The Origins of Aggregate

Before the Black Death there tended to be lots of surviving children, so when a parent died the property tended to be divided among them in some manner. But now many families lacked heirs to inherit the property and tend to the farm. So an eager peasant who wanted to add more land to his holdings might try to claim the lands of deceased relatives. This was another way for a yeoman to accumulate a sizable estate. According to some estimates the average peasant holding doubled in size after the plague, from around twelve acres beforehand to around twenty-four acres afterwards.