An Age of Transition?: Economy and Society in England in the Later Middle Ages

304 Pages·2005·3.375 MB·English

by  Christopher Dyer

AN AGE OF TRANSITION?
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An Age of Transition?
Economy and Society in England
in the Later Middle Ages
CHRISTOPHER DYER
The Ford Lectures
delivered in the University of Oxford
in Hilary Term 2001
(cid:1)
CLARENDON PRESS OXFORD
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Preface
ThisbookisbasedontheFordLectureswhichweredeliveredintheUniversity
of Oxford in the Hilary Term of 2001. In introducing his celebrated Ford
Lecturesin1953,K.B.McFarlanereportsthatsomeofhisstudentsimagined
thatthelectureswerefundedbytheFordmotorcompany.Theirfounderwas
in fact James Ford, the vicar of Navestock in Essex, who cannot have antici-
pated that his modest endowment would be so influential, not just through
thelecturesasdelivered,butmorewidelyintheirpublishedversions.Iconfess
thatwhenanOxfordfriendataseminaratAllSoulsin1998gavemethefirst
hint that Imight be asked to give these lectures—‘Have you heard from the
Ford?’—myimmediatereaction,accustomedasIamtowritingreferencesfor
applicantsforresearchgrants,wastoassumethathewasreferringtotheFord
Foundation, and to think of another place in Essex, Dagenham. This lapse
revealsmetobeanoutsiderinOxford,asIhavenotbeenastudentorteacher
there, with the exception of lectures over the years at Rewley House, the
University’s lively external studies department. As the result of the generous
invitation from the Ford electors, and the good advice of Dr Paul Slack, the
chair of the electors, I was able to spend six months living in Oxford. The
fellows of St John’s College elected me to their Senior Research Fellowship,
whichprovidedmewithahouseinthetown,witheasyaccesstotheBodleian
LibraryandtolocalarchivessuchasthoseofMagdalenCollege.TheOxford
historiansandarchaeologistswereverygenerousintheirhospitality,andthis
gavemetheopportunitytosamplethecuisine,conversation,ambience,and
varietyofLatingracesinadozencolleges.
Alectureisverydifferentfromabookchapter,andIhaveencounteredthe
usualdilemmasinconvertingpiecesofwritingdesignedfororaldeliveryinto
thefullerandmoreformalprose appropriateforabook.Mysolutiontothe
problem has been to preserve the original structure of the six lectures. The
obviousdifficultyderivesfromthefactthatatextdeliveredwithinanhouris
sobriefthatthevolumeresultingfromsixlectures,ifitfaithfullyrepresented
theoralversion,wouldbeveryslim. InmycasethescriptthatIcarriedinto
the lecture room was much longer than could be accommodated within the
allotted time. The text had been drastically shortened with ruthless pencil
excisions,butinaprocesswhichwasuncomfortableforthelecturer(butone
hopesnottooobvioustolisteners),paraphrasingsometimeshadtobedoneat
themomentofdelivery.Theresultofthisriskystrategywasthatafull-length
book has emerged naturally out of the lecture texts.
vi Preface
Dozensofpeopleandorganizationscontributedtothedevelopmentofthe
ideasandinformationthatthisbookcontains,andIhopethatmyselectionof
those to be acknowledged here causes no offence. My first thanks are to the
BritishAcademy,whogenerouslyfundedthegatheringofmaterialandtimeto
analyseit,wellbeforetheselecturesweredelivered.TheArtsandHumanities
Research Board helped by granting meunder their researchleave scheme an
extra term for research. The University of Birmingham assisted my work by
theirpolicyofgrantingstudyleaves.Thematerialonwhichthebookdepends
hasbeengatheredfrommorethanthirtyarchives,recordoffices,andlibraries,
andIthankthestaffofthoseinstitutions.Ihavealreadymentionedthehelp
