Some things never change. Since the dawn of time humans have had to work to make a living. At first it was the daily round of hunting and gathering wild foods. With the dawn of agriculture it was mainly work in the fields growing crops and looking after domesticated animals. From this point a class system emerged where people who had been able to gain power and privilege no longer had to work for a living but kept slaves, serfs and eventually bonded peasants to do the work for them in return for a small share of the proceeds. The Lord's policies were to maintain the working peasants on a minimum scale but always making sure there were enough of them to work the land. This Feudal Society was the norm until the mid 14th century when the Black Death killed between a third and a half of the workers. Without them the Lords couldn't survive so they had to relax their hold on the peasants. Despite legislation to try to reinstate feudalism, the peasants gained rights in common law that changed their relationship with the Lords and the land, wage labour became common and some lucky peasants were given copyhold tenancies of their land. This led to the rise of the 'yeoman farmer' and eventually to outright ownership for some.
This was a purely local economy and within it there were very few money transactions, barter was the mainstay of exchange. If you needed the services of the growing number of craftsmen like smiths or carpenters the payment was usually in produce from the farm. Remember that with very few exceptions transport was virtually non-existent. Possibly the first exception to this was paying money to salt traders for a necessity that we couldn't produce in Barlick. Salter's Ford (Salterforth) is one piece of evidence for this. Rents to the Lord of the Manor were paid in produce or labour though some taxes had to be paid for in coin. A consequence of this economy was that if it was a bad year there was danger of local famine. Food could not be brought in from outside in sufficient quantity for survival and after disease this was the most common cause of death.
Faced with these harsh realities our old Barlickers developed strategies for survival. Hunter gathering never completely died out and if the law made the taking of game illegal there was only one answer, a bit of quiet poaching. Self-sufficiency was essential, families spun and wove wool to make cloth for their own needs and for barter. Every peasant could do rough smith or carpenter's work. The aim was to survive and spend as few resources as possible in barter for outside help. This 'Domestic Industry' was to become the main route to 'Making a Living' for over 800 years. Next week we'll have a look at how this came about. We may have more in common with our ancestors than we thought!
Medieval ploughing. (note that the draught animals are oxen, they have cloven hooves.)