boys and men. One of the most popular written works focusing on the education of the elites in estate management was a treatise written by ROBERT GROSSETESTE, bishop of Lincoln, for the newly widowed Countess of Lincoln, MARGARET DE LACY.

Robert Grosseteste (ca. 1168–1253) was one of the most important intellectuals of the Middle Ages in Britain. Highly educated, he contributed to the development of Oxford University, probably acting as its first chancellor and holding the title “Master of the Schools.” His lectures and treatises on philosophy, theology, logic, and science were some of the most significant works produced in the Middle Ages, and he trained Roger Bacon, one of the most challenging intellectuals and theologians of the age. In 1236, following the death of Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, Robert was elected as his successor. He was innovative as a bishop as well and gained the patronage of the influential Countess of Lincoln, Margaret de Lacy, who had inherited the earldom from her mother, Hawise de Quency, and conveyed the title to her husband, John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract. When Countess Margaret was widowed in 1240, Bishop Robert wrote his treatise on estate management and dedicated it to her.

KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ

This text is different from other treatises on estate management, such as the work attributed to Walter of Henley, in that it is directed to the lords and ladies of estates, not to their estate managers. Robert was quite aware that the control of manors and other kinds of feudal estates could be in the hands of women as well as men and deliberately wrote the treatise in an entirely gender neutral way.

Document 1: The Rules of Saint Robert (Les Rules Seynt Roberd)

Here begin the rules that the good bishop of Lincoln, St Robert Grosseteste, made for the Countess of Lincoln to guard and govern her lands and residences: whoever will keep these rules well will be able to live on his means, and keep himself and those belonging to him.

The first rule teaches how a lord or lady shall know all their lands in each manor . . .

To begin with, buy the king’s writ to make an inquest by the oath of twelve free men in each manor all the lands by their parcels, all the rents, customs, usages, services, franchises, fees and tenements, and let this be . . . distinctly enrolled, so that your chief seneschal may have one whole roll, and you another, and let each bailiff have what belongs to his baillie. And if petitioners come to you because of a wrong that anyone has done them first look yourself at the rolls or that manor to which the petitioner belongs, and according to them give answer and maintain justice.

The second rule teaches how you may know by common inquest what there is on each manor, moveable or not moveable

Next, cause to be made without delay a correct inquest, and enroll specifically in another roll every one of your manors in England, each by itself, how many ploughs you have in each place . . . ; how many acres of arable land, how many of meadow, how much pasture for sheep, and how much for cows, and so for all kind of beasts according to their number; . . . and keep this roll by you, and often look at the first roll, and this also that you may quickly know how to find what you ought to do. . . .

The third rule teaches the discourse that the lord or lady ought to have with their chief seneschal before some of their good friends

When the aforesaid rolls and inquests have been made, and as soon as you can, . . . call your chief seneschal before any of your people that you trust, and speak thusly to him: “Good sir, you see plainly that to have my rights set forth clearly, and to know more surely the state of my people, and of my lands, . . . I have caused these inquests and enrolments to be made; now I pray you, as one to whom I have committed trust, as many as I have under me guard and govern.

“And strictly I command you that you keep whole and without harm, all my rights, franchises and fixed possessions, . . . And my moveable goods and livestock increase in an honest and right way, and keep them faithfully. The returns from my lands, rents and moveables, without fraud, . . . bring to me and to my treasury to spend according as I shall direct, that God may be satisfied, and my honor and my profit preserved by the foresight of myself and you and my other friends.

“Further, I strictly command that neither you nor any of your bailiffs . . . in any way, by unlawful exactions of fear, or accusations, or receipt of presents or gifts, vex, hurt or ruin those who hold of me—rich or poor; and if in any of these said ways they are by anyone vexed, hurt or ruined, . . . quickly make amendment and redress.”

The fourth rule teaches how a lord or lady can further examine into their estate, that is to say, how he or she can live yearly of their own

In two ways by calculation can you inquire your estate. First this, command strictly that each place . . . there be thrown in a measure at the entrance to the grange the eighth sheaf of every kind of corn, and let it be threshed and measured by itself. And by calculating that measure you can calculate all the rest in the grange. . . .

And if this does not please you, do it in this way. Command your seneschal that every year at Michaelmas he cause all the stacks of each kind of corn, within the grange and without, to be valued by prudent, faithful and capable men, . . . [and] set the sum in writing, and according to that assign the expenses of your household in bread and ale.

Also see how many quarters of corn you will spend in a week in dispensable bread, how much in alms. . . . And when you have subtracted this sum from the sum total of your corn, then you can subtract for the ale, according as weekly custom [of] brewing in your household. . . .

And with the money from your corn, from your rents, and from the issues of pleas in your courts, and from your stock, arrange the expenses of your kitchen and your wines and your wardrobe and the wages of servants, and subtract your stock. But on all manors take care of your corn, that it is not sold out of season without need; that is, if your rents and other returns will suffice for the expenses of your chamber and wines and kitchen, leave your store of corn whole until you have the advantage of the corn of another year, not more, or at the least, of half a year.

. . .

The seventh rule teaches you how you may know to compare the accounts with the estimate of the extent[s] . . . of [your] manors and lands

At the end of the year when all the accounts of the lands shall have been rendered, and [accounts of] the issues and all the expenses of all the manors, take to yourself all the rolls, and with one or two of the most intimate and faithful men that you have, make very careful comparison with the rolls of the accounts rendered, and of the rolls of the estimate of corn and stock that you made after the previous August, and according as they agree you shall see the industry or negligence of your servants and bailiffs, and according to that make [changes to the weekly routine].

