The four field system was successful because it improved the amount of food produced. From medieval times, peasants had used a system of three year strip rotation of crops. The peasants worked land which had been granted to them by a landowner, often a nobleman. In return, the peasants swore their allegiance to the landowner and were ready to fight for him in times of conflict.
Every year in December, the peasants would allocate strips of land to each other at a public meeting. At first, each strip was about one acre 0,4 hectares in area. Each peasant would be allotted about thirty strips 12 hectares. These were equally divided between three large, open fields. These strips became smaller, and each peasant was allotted less of them, as the number of people in each family eligible for for strips increased.
Between the 15th and 18th centuries there was a gradual increase in the amount of land being enclosed. Enclosed literally meant that a field was surrounded by a fence or a hedge.
It also meant that the enclosed field was worked as a complete unit and no longer divided into strips. The reasons for the increase in land enclosure were varied. Soon after the Wars of the Roses , some noblemen sold their land because they were short of money. Disagreement over foreign policy led to his resignation from the ministry in View all related items in Oxford Reference ».
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Publications Pages Publications Pages. Recently viewed 0 Save Search. He designed plowing and seeding contraptions that made farming a not-so strenuous task as before. His inventions revolutionized the agricultural business altogether. Charles Townshend, born August 27, —died September 4, , London, England , British chancellor of the Exchequer whose measures for the taxation of the British American colonies intensified the hostilities that eventually led to the American Revolution.
The Townshend Acts were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in , that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power. This website uses cookies for a better browsing experience. Find out more about how cookies are used on this site and how you can manage cookies in your browser by reading the Cookie Policy.
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