Peasant Economic Development within the English Manorial System

Offering a revisionist theory that shifts the focus from labour services required by the lord to capital required by the customary tenant, Raftis reveals that "e;peasant economic development"e; and "e;manorial economy"e; are not mutually exclusive terms. Using account rolls, charters, court rolls, and lay subsidy rolls he demonstrates that lords subordinated their power to tax and to extract labour services to a policy of capital maintenance. This breakthrough allows him to develop a more rational explanation for the growth of markets and wealth in a countryside not exclusively dependent on the economy of lords. Peasant Economic Development within the English Manorial System is a ground-breaking analysis that redefines the social and economic history of rural medieval England and changes the direction of medieval scholarship.