The Maenol

       By now you might begin to understand the potential for all kinds of difficulty arising from the grouping of all these lands. Let's see now, from a single enclosed (fenced) house, which was called the toft,  you placed together 4 of these single-family homes to become a shareland. (Good size barn yard). Next, you counted 4 of these  sharelands (all in the family) which became a holding.  Then, the next grouping became the townlands (4 holdings), which might be considered the family farm. Whew, what a deal! If it is hard to keep everything straight...hold your breath...for now, we then come to the Maenol. 

       You guessed it, 4 townlands established a Maenol. Hum, one thousand and twenty-four legal acres might give cause to a few disagreements about the placement of all those fences. Assuming there were an average of five folks living in each toft, a Maenol would average over 1200 individuals. Lots of head butting here would be possible. [You can breathe now.] Like the four previous posts, what follows is my own notes which demonstrates my attempt to keep a mental image afloat.

       Shape and position would depend on the geography of the area. All those mountains, streams, rivers, and valleys would have something to do with its anatomy. What is distinct about this group of townlands is the attention it received from those who gave the military protection to all the kin groups. You know, the strongest among them who could swing the sword, the overlord. It was his job to keep things in order and train all those age 14 and over to swing their own sword. One thousand and twenty-four legal acres [4 townlands, 16 holdings, 64 sharelands and 256 tofts] would certainly keep one busy. 

       "Royal Officials" they came to be called. The Maer and Cynghellor were the two new players selected by the overlord to be the administrators of the lands he protected. These officials could hire two of their own assistants to help circulate throughout the of Maenol. All these folks were to be sure that the dues (services) to the overlord had been collected (taxes) and, to take control of any problems occurring among all those fences out there. The Maer (Mayor) was to be the judge and, the Cynghellor (Chancelor) was to arrange the courts and dates for the courts in the townlands. Two times each year this was to occur and, the four assistants would move around the townlands to hear the complaints brewing.

Townland

       Four holdings (1holding = 64 legal acres) was to make an area called a townland. This recognized cluster of land would contain 256 legal acres. Now a "legal" acre of this day was not the same area as thought of in today's terms. Jenkins in his translation (pp.120-121) gives the legal acre to be measured:  

        "...a rod as long as the long yoke in the caller's hand, and as far as he reaches with it, with his arm stretched out, is the two limits, that is, the width of the legal acre; and thirty times the rod is its length".

       Now you know the long yoke as it was compared to the short yoke and, to the mid-yoke and to the armpit yoke. Of course you do...not! Say what! What kind of measurement was this all about? My analytical mindset wanted to know. Precision was paramount in the measurement of the acre starting with that middle peg and all.

        After digging around in a number of texts, it finally came to me that the legal acre of the day was not a physical measurement but, a recognized word for ownership.  The house that was fenced permanently, would become the personal property of the one who built the enclosed land (toft). The exact size and shape of the 4 acers belonging to each toft did not really matter as long as the general guidelines were followed. As the new proprietor, this land became your plant (origin of your family tree) and was given as the inheritance to your sons at your death. 

        Getting back to the 256 legal acres called the townland. It was the next step in land ownership from the holding discussed in the last post. My notes are shown to give that mental picture.

       A book by Palmer and Owen titled A History of Ancient Tenures In North Wales and The Marches [my ancestor's part of the world] gives the customary acre of Bromfield as "a hundred and three score perches to the acre and fowere and twenty foote to the to the pearch or pole." They conclude on p.8 "That is, it contained 10,240 square yards and was thus more than twice as large as the statute acre." [The English system of measurement.] On p. 9 the authors diagram examples of their research for the 10,240 sq. yds. but the shape of such acre could vary. (The book was published 1910.)

       Jenkins describes a long yoke as 12 English feet. (99.3-9n p. 259). He translates an acre is 1440 sq. yrds. (p. 303). He describes the concept that an acre equaled a day's ploughing (p303) and, that the "day" ended at noon (199.8-9n, p. 303). The patrimony in land it became.

P.S. The length of the acre was 30 times the width. (Jenkins p. 259).

Holding

       To continue on down the land tenure concepts active for generations among my Jones surname family tree, is moving from 16 legal acres (the shareland : last post) to 64 legal acres now called a "Holding". This was the grouping of 4 tofts into 1 shareland and, then the grouping of 4 sharelands into 1 holding. All this grouping was considered family land (blood relations) and would by several generations down the family tree involve brothers, uncles, cousins, grandfathers and maybe even the great-grandfather. Here again is a copy of my drawings trying to organize all this family collections of land.

      Now, as before, here is an enlarged copy of such a holding as photographed from the air estimated to be occupied before 300 AD. [see last post].

       You might imagine how this holding could include a stable for the horses, a barn for the milk cows, a cowhouse for cattle and, a sheepcote and pigsty for the remaining critters. Of course, there would be a larder and kiln house for diet and drying of harvest. All the families' survival activities would be clustered among the holding.

