ABSTRACT
The escheated lands which were the subject of the 1303 petition had formerly been subject to hereditary land tenure, the most widespread of all the customary tenures of Wales. The nature of this land can be discerned from the rules in the lawbooks about a second customary tenure known as nucleal-land tenure. The occupants of nucleal land appear to have been under-tenants. Different types of customary tenure, or at least variations as those between hereditary-land tenure and nucleal-land tenure, were characteristic even of settlements where open fields covered only small areas. These open-field lands were occupied not only by substantial tenants but also by under-tenants. The practice of open-field agriculture is clearly reflected in the main customary tenures of Wales as portrayed in medieval Welsh lawbooks and further illuminated in post-conquest extents or surveys undertaken in order to record rents and services attached to land.
