Peasants and Production in the Medieval North-East: The Evidence from Tithes, 1270-1536 (Regions and Regionalism in History) - Hardcover

Anyone working on the medieval English agrarian economy, particularly that of the northeast, will find this book a valuable contribution to the field, and one looks forward to more from this promising scholar. SPECULUM

An admirable book on a complicated subject. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW

A significant contribution to current debates on the condition of the late medieval peasantry. NORTHERN HISTORY

An innovative examination of agrarian output and the market responsiveness of the peasant sector.[...]A detailed regional study of the agrarian history of North East England.[...]An excellent first book from a historian from whom we are going to be hearing more in the future. AGRICULTURAL HISTORY

The study draws on sources hitherto unused by historians of England to examine the patterns of change and the scope for adaptability in the peasant economy in the area between the Tyne and Tees during the late middle ages. It reaches two main conclusions. The first is that the peasant economy in this region of England was profoundly affected by war in the early fourteenth century and then disease with the arrival of the Black Death in 1349. This calls into question historians' reliance on theories of overpopulation in explaining the 'crisis' of the late middle ages: even at its medieval peak, the population of northeast England was sparse by comparison with areas further south. Nor did the availability of land and improved living standards lead to demographic recovery in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The second main conclusion is that, despite their vulnerability to crises, peasant cultivators were highly responsive to change. Far from being primitive subsistence farmers oblivious to the market and its signals, medieval peasants in the Durham region were subtle and successful decision-makers regarding the production and marketing of their output.