Shareland

       Dwelling in the house that was built on the plot of land and, which was surrounded by a permanent enclosure, was a foundational requirement for ownership. A year and a day was the usual given time to plant your sleeping bag, build your cook stove, roast your first meat, and to seed your garden. This also gave time for anyone else to question or to challenge your selection of opened land. Now, the fireplace was located in the center of the house so that rising smoke would flow centrally to the ceiling opening which was so designed. This "hearth" became the symbol of your family's life and, the "cauldron" became the inheritance of the youngest son. [Jenkins, p. 261, under Welsh word dadannudd meaning uncovering of a fire banked up overnight] Hum...banked up overnight would mean you had to reside there and not run off to some other location.

       Four acres of adjoining land was accepted as standard to each toft. As time past, and generations began to show up around the place, the need for more space would become evident. A generation was considered 30 years and additional family members would be busting at the seams. For 14 years a son was to be at his father's plate (covering and uncovering the family hearth) but, after this duration the son became his own boss and, destinated to be trained by the closest warlord. By 18-20 years of age, the well-trained free man was ready to plant his own toft. A new house with a distinctive fence and four more acres could be added to the family farm. After three generations (90 years), a clustering of tofts would be joined. When four tofts were reached, this became known as "shareland" and would contain 4x4=16 acres of adjoining land. At the fourth generation down from the first toft planted (by great-grandfather), each male heir could become a new proprietor! How about that, roughly a century of joint ownership together. No wonder it was called shareland!

       Now here again is a drawing of my notes:

       Drum roll please...your not going to believe this...here is an enlargement of a photo taken from the air which shows such a shareland as it actually existed around 300 A.D. Please take a good look.

       Four tofts are shown. The house is the uniformed, smaller circular areas surrounded by a larger enclosure for each toft. The four acres of land joining each toft can be roughly identified with a group of other adjoining walled areas. Pathways to each house can be followed with a separate entrance for each.  Could you share this land with your kin?

      The photo is found p. 59 in the text titled Celtic Britain by Lloyd Laing but, does not give a complete description. The picture is taken near Penzance, Cornwall and, Laing reports the site is thought to be occupied from "...first century BC until c. AD 300". This would certainly allow enough time for Gadforch (JA-1) to Ynyr (JB-1), then to Tudor Trevor (JC-1) and Ynyr his brother (JC-3), then to the three son of Tudor (JC-1), i.e. Goronwy (JD-1), Llydocla (JD-2), and my own direct line through the baby of the brothers, Dingad (JD-3) to get their tofts together and become the next proprietors.

P.S. The book by Laing is shown post April 19, 2022.

       

The House

       Hunting and fishing for something to eat was a common activity of the day. Open spaces allowed for such adventures and, one could cover around 20 miles going a comfortable pace. [My "Boy Scout" days during the 1960s gave evidence of such "hikes", [see post  August 12, 2013 titled "In Those Days"]. At any rate, one would find a plot of land not occupied by others, which by your judgement, might provide the needed resources such as water, grazing, and game.  It was time to plant some roots anyway and, to get that Jones family tree a growing. Interestingly, Welsh genealogists such as Lewys Dwnn (1846) record the Welsh family as a "plant"! [see post April 9, 2023 titled "References"]

       Planting that family tree first required a house. In the Welsh a house was ty (accent circumfex [^] over y). Not sure why the accent [^] was always placed over the vowel "y" with this word but, any Welsh writers out there to help understand this usage? Anyway, the house was placed upon the selected land and, encircling the house with a fence, was the crown of ownership. The fence enclosing a house became called a toft and, you were then the owner that was socially recognized a "proprietor". Thus, the toft was a plot of land carrying a house with the key being the plot was enclosed. As the proprietor, your name became the proper way to link this plot of land to your ownership and, this became the object of legal rights of property to your kindred and descent. Wow...keeping all these principles straight? Let's see, here is a copy of my notes on the concepts:

       Starting with "land" (tir) at the top, the "house" (ty with accent shown) to toft is shown. The page numbers listed are from the text by Jenkins. The toft was to contain 4 "legal" acres of land as accepted during the period of time. It was the object of legal rights to each particular person building the house and fencing the plot. In the law books the concept was tir a daear (land and earth). 

P.S. For a discussion of the Celtic land usage see text by Miranda Green, The Celtic World, reviewed post April 17, 2022, pp. 192-199. Much more to come from the toft!

Before And After

        The valley of death that separated my Jones surname family during 1348-1350 A.D., certainly had a before and after. To understand the "before" helps recognize the cultural dimensions that had assisted the families' survival for many generations. This was certainly ahead of that cataclysmic event called the "Black Death". You might call these thoughts foundational concepts.

