Mark,
I don't know the answer about cumin specifically being grown in
Britain
but there were also white glove rents, and peppercorn rents without the
implication that pepper was being grown in Britain. It was a convention
probably related to the ownership of leasehold v. freehold land.
Agricultural
land that was worked for the lord by a tenant might also be required to
provide
one chicken (or such like) plus so many work-days during the year.
Bea
On 10/21/04 1:14 AM Mark Nesbitt writes:
>I have had an enquiry from a local historian working on Hundred Rolls from
>Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire (date 1279). She has come across a reference to a
>tenant paying 1 pound of cumin every year to his lord.
>
>Cumin (Cuminus cyminum) is seemingly well documented as being used in
>Anglo-Saxon & Medieval times, but does not occur in the online version of the
>Archaeobotanical Computer Database (ABCD). Today Cumin is regarded
>as difficult to grow for seed in the UK - it has to be sown early in Spring,
>initially under glass. Instead, cumin is imported from India, Turkey etc.
>Two questions: first, is there evidence from farmers' manuals or similar for
>cumin cultivation in medieval England and, second, if cumin was grown
>here, was the climate warmer?
>Thanks!
>Mark
>
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