Oschinsky (1971) took forward Elizabeth Lamond's pioneering work on the history of agriculture in later medieval England (Lamond 1890), publishing a fuller study of the material used by her predecessor and adopting the title ‘Walter of Henley’ and Treatises on Estate Management. This new work consisted primarily of four texts of between eleven and sixteen pages each in Anglo- French accompanied by substantial explanatory commentary, all dealing with estate management in rural England in the second half of the thirteenth century, but all of them approaching their task from different perspectives. The earliest of these texts was written for the countess of Lincoln by Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, and entitled Les reules ke le bon eveske de Nichole Robert Grosseteste fist […] de garder e governer terres e hostel (i.e. estates and households) going back to about 1242. This was followed some twenty-five or thirty years later by an anonymous ‘Seneschaucy’, then by the ‘Hosbondrye’ of Walter of Henley, and finally an anonymous ‘Husbandry’ from around the turn of the century.

The ‘Reules’ of Grosseteste show a landowner bringing to his lay responsibilities the same kind of approach that he brought as bishop of Lincoln to the governance of his bishopric. The structure of authority from the bishop down through his various officials to the peasants who worked his estates is clearly set out. The chief official who manages the whole estate for the landlord is the steward (seneschal), whose many responsibilities include the organisation of the numerous agricultural operations, the checking of all the accounts appertaining to them and also those referring to the running of the household. Moreover, at Michaelmas he must plan ahead for all the activities of the estate in the coming year. The role of the landlord himself is epitomised in the ceremony of dining, with its echoes of high mass in his cathedral. The food and drink, at their blessing before dinner in hall, are to be presented to the lord by his baker and butler wearing their master's livery in spotless condition, the servants are allowed to enter only when the freemen and guests are seated, the correct positioning of the ale and wine on and under the tables is laid down and the marshal is on duty to supervise the seating and ensure good conduct at table with the assistance of two men specifically detailed for the task.