The End of the Old Order in Rural Europe

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed the transformation of the old rural order to the modern class society. While historians have studied this transition as it occurred in individual countries, Jerome Blum offers the first view of it as a European experience tha transcended political frontiers. Originally published in 1978. The **Princeton Legacy Library** uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Preface Table of Contents List of Illustrations Introduction Part One. The Traditional Order 1 The Seigniors 2 The Peasants 3 The Obligations of the Peasantry 4 The Privileges of the Seigniors 5 Peasants, Large, Middling and Small 6 The Retardation of Agriculture: Techniques and Implements 7 The Retardation of Agriculture: Crops and Livestock 8 The Rural Economy 9 The Condition of the Peasantry Part Two: Transition 10 Absolute Monarchy and the Nobility 11 First Attempts at Reform 12 New Directions in Agriculture 13 The Improvers 14 The Old Order Attacked and Defended 15 Peasant Unrest Part Three: Emancipation 16 Background of the Emancipation 17 The Reforms 18 Pluses and Minuses 19 From Order to Class List of Works Cited Index