       "Land and Earth" would be my first foundation. Professor of Ancient History [Dr. Eduard Meyer, University of Berlin, 1904] stated: 

        "The character of every people is more or less closely connected with that of its land". 

        My Jones-Welsh ancestors shared this dynamic. Land had the concept of open space that was the portion of the earth's solid surface, as separated from sea (water) and air (atmosphere). This land was not to be permanently enclosed ["Don't Fence Me In"] and, "FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED" was the accepted theory. 

       In the earliest written law book (customary principles described), a copy translated and edited by Dafydd Jenkins [see post April 4, 2022], in his introduction p. xvii, states the oldest surviving written Welsh, is the account of a dispute relating to some land. Can you believe it?  He goes on to state that there were additional records relating to land on other pages of the same manuscript. 

      Let's see now, the laws (customary principles) of Wales were first grouped together during the days of Hywel Dda [ca. 880 - 950 A.D.]. Remember, my ancestor Tudor Trevor (JC-1) was married to a daughter of old Hywel [Anghard (JC-2)]. Jenkins translates further, p. 120, even before "...the crown of London and the sceptre were taken by the English...", a fellow named Dyfnwal Moelmud was the first to make "good laws in this island". These laws lasted until Hywel made his updated edition [called a Redaction] but, "...Hywel did not change the measures of lands in this island from what Dyfnwal had left, for he was the best of measurers". 

       Hum...the best of measurers...and, "The reason that he measured it was in order to know its tribute and its mileage and its journeys by day". (p. 120) Nothing like those taxes as far back as 650 A.D. which is discussed in Davies' book, (p.63). [see post November 16, 2022] The last "King of Wales" was slain around this date and, the Welsh of the day wrote, "And from that time onwards the Britons lost the crown of the kingdom and the Saxons won it".

       Land and Earth, tir a daear in the Welsh, (p.359,Jenkins) is the first customary principle and, much more from here. Seems we were called Britons at this time in my family history.

P.S. Of interest to my Jones surname family tree is that the first Jones son to be born on this side of the great pond was Cadwallader Jones (JT-143) around 1650 in Virginia. He was given the name of this last king of the Britons slain ca. 680 A.D. He (JT-143) has become my most favorite great...grandfather. There is a blog which discusses in great detail his life and times. 

                  https://cadwalladerjones.blogspot.com 

 

The Valley of Death

        Just when you thought things could not get any worse for the ancestors, wrong! After all the changes like, that castle building stuff, new rules and regulations, all kinds of different overlords, claiming all kinds of rights and privileges. Trying to adjust to a new home, then having to ride along different paths, leading to new trading pathways that might still offer some hope for the future, were many of the families' activities. Then the little critter shown below, brought death to most all around.

      Can you believe it? The flea it is. This fella rode the back of a much larger critter called the rat. That dirty rat! The most responsible was named Rattus rattus. This rat was recognized by the fact that its tail was longer than its body and, the color was mostly black. This fella road the ships that came from various ports of trade to the shores of our little island. Here is its picture. 

       The "black death" this event was called. Not because the rat was black but, it was named after the change of appearance that the folks took after they were infected.

 

       Taking 2 to 15 days after the bite of the flea, loss of appetite (anorexia) and bone pain were the first signs. Next came very high fever (pyrexia), headache, severe fatigue (lassitude), dizziness (vertigo) and rarely shaking chills (rigor). The face would have an expression of horror.  The fever could get as high as 103-107 degree Fahrenheit. All over the body large bleeding (hemorrhages) and just under the skin bruising (ecchymoses) would occur. Pustules, abscesses and lymph node swellings called "Buboes" all appeared, thus giving the name Bubonic plague. These swellings were usually in the groin or under the arm pit (axilla). Skin would become dry and feel burning. The tongue would turn black, dry, and form ridges called furrows and, sores on the lips, gums, and nostrils would form. Low, muttering delirium would occur. Vomiting was frequent. Death rate (mortality) was around 65 % and if the infection settled in the lungs (Pneumonic plage) it was always fatal. 

       The bacteria that brought this rapid course was initially called Pasteurella pestis but, came to be named after the fellow who discovered it in 1894, Yersin, Yersinia pestis. A "pestis" it certainly was and, a real valley of death.

       The best text that discusses this plague from its historical perspective is by Philip Ziegler in 1991.

       Having just experienced our own pandemic with COVID 19, my heart has a new understanding and admiration for all my ancestors who kept that DNA flowing down the branches.

The flea picture is taken from my article "Fleas", American Family Physician, vol. 29, No. 4, April, 1984.

The rat picture from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, appearing in Manson's Tropical Diseases, p. 337. [One of my favorite tropical medicine texts published 1982, by Bailliere Tindall, London].

The text by Ziegler was first titled "Western Europe Man, Black Death. Epidemics, history I", 1969, in the United Kingdom. It was first published in the U.S. by Alan Sutton, NH, 1991.