Decision-Making In Medieval Agriculture Hardcover

David Stone

This fascinating and important book uses a wealth of contemporary sources to reconstruct the mental world of medieval farmers and, by doing so, argues that these key figures in the Middle Ages have been unfairly stereotyped. David Stone overturns the traditional view of medieval countrymen as economically backward and instead reveals that agricultural decision-making was as rational in the fouteenth century as in modern times. Investigating agricultural mentalities first at a local level and then for England as a whole, Dr Stone argues that human action shaped the course of the rural economy to a much greater extent than has hitherto been appreciated, and challenges the commonly held view that the medieval period was dominated by ecological and economic crises. Focusing in particular on responses to commercial forces and the adoption of agricultural technology, this book has significant implications for our understanding of agricultural development throughout the last thousand years

9780199247769

English

Oxford University Press

8 Dec 05

328

David Stone currently teaches history at Dulwich College. Previously he was a Research Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

A model of how to make professional economic history accessible to the non specialist * Barbara Harvey, University of Oxford * will be read widely by students as well as by specialists * Chris Briggs, Economic History Review * deserves a place at the centre of historical debate * Mark Page, English Historical Review * a story rich in detail and well worth the telling and offers many rewarding insights * Bruce Campbell, Agricultural History Review * consistently fascinating findings * Christopher Thornton, Rural History * innovative and immensely important * Rosemary Horrox, The Local Historian * David Stone is a pioneer * Miri Rubin, Journal of English and Germanic Philology * compulsory reading for all students of the medieval English economy * Steve Rigby, Journal of Peasant Studies *