Town and Countryside in Western Berkshire, C.1327-c.1600

Town and Countryside in Western Berkshire, C.1327-c.1600 PDF Author: Margaret Yates
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 184383328X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
A fresh examination of how society and economy changed at the end of the middle ages, comparing urban and rural experience. The traditional boundary between the medieval and early modern periods is challenged in this new study of social and economic change that bridges the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It addresses the large historical questions -what changed, when and why - through a detailed case study of western Berkshire and Newbury, integrating the experiences of both town and countryside. Newbury is of particular interest being a rising cloth manufacturing centre that had contacts with London and overseas due to its specialist production of kerseys. The evidence comes from original documentary research and the data are clearly presented in tables and graphs. It is a book alive with theactions of people, famous men such as the clothier John Winchcombe known as 'Jack of Newbury', but more notably by the hundreds of individuals, such as William Eyston or Isabella Bullford, who acquired property, cultivated their lands, or, in the case of Isabella, managed the mill complex after her husband's death. MARGARET YATES is Lecturer in History at the University of Reading.

Town and Countryside in Western Berkshire, C.1327-c.1600

Town and Countryside in Western Berkshire, C.1327-c.1600 PDF Author: Margaret Yates
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 184383328X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
A fresh examination of how society and economy changed at the end of the middle ages, comparing urban and rural experience. The traditional boundary between the medieval and early modern periods is challenged in this new study of social and economic change that bridges the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It addresses the large historical questions -what changed, when and why - through a detailed case study of western Berkshire and Newbury, integrating the experiences of both town and countryside. Newbury is of particular interest being a rising cloth manufacturing centre that had contacts with London and overseas due to its specialist production of kerseys. The evidence comes from original documentary research and the data are clearly presented in tables and graphs. It is a book alive with theactions of people, famous men such as the clothier John Winchcombe known as 'Jack of Newbury', but more notably by the hundreds of individuals, such as William Eyston or Isabella Bullford, who acquired property, cultivated their lands, or, in the case of Isabella, managed the mill complex after her husband's death. MARGARET YATES is Lecturer in History at the University of Reading.

The Medieval Peasant House in Midland England

The Medieval Peasant House in Midland England PDF Author: Nat Alcock
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1782977147
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
The aim of this lavishly illustrated book is to provide an in-depth study of the many medieval peasant houses still standing in Midland villages, and of their historical context. In particular, the combination of tree-ring and radiocarbon dating, detailed architectural study and documentary research illuminates both their nature and their status. The results are brought together to provide a new and detailed view of the medieval peasant house, resolving the contradiction between the archaeological and architectural evidence, and illustrating how its social organisation developed in the period before we have extensive documentary evidence for the use of space within the house. Nat Alcock and Dan Miles' work on Medieval Peasant Houses in Midland England has been nominated for the 2014 Current Archaeology Research Project of the Year.

A Country Merchant, 1495-1520

A Country Merchant, 1495-1520 PDF Author: Christopher Dyer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191624454
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Around 1500 England's society and economy had reached a turning point. After a long period of slow change and even stagnation, an age of innovation and initiative was in motion, with enclosure, voyages of discovery, and new technologies. It was an age of fierce controversy, in which the government was fearful of beggars and wary of rebellions. The 'commonwealth' writers such as Thomas More were sharply critical of the greed of profit hungry landlords who dispossessed the poor. This book is about a wool merchant and large scale farmer who epitomises in many ways the spirit of the period. John Heritage kept an account book, from which we can reconstruct a whole society in the vicinity of Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. He took part in the removal of a village which stood in the way of agricultural 'improvement', ran a large scale sheep farm, and as a 'woolman' spent much time travelling around the countryside meeting with gentry, farmers, and peasants in order to buy their wool. He sold the fleeces he produced and those he gathered to London merchants who exported through Calais to the textile towns of Flanders. The wool growers named in the book can be studied in their native villages, and their lives can be reconstructed in the round, interacting in their communities, adapting their farming to new circumstances, and arranging the building of their local churches. A Country Merchant has some of the characteristics of a biography, is part family history, and part local history, with some landscape history. Dyer explores themes in economic and social history without neglecting the religious and cultural background. His central concerns are to demonstrate the importance of commerce in the period, and to show the contribution of peasants to a changing economy.

The Decline of Serfdom in Late Medieval England

The Decline of Serfdom in Late Medieval England PDF Author: Mark Bailey
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1843838907
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Scholars from various disciplines have long debated why western Europe in general, and England in particular, led the transition from feudalism to capitalism. The decline of serfdom between c.1300 and c.1500 in England is central to this "Transition Debate", because it transformed the lives of ordinary people and opened up the markets in land and labour. Yet, despite its historical importance, there has been no major survey or reassessment of decline of serfdom for decades. Consequently, the debate over its causes, and its legacy to early modern England, remains unresolved. This dazzling study provides an accessible and up-to-date survey of the decline of serfdom in England, applying a new methodology for establishing both its chronology and causes to thousands of court rolls from 38 manors located across the south Midlands and East Anglia. It presents a ground-breaking reassessment, challenging many of the traditional interpretations of the economy and society of late-medieval England, and, indeed, of the very nature of serfdom itself. Mark Bailey is High Master of St Paul's School, and Professor of Later Medieval History at the University of East Anglia. He has published extensively on the economic and social history of England between c.1200 and c.1500, including Medieval Suffolk (2007).

