Making a Living in the Middle Ages : The People of Britain 850-1520

by Christopher Dyer

• ISBN13: 9780300101911
• ISBN10: 0300101910
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-08-11
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Dramatic social and economic change during the middle ages altered the lives of the people of Britain in far-reaching ways, from the structure of their families to the ways they made their livings. In this engagingly written economic history, Christopher Dyer provides a vivid new account of British medieval life from the Viking invasions through the Norman conquest to the colonial expansion of the sixteenth century.

Author Biography

Christopher Dyer was professor of medieval social history at the University of Birmingham and is now professor of regional and local history at the University of Leicester

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
Preface	ix
Introduction Approaching the economic history of medieval Britain	1	(10)
PART ONE Origins of the medieval economy, c.850--c.1100	11	(90)
Living on the land, c.850--c.1050	13	(30)
Farming	13	(4)
Expansion	17	(9)
Estates and lords	26	(9)
Peasants	35	(8)
Crisis and new directions, c.850--c.1050	43	(28)
The Viking invasions	43	(7)
The growth of the state	50	(8)
The origins of towns	58	(13)
Conquest, c.1050--c.1100	71	(30)
Old aristocracy	71	(9)
New aristocracy	80	(11)
England in 1086	91	(10)
PART TWO Expansion and crisis, c.1100--c.1350	101	(164)
Lords, c.1100--c.1315	106	(49)
Aristocracy and property	106	(13)
Managing the estate	119	(18)
Lords and peasants	137	(8)
Lords and towns	145	(2)
Knights and gentry	147	(5)
Aristocratic achievement?	152	(3)
Peasants, c.1100--c.1315	155	(32)
Families and population	155	(5)
Peasants and their holdings	160	(3)
Peasants and the market	163	(15)
Peasants and lords	178	(5)
Individuals and communities	183	(4)
Towns and commerce, c.1100--c.1315	187	(41)
Urban expansion	187	(10)
The urban environment	197	(4)
Urban occupations	201	(11)
Techniques of trade and manufacture	212	(6)
Urban government	218	(7)
Towns in a feudal economy	225	(3)
Crisis, c.1290--c.1350	228	(37)
Great Famine and Black Death	228	(8)
Contraction and change	236	(10)
Historical debate	246	(5)
Crisis in Scotland	251	(3)
Explanations	254	(11)
PART THREE Making a new world, c.1350--c.1520	265	(98)
The Black Death and its aftermath, c.1348--c.1520	271	(27)
Plague and population, c.1348--c.1520	271	(7)
Low population, c.1348--c.1400	278	(8)
Revolts	286	(7)
The economy, c.1348--c.1400	293	(5)
Towns, trade and industry, c.1350--c.1520	298	(32)
Urban fortunes	298	(15)
Urban economies	313	(9)
Consumers	322	(5)
Old and new	327	(3)
The countryside, c.1350--c.1520	330	(33)
Landlords	330	(10)
Gentry	340	(6)
Farmers	346	(3)
Peasants	349	(14)
Conclusion	363	(3)
Further reading	366	(24)
Index	390