Peasants, Knights, and Heretics: Studies in Medieval English Social History (Past and Present Publications) (Past and Present Publications)

The essays in this book, originally published in "Past and Present" over a period of fifteen years, are here collected together for the first time. Professor Hilton, the editor, has chosen them from a much larger pool of articles on medieval subjects in order to illustrate important themes in the history of later medieval England (from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries). The essays essentially fall into three groups: economic history, with a debate on the open-field system, an examination of the inflation of 1180-1220, and a study of the great famine of 1315-22; social history, with articles on the knights, peasant freedom, and on peasant pressures on landlords in the fifteenth century; and the history of ideas, with a debate on the Robin Hood ballads, and a study, now classical, on Lollard heresy as social and political subversion. Such a division, however, should not obscure the interconnection of these themes: social problems are intimately affected by economic developments, and ideas and feelings, expressed in ballads, theological manifestoes and heretical programmes can only make sense in their contemporary socio-political context. These essays consist both of short and deliberately provocative presentation of a thesis for debate, as in the pieces on the open-field system and the Robin Hood ballads, and of longer research articles on major themes. As a whole they illustrate the range and depth of recent writing on medieval English history, and it is hoped that publication in the present form will appeal to a wide variety of non-specialist readers, in addition to professional historians already familiar with the original articles. Introduction / R. H. Hilton, Professor of Medieval Social History, University of Birmingham 1 1. The Common Fields (No. 29, December 1964) / Joan Thirsk, Reader in Economic History, University of Oxford 10 2. Medieval England and the Open-Field System (No. 32, December 1965) / J. Z. Titow, Reader in Economic History, University of Nottingham 33 3. The Origin of the Common Fields (No. 33, April 1966) / Joan Thirsk, Reader in Economic History, University of Oxford 51 4. The English Inflation of 1180-1220 (No. 61, November 1973) / P. D. A. Harvey, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Southampton 57 5. The Great Famine and Agrarian Crisis in England 1315-1322 (No. 59, May 1973) / Ian Kershaw, Lecturer in Modern History, University of Manchester 85 6. The Knight and the Knight's Fee in England (No. 49, November 1970) / Sally Harvey, Fellow of St. Hilda's College, Oxford 133 7. Freedom and Villeinage in England (No. 31, July 1965) / R. H. Hilton, Professor of Medieval Social History, University of Birmingham 174 8. A Redistribution of Incomes in Fifteenth-Century England? (No. 39, April 1968) / Christopher Dyer, Lecturer in Medieval History, University of Birmingham 192 9. Landlords and Tenants in England in the Later Middle Ages: the Buckingham Estates (No. 43, May 1969) / Barbara J. Harris, Associate Professor of History, Pace University, New York 216 10. The Origins of Robin Hood (No. 14, November 1958) / R. H. Hilton, Professor of Medieval Social History, University of Birmingham 221 11. The Origins and Audience of the Ballads of Robin Hood (No. 18, November i960) / J. C. Holt, Professor of Medieval History, University of Reading 236 12. Robin Hood — Peasant or Gentleman? (No. 19, April 1961) / Maurice Keen, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford 258 13. Robin Hood: Some Comments (No. 19, April 1961) / J. C. Holt, Professor of Medieval History, University of Reading 267 14. Robin Hood. Communication (No. 20, November 1961) / T. H. Aston, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford 270 15. Lollardy and Sedition 1381-1431 (No. 17, April i960) / Margaret Aston 273 Index 319