The Moral Economy of the Countryside: Anglo-Saxon to Anglo-Norman England
Cambridge University Press, 10/31/2019
EAN 9781108720069, ISBN10: 1108720064
Paperback, 248 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
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.
1. Introduction
the moral economy
Part I. Rank
2. Lordship
3. Our island story
4. Honour and respect in peasant society
Part II. Reciprocity
5. Hospitality
6. Hearth, household and farm
Part III. Reputation and Witness
7. Neighbours and strangers
8. Markets and marketing
Part IV. The Wolf Sniffs the Wind
9. HWILOM WÆS
Archbishop Wulfstan's old social order
10. Land, law and office
Part V. The Aftermath of Conquest
11. New words in the countryside
12. Narrating the new social order
Part VI. In the World of the Manor
13. Establishing custom
14. Thinking feudally
15. From rank to class
16. Conclusion
forward into the past
Appendix. The family farm in peasant studies
Bibliography
Index.