Rent is integral to our way of life in the twentieth century. Almost everyone over the age of eighteen must have had some experience of paying rent, either for a house, an apartment, or for some other form of property; and the principles behind paying rent are not so far removed from the principles behind mortgage repayments. In other words a sum of money is required to pass from the tenant (or mortgage holder) to the landlord (or mortgage lender) at regular intervals. Failure to fulfil the terms of the contract (by non-payment or inadequate payment) may lead, within strictly defined legal limits, to dispossession. In this case the landlord will evict the tenant, or the mortgage lender will foreclose and claim the property. So much is clear, and most of us are well aware of the terms under which such contracts normally operate. In the past the position was different, but not so materially different as we might expect. Some of the terminology has disappeared: we no longer have lifeleaseholds, three-life leases, customary tenancies, or copyholds, but the basic relationship of a money rent paid regularly to a landlord, under conditions agreeable to both parties, goes back many centuries.

Despite this long history, surprisingly little is known about long-run trends in agricultural rent. For hundreds of years farmers and landlords have agreed rents, and money has changed hands. On individual farms and estates a good deal is known about these contractual arrangements, but the total picture to which they contributed is far less clear. We know all too little about long-run movements in rents in England over long periods. This is, to say the least, surprising.