. . .

The ninth rule teaches you what you ought to say often to the small and great of your household, that all do your commands

Say to all small and great, and that often, that fully, quickly and willingly, without grumbling and contradiction, they do all your commands that are not against God.

. . .

The eleventh rule teaches you who ought to be employed to be [a part] of your household . . .

Command that no one be received, or kept to be of your household indoors or outside, if one has not reasonable belief of them that they are faithful, discreet, and painstaking in the office for which they are received, and also honest and of good manners.

The twelfth rule teaches you what inquest ought often to be made in your household by your commandment

Command that often and carefully inquest be made if there be any[one who is] disloyal, unwise, filthy in person, gluttonous, quarrelsome, drunken, unprofitable; and those who shall be found so, or of whom such report is spread, let them be turned out of your household.

. . .

The fourteenth rule teaches you how your guests ought to be received

Command strictly that all your guests, secular and religious, be quickly, courteously, and with good cheer received by the seneschal from the porters, ushers, and marshals, and by all be courteously addressed and in the same way lodged and served.

. . .

The seventeenth rule teaches you how you ought to seat your people at meals in your house

Make your free men and guests sit as far as possible at tables on either side, not four here and three there. And all the crowd of grooms shall enter together when the freemen are seated, and shall sit together and rise together. And strictly forbid that any quarrelling be at your meals. And you yourself always be seated at the middle of the high table so that your presence as lord or lady may appear openly to all, and that you may plainly see on either side all the service and all the faults. . . .

The twenty-first rule teaches how your people ought to behave towards your friends, both in your presence and absence

Command that your knights, and chaplains, and servants in office, and your gentlemen, with a good humor and hearty cheer and ready service receive and honor, within your presence and outside it, everyone whom they perceive by your words or your manners to be especially dear to you, and to whom you would have special honor shown, for in doing so can they particularly show that they wish what you wish. And as far as possible except [in the case of] sickness or [excessive] fatigue, constrain yourself to eat in the hall before your people, for this shall bring great benefit and honor to you.

The twenty-second rule teaches you how you ought to behave towards your bailiffs and servants of your own lands and manors when they come before you

When your bailiffs and your servants of lands and manors come before you, address them fairly and speak pleasantly to them, and discreetly and gently ask if your people do well, and how your corn is growing, and how profitable your ploughs and stock are, and make these demands openly, and your knowledge shall be much respected.

. . .

The twenty-sixth rule teaches how at Michaelmas you may arrange your travel itinerary for all the year

Every year, at Michaelmas, when you know the measure of all your corn, then arrange your travel [from manor to manor] for the whole of that year, and for how many weeks in each place, according to the seasons of the year, and the advantages of the [region] in [abundance of] flesh and fish, and do not in any way burden by debt or long residence the places where you travel, but so arrange your itinerary that the place at your departure shall not remain in debt, but something may remain on the manor, whereby the manor can raise money from increase of stock, and especially cows and sheep, until your stock acquits your wines, robes, wax and all your wardrobe, and that will be in a short time if you hold and act after this treatise as you can see plainly in this way.

Source: Walter of Henley’s Husbandry, together with an Anonymous Husbandry, Seneschaucie, and Robert Grosseteste’s Rules, Edited and translated by Elizabeth Lamond, with an introduction by W. Cunningham. London: Longmans, 1890. Pp. 121–145. The Rules of “Saint Robert” [Rules Seynt Roberd]. Translated by Elizabeth Lamond, FRHS, 1890. Modernized and edited by editor.

AFTERMATH

Bishop Robert’s work became one of the most popular texts on the subject of estate management in the Middle Ages, with numerous manuscript versions surviving, as well as early copies of printed versions after the invention of the printing press in 1450. Indeed, it was so popular that the canons of his own cathedral requested a Latin copy (the original was written in French, the language that the English nobility spoke most often) for their own use.

Elite households were very busy places, with many people engaged in different tasks, all overseen not only by estate officials but also by their employers, the lord and lady of the manor or castle. A significant amount, possibly even the majority, of the day-to-day maintenance and oversight of the household was performed by the lady of the household, who wore the symbols of her authority—a key ring known as a “chatelaine”—on her belt.

ASK YOURSELF

1. In what ways does this text encourage you to reconsider the typical presentation of relations between lords and peasants as entirely adversarial?

2. In what ways could this text suggest that the relationship between lords and peasants was profoundly adversarial?

3. Bishop Robert’s stated motives for writing the treatise were to encourage noblemen and noblewomen to live within their means and to do this by being efficient managers of their estates. Why might this be an issue for many elites?

TOPICS TO CONSIDER

1. Consider the daily lives of medieval elites in terms of the varieties of work they were expected to accomplish.

2. Compare the daily account records presented in Section 1, Domestic Life and the Medieval Household, and the instructions in Bishop Robert’s treatise. Consider how effectively elites were following “Saint Robert’s Rules” and how becoming well-trained estate managers might affect their daily accounts.

Further Information

Archer, Rowena A. “‘How ladies . . . who live on their manors ought to manage their households and estates’: Women as Landholders and Administrators in the Later Middle Ages.” In Women in Medieval English Society, edited by P. J. P. Goldberg, 149–181. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1997.

Mertes, Kate. The English Noble Household, 1250–1600: Good Governance and Politic Rule. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988.