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The Routledge Handbook of Medieval Rural Life brings together the latest research on peasantry in medieval Europe.
The aim is to place peasants - as small-scale agricultural producers - firmly at the centre of this volume, as people with agency, immense skill and resilience to shape their environments, cultures and societies. This volume examines the changes and evolutions within village societies across the medieval period, over a broad chronology and across a wide geography. Rural structures, families and hierarchies are examined alongside tool use and trade, as well as the impact of external factors such as famine and the Black Death. The contributions offer insights into multidisciplinary research, incorporating archaeological as well as landscape studies alongside traditional historical documentary approaches across widely differing local and regional contexts across medieval Europe.
This book will be an essential reference for scholars and students of medieval history, as well those interested in rural, cultural and social history.
List of contents
Introduction Part 1: Social Relationships, Communities and Hierarchies 1. Rural Elites in Medieval Valencia, Spain 2. Monastic Lordship and Rural Society in the Middle Pesa Valley (Tuscany) from the Late Twelfth to the Late Thirteenth Century 3. Lordship and Peasant Status in Lusignan and Venetian Cyprus 4. From vicinia to communitas. The evolution of village organization and government in the 11th-15th century Poland 5. Creative Writing: How to create a rural community by writing about it - in the German South-West 6. The rural parish in England Part 2: Dealing with Conflicts and Adversity 7. The Monks and the Masses at Saint-Leu d'Esserent: Rural Politics in Northern France before the Jacquerie 8. Access versus Influence: Peasants in court in the late Medieval Low Countries 9. Famine in Medieval England 10. Climate, Pathogens and Mammals: England in the Age of Emerging Diseases, c. 1279-1362 Part 3: Work and Making a Living 11. Peasant Farmers and their Farmworkers in Later Medieval England 12. Rural households and the market for commodities in the later middle ages 13. Tenure and the Land Market in Northeastern England: A Comparative Perspective 14. Aspects of Farm Labour in Medieval Iceland; Gender and Childhood c. 1100 -1400 15. Technological Capacity of Women in the High Middle Ages 16. The economic opportunities of rural women in late medieval Flanders Part 4: Environment, Landscapes and Material Culture 17. New Interdisciplinary Approaches to Life, Land, and Environment at Herstmonceux 18. Mediterranean Irrigation 19. The Pot, The Knife and the Ring; an Archaeology of later medieval material culture 20. A landscape transformed: the English countryside during the long thirteenth century 21. Work, knowledge and technology of medieval farmers in Sweden: understanding medieval and rural life from experimental field work
About the author
Miriam Müller has worked as a lecturer in medieval history at the University of Birmingham, UK. She has published on a wide range of topics about medieval rural life, including peasant revolts and gender in the English village. Her current research interests include medieval coastal communities, peasant revolts in northern Germany and the representation of medieval peasants in modern and contemporary far-right movements.
Summary
The Routledge Handbook of Medieval Rural Life brings together the latest research on peasantry in medieval Europe. It is an essential reference for scholars and students of medieval history, as well those interested in rural, cultural and social history.
