In this article, I examine the medieval evidence for how pig husbandry functioned in wood pasture in England.
How to defraud your lord on the medieval manor
February 26, 2014 By
Here are six ways to commit fraud explained by Robert Carpenter in the 13th century.
The Knights in the Middle Ages of England
February 14, 2014 By
Chivalry was a special phenomenon in the Middle Ages of Europe, and was also a part of the military system in the Middle Ages of Europe.
Environmental Effects in the Agriculture of Medieval Egypt
January 20, 2014 By
Agriculture has been the main source of the economy for all dynasties established in Egypt and the Mamluk kingdom was no exception.
Abandoned medieval settlement in Spain was devoted to growing grapes, archaeologists finds
January 1, 2014 By
Archaeologists have discovered an abandoned settlement in the Basque Country of Spain that seems to have been turned into a medieval version of a factory-farm in order to concentrate the cultivation of vineyards.
Elemental theory in everyday practice: food disposal in the later medieval English countryside
December 22, 2013 By
For medieval rural communities the story of food did not necessarily end in its eating.
Commons in the late medieval Crown of Aragon: Regulation, uses and conflicts, 13th-15th centuries
December 21, 2013 By
In this paper, we shall show some characteristics of the use of pastures and commons in the Crown of Aragon between the thirteen and fifteenth centuries.
Managing the Commons: The role of the elites in the uses of common lands in the Midlands of the kingdom of Valencia during the Middle Ages
December 21, 2013 By
In a recent paper, Danie Curtis has given a framework for classifying preindustrial societies in accordance with four variables, these are, the property, the power, the market of basic products and the modes of production.
Learning by doing or expert knowledge? Technological innovations in dike-building in coastal Flanders (13th-18th centuries AD)
December 10, 2013 By
Dike construction apparently uses simple technology, with slow and gradual change; not the kind of technology that reshaped the material conditions of living, comparable to the spread of electricity or sanitation in the 19th century ‘networked’ city (and linked to the disciplining of society and the rise of domesticity and the modern self-reflexive individual) (often inspired by Latour and Foucault).
Shops and Shopping in Britain: from market stalls to chain stores
November 29, 2013 By
The first retail shops, as opposed to those of craftsmen and artisans selling goods they made themselves, were drapers, mercers, haberdashers and grocers.
Grain Prices in Cairo and Europe in the Middle Ages
November 14, 2013 By
How did price levels and trends in Cairo compare to those in Europe?
Into the frontier: medieval land reclamation and the creation of new societies. Comparing Holland and the Po Valley, 800-1500
September 29, 2013 By
In the paper it is shown that medieval land reclamation led to the emergence of two very divergent societies, characterised by a number of different configurations; (a) power and property structure, (b) modes of exploitation, (c) economic portfolios, and (d) commodity markets.
A Medieval How-to Book for Shepherds
September 3, 2013 By
A recently published book is offering insights into fourteenth-century farming practices and the life of a shepherd named Jean de Brie.
A Great Carolingian Panzootic
August 10, 2013 By
This paper considers the cattle panzootic of 809-810, the most thoroughly documented and, as far as can be discerned, spatially significant livestock pestilence of the Carolingian period (750-950 CE).
A Study on the Effects of Ghazan Khan’s Reformative Measures for the Settlement of the Nomadic Mongols (1295-1304)
July 23, 2013 By
The Ilkhanid’s sovereignty in Iran was part of the great empire under the command of Genghis Khan and his successors. It extended broadly from Korea to Eastern Europe and China to Iran and Syria. Such conquest originated from Mongolia (Middle Asia), which was the original land of these homeless nomadic people. They lived by shepherding, hunting and sometimes looting nearby tribes or civilized centers.
Give us this day our daily bread: A study of Late Viking Age and Medieval Quernstones in South Scandinavia
June 19, 2013 By
Porridge and bread were by far the two most important elements in the Viking Age and medieval diet.
The Heavy Plough and the Agricultural Revolution in Medieval Europe
June 18, 2013 By
This research tests the long-standing hypothesis, put forth by Lynn White, Jr., that the adoption of the heavy plough in northern Europe led to increased population density and urbanization
Feasting with Early Medieval Chiefs: Locating Political Action through Environmental Archaeology
May 18, 2013 By
This excellent paper was the first given in the session on Early Medieval Europe. It looked at various archaeological excavations in Iceland and Denmark and the political role feasting played in pre-Christian Viking societies.
Manure and the medieval social order
March 24, 2013 By
Taking examples from the open fields of England, it is argued that peasants used manure to differentiate their holdings from those of the lord, and by so doing helped to defne both space and their own social identity.
The vegetarian component of a late medieval diet
March 10, 2013 By
Trondheim was the seat of an archbishop and the centre of the see of Nidaros from 1152/53 until 1537 when the reformation reached Norway and the last Norwegian archbishop, Olav Engelbrektsson, fled the country. This marked a turning point in the town’s history. The arch- bishop’s residence, Erkebispegården, which was established around AD 1170 between the cathedral and the river Nidelva.
The Prudent Village: Risk Pooling Institutions in Medieval English Agriculture
March 9, 2013 By
The prudent peasant chose to scatter his farm fields to protect himself and his family from idiosyncratic agricultural shocks because better alternatives did not exist. Peasants had no better way of protecting themselves from idiosyncratic agricultural shocks.
What the Paston Letters Tell about Land Owning in the 15th Century England
January 28, 2013 By
How do the terms on land and manors which appear in the Paston Letters reflect his observation? I pick up several terms relating to the land owning system in the England of Middle Ages and examine their distribution in the letters; i.e. the terms ‘villein, serf, demesne, bond, rent, and tenant.’
City and Countryside in Medieval England
January 27, 2013 By
An impressive array of data, ranging over the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, has been collected by two full-time researchers, James Galloway and Margaret Murphy. Of primary importance for the project are demesne farming accounts and inquisitions post mortem (detailing manorial land and other assets, especially again those of the demesne), both of which sources survive in very large numbers for the period under review. Also, the project incorpor- ates large amounts of data from urban records, particularly those dealing with merchants who were prominent in organizing London’s food supply.
The Heavy Plough and the European Agricultural Revolution of the Middle Ages.
January 24, 2013 By
In the period from the 9th century to the end of the 13th century, the medieval European economy underwent unprecedented productivity growth
Herbs and Drugs in Monastic Gardens
January 6, 2013 By
In those small backyards the monks planted various medical herbs from which drugs were gained and gathered to provide the monastery and the sick of the neighbourhood with medicine. Every monk, in this way, was a doctor and pharmacist as well.
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