The Development of Leasehold in Northwestern Europe, c. 1200 - 1600 (COMPARATIVE RURAL HISTORY OF THE NORTH SEA AREA)

214 Pages·2008·1.617 MB·English

by  Phillip Schofield

© 2008 Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored
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with-out the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2008/0095/131
ISBN 978-2-503-52254-8
The development of leasehold in north-
western Europe, c. 1200-1600
Edited by Bas J.P. van Bavel and Phillipp R. Schofield
H
F

ConTEnTs
List of contributors 7
List of figures 8
List of tables 9
1. Introduction. The emergence of lease and leasehold in a comparative
perspective: Definitions, causes and consequences
Bas (B.J.P.) VAN BAVEL and Phillipp (R.) SCHOFIELD 11
2. The origins of leasehold in the former county of Flanders
Tim SOENS and Erik THOEN 31
3. The role of the secular canons in the introduction of leaseholding in
the thirteenth century. Case-study: the Liège-area
Alexis WILKIN 57
4. Leasehold in northern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries:
economic functions and social impact
Ghislain BRUNEL 81
5. The rise and fall of leasehold in Denmark c. 1100-1550
Nils HYBEL 99
6. Tenancy contracts in Scania from the middle Ages to the
nineteenth century
Christer LUNDH and Mats OLSSON 113
7. Leasehold tenure in England c.1300-c.1600: its form and incidence
Jane WHITTLE 139
8. Peasants, lords and developments in leasing in later medieval England
Miriam MÜLLER 155
9. The emergence and growth of short-term leasing in the Netherlands
and other parts of Northwestern Europe (eleventh-seventeenth
centuries). A chronology and a tentative investigation into its causes
Bas (B.J.P.) VAN BAVEL 179

5

LisT of ConTribuTors
BAS (B.J.P.) VAN BAVEL Universiteit Utrecht (NL)
GHISLAIN BRUNEL Archives nationales (F)
NILS HYBEL University of Copenhagen (DK)
CHRISTER LUNDH Department of Economic History, Lund University,
Sweden (S)
MIRIAM MÜLLER University of Birmingham (UK)
MATS OLSSON Department of Economic History, Lund University,
Sweden (S)
PHILLIPP R. SCHOFIELD Department of History and Welsh History,
Aberystwyth University (UK)
TIM SOENS University of Antwerp (B)
ERIK THOEN Department of Medieval History, University of
Ghent (B)
JANE WHITTLE Department of History, University of Exeter (UK)
ALEXIS WILKIN University of Liège (B)
7
LisT of figurEs
3.1 The geographic regions in the Bishopric of Liège
6.1. Scania
8.1 Inter-tenant leases at Brandon (1316-1349)
8.2 Leases and mean numbers of debt cases at Brandon
8.3 Sizes of inter-tenant leases at Brandon
8.4 Brandon leasing patterns
8.5 Lengths of leases at Brandon (1371-1400)
9.1 Introduction of the lease in northwestern Europe
9.2 Leasing ratio in the Low Countries, sixteenth century
8
LisT of TabLEs
2.1 The two social agro-systems in Flanders and a selection of their features
(Middle Ages-sixteenth century)
2.2 The importance of leases in the Flemish agro-systems (ca. 1570)
2.3. Early leases of curtes (1243-1281) and individual plots (1281) by the Ghent
abbey of Saint Peter’s
2.4. Short-term leasehold of individual plots owned by the hospital of Audenarde in
inland Flanders (% leaseholders/categories according to size of plots)
2.5. Property structures in the ‘Oude Yevene’ watering in the western part of
Zeeland Flanders (1388 and 1550)
2.6. Leases in the western part of Zeeland Flanders (coastal area) of the abbey of
Saint Peter’s in Ghent (% leaseholders per category)
2.7. Number of deeds in Dutch concerning annuity sales (1266-1281)
2.8. Property structure of land expropriated in Stoppeldijk (1227)
2.9. Urban landownership in the castellany of Bruges (citizens of Bruges only)
4.1. Leases in Southern Picardy (1170-1334)
6.1. Length of period of tenant farmers’ disposal rights according to normative
Scandinavian sources
6.2. Entry fines for tenants at Bjersgård in the seventeenth century (daler)
6.3. Contract content and form at Knutstorp during the nineteenth century
6.4. Contract content and form at Duveke during nineteenth century
7.1 Estimates of the proportion of leasehold land in England by c.1600
8.1 Size of leases at Brandon of Ad firmam type Grants (1351-1370)
8.2 Leases at Brandon (1351-1370)
8.3 Leases at Brandon (1371-1400)
8.4 Size of Leases at Brandon of Ad firmam Grants (1371-1400)
9.1 Leasing ratio of the landownership of various social groups, calculated/
estimated for the western part of the Guelders river area (1400-1570)
9