In this fresh approach to the history of the Black Death, John Hatcher, a world-renowned scholar of the Middle Ages, recreates everyday life in a mid-fourteenth century rural English village. By focusing on the experiences of ordinary villagers as they lived--and died--during the Black Death (1345-50 AD), Hatcher vividly places the reader directly into those tumultuous years and describes in fascinating detail the day-to-day existence of people struggling with the tragic effects of the plague. Dramatic scenes portray how contemporaries must have experienced and thought about the momentous events--and how they tried to make sense of it all.

The quality of life experienced by people in the past is one of the most important areas of historical enquiry, and the standard of living of populations is one of the leading measures of the economic performance of nations. Yet how accurate is the information on which these judgments are based? This collection of essays, written by renowned scholars in the fields of labour, wage and welfare history, cogently undermine the validity of the data that have for decades dominated the measurement of these phenomena in Britain, Europe and Asia, and provided the statistical backbone for countless descriptions and analyses of economic development, welfare and many other prime subjects in economic and social history. The contributors to this volume rigorously expose misapprehensions of long-run macroeconomic estimates of the real wage and provide a host of improved methods and data for revising and rejecting them. This volume is essential reading for anyone interested in economic and social history, economics and the application of statistical methods to historical evidence.

This is the eagerly-awaited first volume of the definitive History of the British Coal Industry. Well before 1700 Britain had become heavily dependent upon coal for its fuel, and coal mining had taken its place among the nation's staple industries. John Hatcher traces the production and trade of coal from the intermittent small-scale activity which prevailed in the Middle Ages to the rapid expansion and rising importance which characterized the early modern era. Thoroughly grounded in a formidable range of sources, the book explores the economics and management of mining, the productivity and profitability of colliery enterprise, and the progress of technology. Dr Hatcher examines the owners and operators of collieries and the sources of mining capital, as well as the colliers themselves, their working conditions and earnings. He argues that the spectacular growth of coal output in this period was achieved more through evolutionary than revolutionary processes. This is a scholarly, detailed, and comprehensive study, which will be an essential source for all historians of the medieval and early modern economy, and fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in the British coal industry.

The only survey of the urban, commercial and industrial history of the period between the Norman conquest and the Black Death.

The only survey of the urban, commercial and industrial history of the period between the Norman conquest and the Black Death.

This is the first volume of a two-volume study of medieval England covering the period between the Norman Conquest and the Black Death. The book opens with a summary portrait of the English economy and society in the reign of William I. It goes on to examine in detail the population increase from 1086 to 1349 and to investigate the structure of society where relationships were rooted in the dependence of man upon man.

This is the first volume of a two-volume study of medieval England covering the period between the Norman Conquest and the Black Death. The book opens with a summary portrait of the English economy and society in the reign of William I. It goes on to examine in detail the population increase from 1086 to 1349 and to investigate the structure of society where relationships were rooted in the dependence of man upon man.

This is an invaluable survey of the most influential theoretical approaches adopted for the study of medieval economy and society. It offers a readily intelligible introduction to medieval economic history, an up-to-date critique of established models, and a succinct treatise on historiographical method, and will be essential reading for graduate students and historians of medieval and early modern England.

Numerous aspects of the medieval economy are covered in this new collection of essays, from business fraud and changes in wages to the production of luxury goods. Long dominated by theories of causation involving class conflict and Malthusian crisis, the field of medieval economic history has been transformed in recent years by a better understanding of the process of commercialisation. Inrecognition of the important work in this area by Richard Britnell, this volume of essays brings together studies by historians from both sides of the Atlantic on fundamental aspects of the medieval commercial economy. From examinations of high wages, minimum wages and unemployment, through to innovative studies of consumption and supply, business fraud, economic regulation, small towns, the use of charters, and the role of shipmasters and peasants as entrepreneurs, this collection is essential reading for the student of the medieval economy. Contributors: John Hatcher, John Langdon, Derek Keene, John S. Lee, James Davis, Mark Bailey, Christine M. Newman, Peter L. Larson, Maryanne Kowaleski, Martha Carlin, James Masschaele, Christopher Dyer

This study is centred on the Cornish manorial estates of the Duchy of Cornwall in the later Middle Ages, and has been compiled from a very full and hitherto neglected series of records, the completeness of which is perhaps unique for a lay estate. Most aspects of the history of the estates have been recorded and those which differed from other regions of England have been stressed. In order to place the Duchy estates within their regional context Dr Hatcher has studied a wide range of documents and produced a mass of new evidence concerning tin-mining, fishing, trade, towns and local industry in Cornwall and Devon. He shows, for example, that agricultural prosperity in later medieval Cornwall followed an exceptional course, and was determined by a series of interconnected changes within the regional economy, with a much less direct and immediate causal link than is commonly assumed between declining population after 1349 and agricultural recession. The intimate connexions between agriculture. and industry and commerce are additionally emphasized by the manifold business interests of leading Duchy tenants.

In this series of essays on the society and economy of England between the eleventh and the sixteenth centuries, fourteen contributors address many of the most important themes in an era that experienced profound change in rural, commercial, urban and industrial life. Subjects covered include the growth of London, the commercial and urban development of the north, Italian merchants and banking, overseas trade, taxation, farm servants, hunting and poaching, changing relations between landlords and tenants, the expansion of the economy in the twelfth century and the great slump of the fifteenth.

The contributors to this collection of essays in honour of the distinguished medieval historian Edward Miller pay tribute by writing on the society and economy of England between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. They address many of the most important themes of an era that witnessed profound change in rural, commercial, urban and industrial life, and they focus in particular on the progress achieved and the problems encountered. The subjects covered include the growth of London, the commercial and urban development of the north, Italian merchants and banking, overseas trade, taxation, farm servants, hunting and poaching, changing relations between landlords and tenants, the expansion of the economy in the twelfth century, and the great slump of the fifteenth. The book has been written by leading experts, and is a major contribution to English medieval economic and social history.

This is an invaluable survey of the most influential theoretical approaches adopted for the study of medieval economy and society. It offers a readily intelligible introduction to medieval economic history, an up-to-date critique of established models, and a succinct treatise on historiographical method, and will be essential reading for graduate students and historians of medieval and early modern England.