| Moderator/Chair: | Miriam Müller, Department of History, University of Birmingham |
|---|
| Paper 623-a | Strategies for Success: Upward Mobility and the Estate Books of Henry de Bray
(Language: English)
Daniel Jamison, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, Downtown
Index terms: Economics - Rural, Social History |
|---|
| Paper 623-b | Prosperity, Subsistence, Pauperage: Villagers in Palgrave, c. 1270-1439
(Language: English)
David Routt, Department of History, University of Richmond, Virginia
Index terms: Economics - Rural, Local History, Social History |
|---|
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The estate books of Henry de Bray document the rise of a Northamptonshire freeholder out of the upper peasantry and into the gentry over the course of roughly fifty years (1285-1330). Although modern scholarship typically describes this farmer and rentier as a gentleman, that title accurately describes Henry's rank only after a long career dedicated to expanding his estate and reducing his obligations. This paper outlines the strategies employed by Henry in pursuit of higher social and economic status; in the context of these activities, I will specifically discuss the permeability of landlord-lessee boundaries and the transfer of rights and privileges from landlords to ambitious peasants.
Paper -b:
This paper contributes to a recent return to the sources and to detailed local studies in order to deepen and clarify the understanding of relative affluence and poverty of peasants both before and following the Black Death. Palgrave (Suff.) provides a case-study of how to employ imperfectly preserved court and account rolls in conjunction with other materials in order to delve into the indirect indices of affluence and deprivation: the size of individual holdings; villagers' expropriation of seigneurial resources, of extra-manorial property, and of one another's possessions; circumvention of manorial monopolies; overburdening of commons; indebtedness; and access to markets.
|
|---|
