The church, as a major landowner, organised it's landholdings in such a way that each vicar/parson would have lands sufficient to generate an income to support him in his spiritual work. He in turn would not need to bother with farming and could provide for himself. In the period immediately after 1066, the villeins would have given service to the vicar, much as they did to the Lord of the manor, working his land at the crucial times of the year, planting, weeding, harvesting and storing. By the time of the Hundred Rolls, we see that the villeins are farming the land for themselves, and simply paying rent over to the parson to provide his means of living. As the idea of money rents entered the rural economy, the importance of markets grew as a place where surplus food could be bought and sold. In either case, the texts below from the Hundred Rolls show that the income the vicar of Somersham could count on could provide a decent living.