The Moral Economy of the Countryside: Anglo-Saxon to Anglo-Norman England

Description

How were manorial lords in the twelfth and thirteenth century able to appropriate peasant labour? And what does this reveal about the changing attitudes and values of medieval England? Considering these questions from the perspective of the 'moral economy', the web of shared values within a society, Rosamond Faith offers a penetrating portrait of a changing world. Anglo-Saxon lords were powerful in many ways but their power did not stem directly from their ownership of land. The values of early medieval England - principally those of rank, reciprocity and worth - were shared across society. The Norman Conquest brought in new attitudes both to land and to the relationship between lords and peasants, and the Domesday Book conveyed the novel concept of 'tenure'. The new 'feudal thinking' permeated all relationships concerned with land: peasant farmers were now manorial tenants, owing labour and rent. Many people looked back to better days. Cover Reviews Half-title Title page Copyright information Contents Preface Abbreviations 1 Introduction: The Moral Economy Words Freedom and Agency Was England Different? Feudalism Dictionaries and Translations Notes Part I Rank 2 Lordship Lordship in the scir Lordship as a Personal Bond Lordship and Rank Notes 3 Our Island Story Traditions of Law and Lawmaking Notes 4 Honour and Respect in Peasant Society Rank and Honour on the Great Estate Founding Fathers Putting the Name on the Land Notes Part II Reciprocity 5 Hospitality Hosting Lords and Kings Notes 6 Hearth, Household, and Farm Hearths Households, Hides, and Free Status The Family Farm Farm Workers Boarders The Household as a Legal Space Passing on the Farm Notes Part III Reputation and Witness 7 Neighbours and Strangers Livestock and Community Disputes and Dealings Land and Witness Notes 8 Markets and Marketing Owning Things Means of Exchange Markets Official and Unofficial Notes Part IV The Wolf Sniffs the Wind 9 Hwilom Wæs: Archbishop Wulfstan's Old Social Order The Rules of the Estate Local Custom Free Men and their Property Notes 10 Land, Law, and Office Notes Part V The Aftermath of Conquest 11 New Words in the Countryside Domesday Vocabulary: Manerium Domesday Vocabulary: Tenet Domesday Vocabulary: People Villani Domesday Vocabulary: Sochemanni et Liberi Homines Domesday Vocabulary: Measuring Land How Many Hides? Notes 12 Narrating the New Social Order Changes On the Estate Changes in the Courts Narrating the New Order From Commendation to Tenure Notes Part VI In the World of the Manor 13 Establishing Custom Estate Policy Custom Norman Monasteries and their English Lands Negotiations and Agreements Notes 14 Thinking Feudally Courts The Hallmoot and the Manor Court Tenure in the Manor Court Notes 15 From Rank to Class The Manor Court and Collective Action Legal Villeinage: Status Legal Villeinage: Tenure Notes 16 Conclusion: Forward into the Past Notes Appendix The Family Farm in Peasant Studies Bibliography Index