Waifs and Strays: Property Rights in Late Medieval England

Abstract

This article provides new insights into long-standing debates on lord-tenant relations in medieval England and how they were negotiated through the manorial court. We examine an institution, which we term the stray system, that facilitated cooperation between lords and tenants to manage stray livestock. Specifically, we argue that the stray system is a clear example of a public good. In this context, the system was a social benefit provided by lords to their tenants as a collective. In a world where most of the population was dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, any potential damage to a crop would have been of real concern. However, in managing the threat of wandering livestock, the property rights of owners had to be clearly protected to avoid disputes over ownership. The manorial court's management of strays provided an institution to resolve these countervailing pressures. Ultimately, that system helped to protect a community's arable land—the most vital source of income for lords and tenants alike—while simultaneously assuring the property rights of those who had lost important capital assets in the form of livestock.

Current trends and future directions in the rural history of later medieval England (c. 1200–c. 1500)

“…29 Structures of local governance shaped and staffed by the peasants and responsive to the needs of the community are being reconstructed in ever-closer detail. 30 Rural childhood in medieval England has received its first serious treatment, which features a strong focus on recovering the experiences of young people. 31 Trends in vernacular architecture and later medieval rural housebuilding are seen as a further illustration of peasants' capacity to take the lead and to innovate.…”

Review of periodical literature for 2022: (ii) 1100–1500

“…He argues that this pervasiveness was made possible by instruments beyond simply violence, including holding large directly managed lands, requiring military service, controlling certain resources and being able to intervene at key stages in subjects’ life cycles, particularly highlighting the role of control over women's bodies. Claridge and Gibbs examine lord‐tenant relations through the prism of the ‘stray system’ used to manage wandering livestock in England between 1274 and 1453. Using a sample of 1,781 manorial court sessions, they demonstrate that this system prevented livestock from damaging crops but also protected the property rights of owners of these lost animals through providing a system by which they were advertised and could be retrieved.…”