thatIreceivedfromtheFordelectors,PaulSlack,andStJohn’sCollege,andI
am very grateful to them. Rees Davies, the Chichele professor, gave good
advice,andorganizedaseminarasanadditiontothetraditionallectureseries,
which gave an opportunity for dialogue between lecturer and some of those
attending. Specific practical help, references to sources, and general encour-
agement were provided by Nat Alcock, Anne Baker, George Demidowicz,
GeoffEgan,HaroldFox,MarkGardiner,EvanJones,DerekKeene,Hannes
Kleineke,JohnLangdon,JaneLaughton,MaureenMellor,ColinRichmond,
ChrisThornton,PennyUpton,JeiYang,andMargaretYates.Thetypescript
waspreparedbyNancyMoore,andAndyIshamdrewthemapsandfigures.
JennyDyerhelpfullycommentedondrafts.BarbaraHarveyandJohnLang-
don read the whole text and recommended improvements. At the Oxford
University Press Iwas encouraged initially by Tony Morris, and then by the
alwayspatientandhelpfulRuthParrandAnneGelling.JeffNewhasbeenan
observantandconscientiouseditor.
Thesuccessofalectureseriesdependsonthosewhoattendtheoccasions.
Noonewasunderanyobligationtotakepart,andthepresenceoftheOxford
historians, and many visitors from Birmingham and elsewhere, maintained
mymorale,andledmetobelievethatthematerialmeritedtheextraeffortto
produce this book. Ishould add that preparing and delivering these lectures
changedmylifeinanumberofways.WorkingandlivinginOxfordprovided
an intense and enjoyable respite from the routines of teaching and adminis-
trationofnormalacademiclife.WithintwomonthsofthelastlectureIhad
decided to accept an offer of a new post at the University of Leicester. The
moveinevitablytookupsometime,whichdelayedthewritingofthisbook,
butLeicester’sgeneroustreatmenthasalsogivenmetheopportunitytobring
the lectures through the last stages for publication.
C.C.D.
April 2004
Contents
List of Maps and Figures viii
List of Tables ix
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1. A New Middle Ages 7
2. Community and Privacy 46
3. Authority and Freedom 86
4. Consumption and Investment 126
5. Subsistence and Markets 173
6. Work and Leisure 211
Conclusion 242
Bibliography 247
Index 280
List of Maps and Figures
1.1. The township of Lark Stoke, Warwickshire,
in c.1300 and in the early modern period 19
1.2. Towns in Leicestershire in the fourteenth century 22
2.1. Plans of peasant houses and manor houses 54
2.2. Plan of the village of Broxholme in Lincolnshire 57
2.3. Common pastures and landscapes in Alvechurch,
King’s Norton, and Yardley, Worcestershire, 1221–1332 60
2.4. Roelin Gloucestershire, showing the house of
Henry Channdeler, c.1400 77
2.5. Quinton in Warwickshire in the fifteenth century 80
3.1. The estate of the Catesby family, 1386 101
4.1. House at Tyddyn Llwydion, Pennant Melangell,
Montgomeryshire 136
4.2. Little Bursted farmhouse at Upper Hardres, Kent 138
4.3. Cast metal buckles from London, and a pilgrim badge
from Salisbury, Wiltshire 140
4.4. Pottery drinking vessels from Oxfordshire 142
4.5. Fluctuations in market tolls at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire 147
4.6. Dated rural cruck houses from the midlands 153
4.7. West Colliford stamping mill, St Neot parish, Cornwall 165
5.1. Estates of the Spencer and Mervyn families, 1494–1522 205
List of Tables
1.1. Crops produced at Bishop’s Cleeve, Gloucestershire,
in the 1390s 28
1.2. Landholding at Navestock, Essex, 1222–1840 44
4.1. Expenditure on meals given to building workers,
1377–1440 (with some comparisons) 133
5.1. Some prices of customary land in Norfolk,
1390–1543 (per acre) 183
5.2. Evidence of credit from inventories and accounts, 1464–1520 187
5.3. Some examples of farmers in the lay subsidies of
1524 and 1525 209