Forms of Servitude in Northern and Central Europe
Decline, Resistance, and Expansion
Edited by Paul Freedman Edited by Monique Bourin
In the nineteenth and early-twentieth century it was assumed that nearly all agricultural labourers in medieval Europe were serfs. Serfdom was distinct from slavery in that serfs were recognized as something more than chattels. They could contract legitimate marriages, hold personal property and they could not be moved around at will. The fact that serfs were in many regions a minority of the peasant population, and the increasing importance given to social and economic circumstances over legal definitions led historians to move away from examining servile condition and its implications during much of the late twentieth century. Attention has instead focused on the seigneurial regime and village society with little regard for the influence of status. In the Middle Ages and indeed in all pre-industrial societies, the vast majority of the population tilled the land. We are still not in a good position to evaluate how noble and ecclesiastical landlords received revenues from lands they were only indirectly engaged in farming, thus there are important gaps in our knowledge of the basic factors that governed medieval society. What kind of agricultural system provided the impetus for economic growth that so dramatically increased the number of cities and volume of trade? There is no modern, synthetic book on medieval serfdom that compares regions or draws general conclusions about it. This work attempts such a synthesis and also shows avenues of future research, but most importantly it is intended to reorient attention to the importance of serfdom in the structure of medieval society.
- Edited by Paul Freedman
- Edited by Monique Bourin
Other Titles in this Series
Learning and Understanding in the Old Norse World
Essays in Honour of Margaret Clunies Ross
Volume 18
The Playful Middle Ages
Meanings of Play and Plays of Meaning: Essays in Memory of Elaine C. Block
Volume 23
Survival and Success on Medieval Borders
Cistercian Houses in Medieval Scotland and Pomerania from the Twelfth to the Late Fourteenth Century
Volume 24
Essays in Manuscript Geography
Vernacular Manuscripts of the English West Midlands from the Conquest to the Sixteenth Century
Volume 10
Celts, Gaels, and Britons
Studies in Language and Literature from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Honour of Patrick Sims-Williams
Volume 35
Parisian Confraternity Drama of the Fourteenth Century
The 'Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages'
Volume 22
Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Medieval Brittany, 450-1200
Connections and Disconnections
Volume 36
The Social Life of Illumination
Manuscripts, Images, and Communities in the Late Middle Ages
Volume 21
Writing and Reading in Medieval Manuscript Culture
The Translation and Transmission of the Story of Elye in Old French and Old Norse Literary Contexts
Volume 25
Similar Books
A Late Antique Harrowing of Hell and Its Medieval Reception
Eusebius of Alexandria's Sermons 15 and 17 (CPG 5524; 5526) and their Latin Rewritings
Volume 99
Behind the Scenes of Medieval Roofs
An Overview of the Roofing Systems of Italian Churches
Volume 90
Innovation and Medieval Communities
The Circulation of Ideas and Practices in and out of the Town (1200-1500)
Volume 63
Linguistic and Cultural Dynamics in a Frontier Society
New Perspectives on Northeastern Bavaria and Western Bohemia in the Early Middle Ages
Volume 9
Medieval Debates on Foreknowledge: Future Contingents, Prophecy, and Divination
Acts of the XXVII Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM, Trento 12-15 September 2023
Volume 31
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Power and Women in Southeast and Central Europe in Late Medieval and Early Modern Period (1300-1600)
Volume 10
Tradition, Interpretation, and Change
Developments in the Liturgy of Medieval and Early Modern Ashkenaz
Women in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
Studies from Western Europe and North Africa
Volume 44
Networking through Biography
Constructing Intellectual Junctions in Antiquity, the Renaissance and the Arabo-Islamic World
Volume 19
