Childhood, Orphans and Underage Heirs in Medieval Rural England: Growing up in the Village

Description

This book explores the experience of childhood and adolescence in later medieval English rural society from 1250 to 1450. Hit by major catastrophes – the Great Famine and then a few decades later the Black Death – this book examines how rural society coped with children left orphaned, and land inherited by children and adolescents considered too young to run their holdings. Using manorial court rolls, accounts and other documents, Miriam Müller looks at the guardians who looked after the children, and the chattels and lands the children brought with them. This book considers not just rural concepts of childhood, and the training and schooling young peasants received, but also the nature of supportive kinship networks, family structures and the roles of lordship, to offer insights into the experience of childhood and adolescence in medieval villages more broadly. Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction (Miriam Müller)....Pages 1-32 Vulnerable Members of the Community (Miriam Müller)....Pages 33-77 Inheritance, Rights and Goods (Miriam Müller)....Pages 79-117 Looking After Underaged Heirs (Miriam Müller)....Pages 119-155 Plotting Out a Living (Miriam Müller)....Pages 157-196 Conclusion (Miriam Müller)....Pages 197-205 Back Matter ....Pages 207-213