Medieval Peasant Life

©Bryan Phillips May 2023

This will be a series of articles about our research into Milton Abbas, or Middleton, during the first half of the 14th century and before the Black Death.

See also The Great Famine and Pestilence of 1315 – 1322

See also Medieval Peasant life in Milton Abbas – the house

See also Medieval Peasant life in Milton Abbas – the home

See also Medieval Peasant life in Milton Abbas – serfdom

See also Sheep and Wool

See also Medieval Peasant life in Milton Abbas – carrying services

See also Medieval Peasant Life in Milton Abbas – landholding

Introduction

This was a really terrible time for Milton Abbey, its estates and its tenants. The monastery and all its records were burned to the ground in 1309 during a storm when a lightning strike hit the spire. There had been a serious loss of sheep due to an outbreak of scab throughout England starting in 1275 and recurring until the mid 1340s. Sheep were the mainstay of the English and Milton Abbey economy. The Great Famine and Pestilence had resulted in great loss of cattle and draught animals and the incessant rains had destroyed two years of crops. Edward II had been on the throne of England since 1307 and had been defeated at Bannockburn in 1314: he proved to be a useless king, especially during the suffering and starvation of the English people in these years. This must have felt that the world was ending and the Biblical Day of Judgement had arrived.

It is surprising to us now how important Milton Abbas was to the economy of Dorset. As a market town, with two grants of 3 day fairs it was a hub of trade in the centre of Dorset. With vast stocks of sheep which were vital to the English economy at the time, and local access to the dairy farms of the Blackmore Vale renowned for cheese and the meadows of the Frome and Piddle valleys for pasture and meadow, together with fast draining chalk hillsides for arable, this was good place for trade.

This is our analysis of the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1332 (the earlier rolls are damaged and incomplete for analysis). Thanks to Steve Griffin for the mapping.

This shows that the market town of Milton Abbas had the third largest number of tax payers with 105, in Dorset, behind Canford Magna (120) and Kingston Lacy (115)

This shows that Milton Abbas was the fourth largest tax payer in Dorset behind Shaftesbury, Canford Magna and Gillingham.