English Inland Trade

English Inland Trade PDF Author: Michael Hicks
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1782978275
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
The Southampton brokage books are the best source for English inland trade before modern times. Internal trade always matched overseas trade. Between 1430 and 1540 the brokage series records all departures through Southampton’s Bargate, the owner, carter, commodity, quantity, destination and date, and many deliveries too. Twelve such years make up the database that illuminates Southampton’s trade with its extensive region at the time when the city was at its most important as the principal point of access to England for the exotic spices and dyestuffs imported by the Genoese. If Southampton’s international traffic was particularly important, the town’s commerce was representative also of the commonplace trade that occurred throughout England. Seventeen papers investigate Southampton’s interaction with Salisbury, London, Winchester, and many other places, long-term trends and short-term fluctuations. The rise and decline of the Italian trade, the dominance of Salisbury and emergence of Jack of Newbury, the recycling of wealth and metals from the dissolved monasteries all feature here. Underpinning the book are 32 computer-generated maps and numerous tables, charts, and graphs, with guidance provided as to how best to exploit and extend this remarkable resource. An accompanying web-mounted database (http://www.overlandtrade.org) enables the changing commerce to be mapped and visualised through maps and trade to be tracked week by week and over a century. Together the book and database provide a unique resource for Southampton, its trading partners, traders and carters, freight traffic and the genealogies of the middling sort.

A Prospering Society

A Prospering Society PDF Author: John Hare
Publisher: Univ of Hertfordshire Press
ISBN: 9781902806853
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
"This book seeks to explore the changing nature of English society through a case study of countryside and town in southern England during the period from c.1380 to c.1520. It explores the influence of landscape and population on the agriculture of Wiltshire, the regional patterns of arable and pastoral farming, and the growing contrast between the large-scale mixed farming of the chalklands and the family farms of the claylands. It examines the changing situation of the rural tenant population as it reacted to the greater opportunities available in the land-market. During this period, Wiltshire became one of the great cloth-producing counties of England (as reflected in its rising taxable wealth). Such economic expansion generated jobs both within the industry and beyond, stimulating the market for food, services and manufactured goods. Salisbury was one of the greatest cities in the kingdom, and below this was a hierarchy of interesting lesser towns. But such growth generated its own problems: more and more people became dependent on the cloth trade and particularly on exporting cloth; if exports fell, as during the mid-fifteenth-century crisis, they suffered. As scholars are increasingly aware, the later Middle Ages was a period of considerable change, and this study contributes to debates about the nature of both change and continuity at a national level. It will also be of value to local historians interested in one of the most important periods in Wiltshire's history."--BLACKWELL'S.

The Elizabethan World

The Elizabethan World PDF Author: Susan Doran
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317565797
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 735

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Book Description
This comprehensive and beautifully illustrated collection of essays conveys a vivid picture of a fascinating and hugely significant period in history. Featuring contributions from thirty-eight international scholars, the book takes a thematic approach to a period which saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the explorations of Francis Drake and Walter Ralegh, the establishment of the Protestant Church, the flourishing of commercial theatre and the works of Edmund Spencer, Philip Sidney and William Shakespeare. Encompassing social, political, cultural, religious and economic history, and crossing several disciplines, The Elizabethan World depicts a time of transformation, and a world order in transition. Topics covered include central and local government; political ideas; censorship and propaganda; parliament, the Protestant Church, the Catholic community; social hierarchies; women; the family and household; popular culture, commerce and consumption; urban and rural economies; theatre; art; architecture; intellectual developments ; exploration and imperialism; Ireland, and the Elizabethan wars. The volume conveys a vivid picture of how politics, religion, popular culture, the world of work and social practices fit together in an exciting world of change, and will be invaluable reading for all students and scholars of the Elizabethan period.

The Medieval Clothier

The Medieval Clothier PDF Author: John S. Lee
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783273178
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
A clear and accessibly written guide to the medieval cloth-making trade in England.

Exploring the Evidence

Exploring the Evidence PDF Author: Linda Clark
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 184383944X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
Of necessity, historians of the late Middle Ages have to rely on an eclectic mix of sources, ranging from the few remaining medieval buildings, monuments, illuminated manuscripts and miscellaneous artefacts, to a substantial but often uncatalogued body of documentary material, much of it born of the medieval administrator's penchant for record keeping. Exploring this evidence requires skills in lateral thinking and interpretation - qualities which are manifested in this volume. Employing the copious legal records kept by the English Crown, one essay reveals the thinking behind exceptions to pardons sold by successive kings, while another, using clerical taxation returns, adds colour to contemporary criticism of friars for betraying their vows of poverty. Case studies of the registers of two hospitals, one in London the other in Canterbury, lead to insights into the relations of their administrators with civic and spiritual authorities. A textual dissection of the epilogues in William Caxton's early printed works focuses on the universal desire for commemoration. Other essays about royal livery collars and the English coinage are nourished by material remains, and where contemporary records fail to survive, as in the listing of burials in parish churches, notes kept by sixteenth-century heralds and antiquaries provide clues for novel identifications. The book-ends are exemplars of the historian's craft: the one, taking as its starting point the will of Ralph, Lord Cromwell, explores in forensic detail how his executors coped with their enormous task in a time of civil war; the other, by examining research into the economy of fifteenth-century England undertaken since the 1880s, provides an over-view which scholars of the period will find invaluable. Contributors: Martin Allen, Christopher Dyer, David Harry, Susanne Jenks, Maureen Jurkowski, Simon Payling, Euan Roger, Christian Steer, Sheila Sweetinburgh, Matthew Ward.

Rural Society and Economic Change in County Durham

Rural Society and Economic Change in County Durham PDF Author: A. T. Brown
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783270756
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
A regional study of landed society in the transition between the late medieval and early modern period.