H3H03 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 1066-1399 TUTORIAL TOPICS

03 RURAL SOCIETY FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

a)   Which  historians have particularly specialised in the  study  of
     medieval agrarian history ?

b)   What kinds of contemporary sources are available for the study of
     medieval rural society ? How reliable are these sources ?

c)   What factors determined the character of English villages in  the
     middle  ages  ?  How were the open fields  organised  ?  How  did
     villages in pastoral areas differ from those in arable areas ?

d)   What  sort of obligations did the medieval peasant  have  towards
     his lord ? How were these obligations determined ? How would  you
     distinguish   between  free  and  unfree  peasants?  What   other
     categories of people lived in medieval villages?

e)   How did the obligations of the peasant change during the  twelfth
     and  thirteenth  centuries  ? What is  the  significance  of  the
     controversy over the 'chronology of labour services'?

f)   How  were medieval villages governed ? What was the role  of  the
     manor  and  the  manorial  lord in the village  ?  Who  were  the
     principal  officials in village government, and what  were  their
     duties ?

g)   What  duties  were expected of the knights in the   eleventh  and
     twelfth   centuries  ?  How  did  these  duties  change  ?   What
     consequences followed from the 'ruralisation' of the knights ?

h)   What duties were expected of the higher nobility in this  period?
     How  did  the higher nobility differ from the knights?  How  were
     their lands and estates administered ?

i)   What relationship did the countryside have with the towns in  the
     eleventh  and twelfth centuries ? Is it possible to  discern  any
     changes in this relationship during this period?
Using the  relevant volume of ENGLISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS find,  read
     and annotate the following documents:

a)   The Ranks and Rights of People 1042-66
b)   Surveys of Peterborough Manors 1125-28 (no 17g
c)   Will of Edwin the Thegn 1066
d)   The Village Community 1290
e)   Contracts for military service 1270-1
f)   Langland on the peasant's life c1376