This book analyzes the economic and social development of Britain and Ireland between 1050 and 1530. It compares economic institutions, the structure of production and rates of economic development and is richly supplied with up-to-date evidence. After considering the principal geographical, cultural and political constraints on economic development, the book examines in detail the development of towns and trade, settlement patterns, agriculture and relations between lords and tenures. The book is structured so that it can be used on both short courses and longer ones, with the material...

In this series of essays on the society and economy of England between the eleventh and the sixteenth centuries, fourteen contributors address many of the most important themes in an era that experienced profound change in rural, commercial, urban and industrial life. Subjects covered include the growth of London, the commercial and urban development of the north, Italian merchants and banking, overseas trade, taxation, farm servants, hunting and poaching, changing relations between landlords and tenants, the expansion of the economy in the twelfth century and the great slump of the...

This study looks at the period in its own right without treating it as an epilogue to the Middle Ages or a prelude to modern times.

This collection presents new and original research on the long thirteenth century, from c.1180-c.1330, including England's relations with Wales and Ireland. The range of topics embraces royal authority and its assertion and limitation, the great royal inquests and judicial reform of the reign of Edward I, royal manipulation of noble families, weakening royal administration at the end of the century, sex and love in the upper levels of society, monastic/lay relations, and the administration of building projects. Contributors: RUTH BLAKELY, NICOLA COLDSTREAM, BETH HARTLAND, CHARLES INSLEY, ANDY...

This pioneering collection of studies is concerned with the way in which increasing literacy interacted with the desire of thirteenth-century rulers to keep fuller records of their government's activities, and the manner in which this literacy could be used to safeguard or increase authority. In Europe the keeping of archives became an increasingly normal part of everyday administrative routines, and much has survived, owing to the prolonged preference for parchment rather than paper; in the Eastern civilisations material is more scarce. Papers discuss pragmatic literacy and record keeping in...

The Winchester pipe rolls - the estate accounts of the bishops of Winchester - constitute one of the most remarkable documentary survivals from medieval England, and are without parallel anywhere in the world, supplying detailed evidence for agriculture, prices, wages, the land market and peasant society in an exceptionally well-preserved sequence from 1209 onwards. They have attracted the attention of historians of medieval economy and society for over a century, first in deposit in the Public Record Office, more recently in Hampshire Record Office. The essays collected here celebrate their...

This collection presents new and original research into the long thirteenth century, from c.1180-c.1330, with a particular focus on the reign of Edward II and its aftermath. Other topics examined include crown finances, markets and fairs, royal stewards, the aftermath of the Barons' War, Wace's Roman de Brut, and authority in Yorkshire nunneries; and the volume also follows the tradition of the series by looking beyond England, with contributions on the role of Joan, wife of Llywelyn the Great in Anglo-Welsh relations, Dublin, and English landholding in Ireland, while the continental...

The recent surge of interest in the political, ecclesiastical, social and economic history of north-eastern England is reflected in the essays in this volume. The topics covered range widely, including the development of both rural and urban life and institutions. There are contributions on the well-known richness of Durham cathedral muniments, its priory and bishopric, and there is also a particular focus on the institutions and practices which evolved to deal with Scottish border problems. A number of papers broach lesser-known subjects which accordingly offer new territory for exploration,...

The borough of Crossgate formed a large section of the medieval city of Durham. It corresponded to the chapelry, later the parish, of St Margaret, and was subject to the lordship of Durham Priory, in whose archives these documents have survived, dating chiefly from the 1390s and to the years 1498-1531. The records offer a sharp focus on the local administration of justice, as well as containing graphic detail concerning other aspects of urban society in the late middle ages. They are printed here with a detailed rental of the borough from the year 1500, which allows individual properties to...

Volume VI of Thirteenth Century England sees a new impetus behind this biennial series. The conference which generates the studies - a generous thirteen in this volume - has now moved to Durham, where Professor MICHAEL PRESTWICH is Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor ROBIN FRAME and Dr RICHARD BRITNELL are members of the History Department. It is the publishers' hope that, like Anglo-Norman Studies, the series will now be recognised as one which any library with a serious interest in medieval history will need to possess. This latest volume in the series takes a broad chronological approach,...