ABSTRACT
The organization of English agriculture in the Middle Ages under the Manorial System has been described almost ad nauseam in text books of economic history. The supervision of the manorial lord and his officers undoubtedly did a great deal to make medieval agriculture as good as the knowledge of the time allowed and in some directions the breakdown of that supervision led to retrogression in agricultural practice. Medieval agriculture, like other medieval activities, worked in ignorance of the laws of nature, according to a traditionalism based on immemorial custom in which lingered some faint echoes of classical civilization. Since different types of agricultural organization are adapted to different types of agriculture, the widespread changes have tended to be accompanied by revolutions in organization. The late 16th and the 17th centuries were periods of slow revival in English agriculture.
