Villainage in England: Essays in English Mediaeval History

This collection of essays explores the evolution of England’s medieval agricultural system, focusing on the lives of the village peasantry and the shifting relationship between laborers and landowners. Drawing on painstaking analysis of court rolls, tax records and manorial accounts, the author illuminates how communal farming gave way to market‑driven rents, and how those changes echoed the broader social upheavals of the period.

Written from a comparative standpoint, the work links England’s past to contemporary debates about agrarian reform, offering insights that resonated with the author’s own experience of serf emancipation. The narrative balances rigorous scholarship with clear, engaging storytelling, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in the roots of modern economic and social structures.