A peasant is a peasant, is a peasant…or is s/he? Was the life of a peasant who lived in the coastal regions of England the same as that of the peasant who made his livelihood toiling on the land for his local lord?
Witchcraft Trials In Sweden: With Neighbours Like These, Who Needs Enemies?!
January 19, 2015 By
Everyone has “that” neighbour on their floor, or street who they’d secretly love to move to Mars and never see again. Well, the Early Modern Swedes had a way of dealing with those kinds of nasty neighbours…
Trolls in the Middle Ages
January 6, 2015 By
Where did trolls come from? What did medieval and early modern people think of trolls? How did the concept of the modern day troll evolve?
‘Falseness Reigns in Every Flock’: Literacy and Eschatological Discourse in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
November 30, 2014 By
The literature of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, a miscellany of fourteenth-century poetry and prose penned before, during, and after the insurrection, often stresses the importance of literacy to the nonaristocratic population of England.
Peasant Anger and Violence in the Writings of Orderic Vitalis
October 13, 2014 By
This paper examines the representation of peasant anger in the writings of Orderic Vitalis. In his texts, Orderic often associates peasant anger with divine vengeance and just violence.
INTERVIEW: A Conversation with SD Sykes about Plague Land
October 3, 2014 By
My interview with fiction author, SD Sykes about her fantastic medieval crime novel, Plague Land.
‘Shame on him who allows them to live’: The Jacquerie of 1358
September 26, 2014 By
In the eyes of the chroniclers, the Jacquerie of 1358 was the most important peasant revolt in late medieval France.
BOOK REVIEW: Plague Land by SD Sykes
September 4, 2014 By
My review of SD Sykes brilliant medieval thriller, Plague Land.
Manor Village and Individual in Medieval England
August 25, 2014 By
This thesis explores peasant life of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in England from information found in the manorial court rolls-the village court records–of Ramsey Hepman grove and Bury.
Signs of Power. Manorial Demesnes in Medieval Iceland
August 20, 2014 By
An important aspect of medieval Icelandic social organization, namely the manor, has been neglected in previous research, and very little research has been undertaken comparing Icelandic manorial organization with other regions. This article focuses on one aspect of manorial organization, namely the manorial demesne or central farm of the manor.
The Reordering of Society in Medieval Provence
July 7, 2014 By
“Here, some pray, others fight, still others work …” {}). “Since the beginning of time, mankind has been divided into three groups, men of prayer, farmers, and warriors” (2). Appearing between 1024 and 1031 in the writings of Adelbero, bishop of Laon, and his cousin Gerard, bishop of Cambrai, these two statements constitute the first fully developed expression of a tripartite, or more accurately a trifunctional conceptualization of European society.
BOOKS: Daily Life in the Middle Ages
February 16, 2014 By
Ever wonder how monks, women and Vikings lived their day to day lives in the Middle Ages? These books will give you a glimpse into their world.
Pruning Peasants: Private War and Maintaining the Lords’ Peace in Late Medieval Germany
February 3, 2014 By
‘Peasants are best when they grieve, and worst when they rejoice.’
What Makes Her Beautiful? Feminine Beauty Standards in Renaissance Italy
January 28, 2014 By
Perhaps one of the most straightforward elements of beauty was the skin. Pale and undamaged skin was considered the most beautiful for women.
Were the Peasants Really So Clean? The Middle Ages in Film
January 4, 2014 By
Movies about the European Middle Ages are profoundly modern creations. They tend to reflect the anxieties and preoccupations of their modern creators rather than those of people who lived a thousand years ago.
The Black Death, Economic and Social Change and the Great Rising of 1381 in Hertfordshire
December 10, 2013 By
What drove medieval people to such desperation that they felt they had no other course of action other than revolt? Was this a spontaneous reaction to a perceived injustice or a desperate response to years of simmering resentment?
The English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
December 8, 2013 By
Life for the revolutionary peasants was structured by feudal ties and obligations. The villein was tied to the soil until he could buy his freedom. He lived in a wattle and daub hut with his family and animals on a floor of mud. Work began at dawn on his few (often separated) strips of land; he was obligated to work on his lord’s land three days a week, tend and shear his sheep, feed his swine, and sow and reap his crops.
The Trends Toward Serfdom in Mediaeval England
November 20, 2013 By
The bald theory of progressive subjection during Anglo-Saxon times does not appear possible of definition; and even as a hypothesis, it would seem inadequate.
Peasant Society as Revealed by a Thirteenth-Century Manorial Extent
September 2, 2013 By
Peasant Society as Revealed by a Thirteenth-Century Manorial Extent By Donald R. Abbott Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Vol. 11 (1980) Introduction: Considerable treatment has been devoted to the copious local records of late medieval England. Charters, Hundred Rolls, court records, local annals, and extents have been studied in order to learn […]
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.
The Mind’s Eye: Reconstructing the Historian’s Semantic Matrix Through Henry Knighton’s Account of the Peasants’ Revolt, 1381
February 11, 2013 By
The Mind’s Eye: Reconstructing the Historian’s Semantic Matrix Through Henry Knighton’s Account of the Peasants’ Revolt, 1381 Sarah Marilyn Steeves Keeshan Master of Arts, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia December (2011) Abstract The medieval historian engaged with the systems of power and authority that surrounded him. In his account of the Peasants’ Revolt in late medieval […]
Risk, Asset Markets and Inequality: Evidence from Medieval England
November 14, 2012 By
During the 12th and 13th centuries the English peasantry experienced large increases in poverty and inequality.
Lords Ask, Peasants Answer: Making Traditions in Late Medieval German Village Assemblies
November 12, 2012 By
The lord summoned the assembly on traditional dates, often three times a year. On the evening prior to the assembly the lord arrived at the village and received food and lodging from the peasants.
Crusaders in Crisis: Towards the Re-assessment of the Origins and Nature of the “People’s Crusade” of 1095-1096
October 15, 2012 By
In his Historia Ierosolymitana, completed within one generation of the First Crusade, Albert of Aachen tells a curious story about some rustics, guided by divinely inspired goose and a she-goat to take the holy path to Jerusalem.
Technological Change in Medieval England: A Critique of the Neo-Malthusian Argument
October 13, 2012 By
The last two sections will address this issue by dividing the material into two periods preceding and following the great epidemic. The interpretation that will be provided is heavily indebted to Brenner.
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