The third volume of The Agrarian History of England and Wales, which was first published in 1991, deals with the last century and a half of the Middle Ages. It concerns itself with the new demographic and economic circumstances created in large measure by endemic plague.
Agrarian Change and Crisis in Europe, 1200-1500 addresses one of the classic subjects on economic history: the process of aggregate economic growth and the crisis that engulfed the European continent during the late Middle Ages. This was not an ordinary crisis. During the period 1200-1500, Europe witnessed endemic episodes of famine and a wave of plague epidemics that amounted to one of its worst health crises, rivaled only by the Justinian plague in the sixth century. These challenges called into question the production of goods and services and the distribution of wealth, opening the possibility of fundamental systemic change. This book offers an empirical synthesis on a host of economic, demographic, and technological developments which characterized the period 1200-1500. It covers virtually the entire continent and places equal emphasis both on providing a solid factual framework and comparing and contrasting various theoretical interpretations. The broad geographical and conceptual scope of the book renders it indispensable not only for undergraduate students who take courses relating to the economic and social life of the Middle Ages but also to more advanced scholars who often specialize in only one country or region.
By 1300, a region often referred to as the March of Wales had been created between England and the Principality of Wales. This March consisted of some forty castle-centred lordships extending along the Anglo-Welsh border and also across southern Wales. It took shape over more than two centuries, between the Norman conquest of England (1066) and the English conquest of Wales (1283), and is mentioned in Magna Carta (1215). It was a highly distinctive part of the political geography of Britain for much of the Middle Ages, yet the medieval March has long vanished, and today expressions like 'the marches' are used rather vaguely to refer to the Welsh Borders.What was the medieval March of Wales? How and why was it created? The March of Wales, 1067-1300: A Borderland of Medieval Britain provides comprehensible and concise answers to such questions. With the aid of maps, a list of key dates and source material such as the writings of Gerald of Wales (c.1146-1223), this book also places the March in the context of current academic debates on the frontiers, peoples and countries of the medieval British Isles.
The Reader's Guide to British History is the essential source to secondary material on British history. This resource contains over 1,000 A-Z entries on the history of Britain, from ancient and Roman Britain to the present day. Each entry lists 6-12 of the best-known books on the subject, then discusses those works in an essay of 800 to 1,000 words prepared by an expert in the field. The essays provide advice on the range and depth of coverage as well as the emphasis and point of view espoused in each publication.
Women brewed and sold most of the ale consumed in medieval England, but after 1350, men slowly took over the trade. By 1600, most brewers in London were male, and men also dominated the trade in many towns and villages. This book asks how, when, and why brewing ceased to be women's work and instead became a job for men. Employing a wide variety of sources and methods, Bennett vividly describes how brewsters (that is, female brewers) gradually left the trade. She also offers a compelling account of the endurance of patriarchy during this time of dramatic change.
Fischer has examined price records in many nations, and finds that great waves of rising prices in the 13th-, 16th-, 18th-, and 20th centuries were all marked by price swings of increasing volatility, falling wages, a growing gap between rich and poor, and an increase in violent crime, family disintegration, and cultural despair. 109 graphs & charts. 7 maps.
Winner of the 2020 PROSE Award for Multivolume Reference/Humanities Work was central to medieval life. Religious and secular authorities generally expected almost everyone to work. Artistic and literary depictions underlined work's cultural value. The vast majority of medieval people engaged in agriculture because it was the only way they could obtain food. Yet their work led to innovations in technology and production and allowed others to engage in specialized labor, helping to drive the growth of cities. Many workers moved to seek employment and to improve their living conditions. For those who could not work, charity was often available, and many individuals and institutions provided forms of social welfare. Guilds protected their members and created means for the transmission of skills. When they were not at work, medieval Christians were to meet their religious obligations yet many also enjoyed various pastimes. A consideration of medieval work is therefore one of medieval society in all its creativity and complexity and that is precisely what this volume provides. A Cultural History of Work in the Medieval Age presents an overview of the period with essays on economies, representations of work, workplaces, work cultures, technology, mobility, society, politics and leisure.
The present volume explores the process of economic stratification within the rural societies in the Middle Ages and in the Pre-modern period, paying special attention to the leading sectors of the community. Established experts and younger scholars in the field examine the rural elites and its relation with the emergence of agrarian capitalism through different observatories ranging across European regions, from Wiltshire (England), the County of Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant (Low Countries) to the Kingdom of Valencia (Crown of Aragon). The contributions analyse the differentiation within the peasantry from various perspectives such as the social conditions, the evolution of communal structures, the investment strategies, the expenses for burials, the means for social promotion and the uses of the common lands. The book employs a variety of historical methods and draws on a wide range of diverse sources including court records, wills, law codes, manuals of institutional landowners and notarial registries. Considering the interest of the issue and the newness of the observatories, this volume will be essential reading for specialists on rural history and also engage a more general readership interested in conditions and structures in pre-industrial societies.
A 400-year history of the development of alchemy in England that brings to light the evolution of the practice. In medieval and early modern Europe, the practice of alchemy promised extraordinary physical transformations. Who would not be amazed to see base metals turned into silver and gold, hard iron into soft water, and deadly poison into elixirs that could heal the human body? To defend such claims, alchemists turned to the past, scouring ancient books for evidence of a lost alchemical heritage and seeking to translate their secret language and obscure imagery into replicable, practical effects. Tracing the development of alchemy in England over four hundred years, from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the seventeenth, Jennifer M. Rampling illuminates the role of alchemical reading and experimental practice in the broader context of national and scientific history. Using new manuscript sources, she shows how practitioners like George Ripley, John Dee, and Edward Kelley, as well as many previously unknown alchemists, devised new practical approaches to alchemy while seeking the support of English monarchs. By reconstructing their alchemical ideas, practices, and disputes, Rampling reveals how English alchemy was continually reinvented over the space of four centuries, resulting in changes to the science itself. In so doing, The Experimental Fire bridges the intellectual history of chemistry and the wider worlds of early modern patronage, medicine, and science.