Servants and labourers on a late medieval demesne: The case of Newton, Cheshire, 1498-1520

The paper examines the relatively under-explored subject of late medieval d emesne personnel through the example of Newton, Cheshire. Based on an unusu ally rich set of accounts, the paper discusses the contracts, tasks and wag es of Newton's servants and labourers and seeks to locate the former in rel ation to established types of medieval famuli and early modern servants of husbandry. The paper argues that, in contrast to some recent historical res earch, the balance of power at Newton lay with the landlord.