Background To History Lyrics

Background To History lyrics

PROF. JONES: Good evening. One of the main elements in any assessment of the
medieval open-field farming system is the availability of plough teams for the
winter plowing. Professor Tofts of the University of Manchester puts it like
this:
(A rocking beat starts and a 60s-style folk rock song with some heavy
caribbean influence begins.)

To plough once in the winter Sowing, and
again in Lent,
Sowing with as many oxen
Sowing with as many oxen
As he
shall have yoked in the plough
Oh yes
Oh yes
As he shall have yoked in
the plough.
Oh yes
Oh yes

PROF. JONES: But of course there is
considerable evidence of open-field villages as far back as the tenth century.
Professor Moorhead: (Dramatic metal chords, reminiscent of British punk or
perhaps groups like Black Sabbath.)

Theeeeeere's
ev-i-de-ence
Theeeeeere's ev-i-de-ence
There's evidence
(evidence)
Evidence (evidence)
Evidence (evidence?)
There's evidence
(evidence!)

Evidence of settlements with one long village
street,
Farmsteads, hamlets, little towns - the framework was complete
By
the tiiiiime ... (OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST!) The rural framework was
complete
Rur-al
frame-work
wa-as
com-plete.

PROF. JONES:
This is not to say, of course, that the system was as sophisticated as it later
came to be. I asked the Professor of Medieval studies at Cambridge why this
was.

PROF. HEGERMAN: (stuttering) Well, i-it may not have been a - a
statutory obligation, but, uh, I mean, uh, a guy who was a freeman whuh - was
obliged in the medieval system to...

PROF. JONES: To do
boonwork?

PROF. HEGERMANN: That's right. There's an example, ah, from
the village rolls, ah, in 1313.

PROF. JONES: And I believe you're going
to do it for us.

PROF. HEGERMAN: That's right, yeah...

(Pop beat
sets in, reminiscent of the Beatles in their later period but with some of the
spastic quality of a Joe Cocker.)

Oh it's written in the village
rolls
That if one plough-team wants an oxen
And that oxen is lent
Then
the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the loooord's consent.
Yeah,
yeah,
Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's
consent
Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's
consent
Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's
consent
Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's
consent
Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the lord's
consent
(na na na na)
Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to have the
lord's consent
(na na na na)
Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to
have the lord's consent
(na na na na)
Then the villeins and the ploughmen
got to have the lord's consent
Then the villeins and the ploughmen got to
have the lord's consent.


That was a talk on the open-field farming
system by Professor Angus Jones. Some of the main points covered in this talk
are now available on a long-playing record entitled "The Ronettes Sing Medieval
Agrarian History."