Research Catalog

Peasants and landlords in later Medieval England c. 1380-c. 1525

Title: Peasants and landlords in later Medieval England c. 1380-c. 1525 / E.B. Fryde.
Author: Fryde, E. B.
Publication: New York : St. Martin's Press ; Stroud : Alan Sutton, 1996.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	DA235 .F79 1996	Off-site

Description

371 pages; 25 cm

Summary

Through the use of much previously unpublished material this book offers a fresh, balanced assessment of the realities of life in rural England during the later Middle Ages based as much on the perspective of the peasants themselves as of their landlords.
The demands voiced by the rebels in the 'Peasants' Revolt of 1381 provide an instructive glimpse of peasant grievances. Indeed, the peasant discontent of this time helps to explain many of the changes forced upon landlords during the ensuing 120 years, a period that saw the gradual disappearance of serfdom in England, as well as significant movements of populations as peasants became free to move to more promising areas.
As Professor Fryde shows, such developments had wide-ranging consequences for the social and economic history of Britain. Due consideration is given to the harsh treatment meted out by oppressive landlords, to the desertion of villages and the spread of enclosure, to trade as well as agriculture, to both ecclesiastical and lay landlords, and to such matters as the effects of warfare on village life.
Emphasis is given to the evidence of widespread peasant poverty and continuous unrest, whether taking the form of rebellion or, more commonly, passive resistance to landlords.

Subject

Bibliography (note)

Contents

Ch. 1. Introduction -- Ch. 2. Social and Economic Background to the Great Revolt of 1381, I: Serfdom and the Economic Condition of Servile Peasants -- Ch. 3. Social and Economic Background to the Great Revolt of 1381, II: 1349-81 -- Ch. 4. The West Midlands Before the Peasants' Revolt: the Estates of the Bishops of Worcester and of Coventry and Lichfield -- Ch. 5. Some Examples of the Early Leasing of Demesnes -- Ch. 6. Sheep and Wool of the Cotswolds -- Ch. 7. Sheep and Wool of Central and Western Counties of Southern England -- Ch. 8. After the Peasants' Revolt: General Trends, c. 1381-c. 1430 -- Ch. 9. The Estates of the Bishops of Worcester, c. 1395-1436 -- Ch. 10. Crisis: Economic Depression, c. 1430-c. 1470 -- Ch. 11. A Case Study of the Depression of the Mid-Fifteenth Century: the Estates of the Bishops of Worcester, 1436-76 -- Ch. 12. Depopulation and Evictions: the Midlands, c. 1440-c. 1520 --
Ch. 13. South-Western and South-Central Shires: a Region of Conservative and Oppressive Lordships -- Ch. 14. Some Evidence of the Effects of Warfare on Particular Regions or Estates -- Ch. 15. Legal Aspects of Tenurial Changes -- Ch. 16. Oppression and Injustice on the Estates of Some Major Lay Landlords -- Ch. 17. Towards Economic Revival, c. 1470-c. 1525.

ISBN

0312163703 (cloth)

LCCN

96023198

OCLC

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries