an age of transition economy and society in england in the later middl.epub

The way in which the society and economy of the Middle Ages has been studied has radically altered in the last twenty years, although the date c.1500 is still seen by many to be a major turning point in medieval history. This, Christopher Dyer argues, is a matter of convenient chronology rather than reality as he embarks on a study of a much longer period of `transition' beginning some two to three hundred years earlier. Based on a wide range of sources, including accounts, deeds, town archives, wills, and tax, judical and administrative records, this study looks as aspects of the society and economy, such as commercial growth, restructuring in farming and developments in trade and industry, over a much broader time period. Essentially, Dyer finds that many of the features said to characterise the late Middle Ages had their origins much earlier and in discussing and describing these, places the role of `society', the aristocracy and gentry to the peasants, traders and craftsmen, at the fore. The six chapters are based on a series of Ford lectures given at Oxford University in 2001.