Villainage in England
Essays in English Mediaeval History

Examining individuals, communities, and social structures, Villainage represents a serious investigation into early English feudal life and the feudal system.

Paul Vinogradoff (Author)

9781108019637, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 September 2010

484 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.7 cm, 0.61 kg

Russian historian and jurist Sir Paul Vinogradoff (1854–1925) maintained throughout his life a serious scholarly interest in the history of Great Britain, his adopted country. Elected to a professorship at Oxford in 1903, to the British Academy in 1905, and knighted for services to the realm in increasing Anglo-Russian understanding during the war (1917), Vinogradoff demonstrates in this book of 1892 both his interest in feudal England and his historiographic approach, which relied on detailed research using primary sources to examine individuals, communities, and social structures. Divided into two essays - 'The Peasantry of the Feudal Age' and 'The Manor and the Village Community' - the work used England's extensive feudal records to draw a general character of the period. Villainage will interest students of English or European mediaeval history and scholars of mediaeval legal history and of developments in nineteenth-century historiography.

Preface
Introduction
First essay. The Peasantry of the Feudal Age: 1. The legal aspect of villainage. General conceptions
2. Rights and disabilities of the villain
3. Ancient demesne
4. Legal aspect of villainage. Conclusions
5. The servile peasantry of manorial records
6. Free peasantry
7. The peasantry of the feudal age. Conclusions
Second essay. The Manor and the Village Community: 1. The open field system and the holdings
2. Rights of common
3. Rural work and rents
4. The lord, his servants and free tenants
5. The manorial courts
6. The manor and the village community. Conclusions
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC]