Historic Book Review of Bond Men Made Free
In his introduction to this classic historical work, Rodney Hilton makes the point that a precondition of the existence of peasantry "as a class of pocket-size-scale agricultural producers has ever been the existence of other classes... who live off the surplus produce of peasant labour." Inevitably and so, class struggle, and peasant revolts have been a fundamental office of the history of the peasantry. Looking at Medieval Europe, a were in that location was a "basic similarity of social structure in the rural communities, Hilton sees some broad patterns of revolt, much of which is determined by the particular nature of the exploitation of serfs. Equally Hilton points out:
"The earliest elements in peasant protest were the straight consequence of the peasants' attempts to devote as much every bit possible of the family'due south labour to the cultivation of the holding, and to keep for the disposal of the family as much as possible of the product of that labour."
In other words, peasants struggled to maximise their share of the production of their ain labour, and to try and avoid obligations to the lords beyond the absolutely necessity. Yet what is hit about the wider peasant movements discussed hither, both in England and Europe, is the manner that often peasants raised wider demands which challenged the nature of the feudal arrangement.
To see this about clearly, Hilton examines in detail the events of the Peasants' Revolt in England in 1381. The roots of this revolt, equally discussed elsewhere, are complex. One key cistron was the growing trend for those in rural communities to demand increased wages, every bit a result of labour shortages following the decimation of the Black Death. This was recognised past the authorities who attempted, through various legislation, to limit wage rises and punish those calling for more. Hilton concludes that "it was serfdom and those things which flowed from the rights of lords over tenants which bulked largest in [peasant] grievances."
When the 1381 rise exploded, whole areas were quickly taken over by ordinary peasants. Hilton argues that the revolt wasn't simply that of peasants, but was a "cross department" of rural social club, involving relative numbers of all parts of society. The peasants, well off and poor, were united equally a grade, and there is a remarkable similarity in what took identify in numerous different villages and towns across England. Records that listed peasant obligations and taxes were usually the starting time targets, equally were often those local landowners, abbots and other members of the governing classes who were especially seen as enemies of the people. The rising was violent, but that reflects the violent nature of serfdom. The defection though, seen through the demands of the peasants themselves in negotiation with the Male monarch was very much a defection against serfdom as a organisation. The peasants demanded improve access to the Eatables, improved rights to hunt and use open land, but much more also.
Hilton contrasts the demands of Wat Tyler and the Peasants Defection with those of Piers Plowman in Langland's famous work. According to Hilton, Pier's wants to maintain the status quo, simply with better commitments from the ruling classes:
"I'll sweat and toil for us both every bit long equally I live, and gladly do whatsoever job you want. But yous must promise in return to baby-sit over holy church and protect me from the thieves and wasters who ruin the world."
John Brawl, the priest of the rebellion, even so demanded far more revolution than these reformist demands.
"matters goeth not well to pass in England nor shall do till everything be common and that there be no villeins nor gentlemen but that we may be all united together and that the lords be no greater masters than we be."
One contemporary written report says that Ball goes on to demand a transformed world. To obtain equality and justice required
"killing the bully lords of the realm, then slaying the lawyers, justices and jurors... so at last they would obtain peace and security, if, when the great ones had been removed, they maintained amidst themselves equality of liberty and nobility too as of dignity and power."
That'south not to say the rebels didn't want firsthand gains too, as well as a "globe turned upside down". But the demand for liberty from serfdom "was the one most persistently presented when the rebels were directly negotiating with the male monarch and his advisers."
That said, Hilton concludes that the peasantry was not a force in medieval Europe that could destroy the landed aristocracy. The force developing that could (and would), was the suburbia. Hilton continues that "the leading social forcefulness in medieval peasant movements, even the most radical, seems to have been those elements well-nigh in contact with the market, those who in suitable circumstances would become backer farmers."
It is no surprise that Hilton'southward book seems to be one of the about referenced and quoted books in other works on the Peasant's Revolt of 1381. It is an first-class resource, advisedly argued and backed by scrupulous enquiry and evidence. It is a must for anyone trying to understand the transition from feudalism to capitalism and the social clashes that took place in the medieval era.
Related Reviews
Lindsay and Groves - The Peasant's Defection 1381
O'Brien - When Adam Delved and Eve Span
Mortimer - The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
Source: http://resolutereader.blogspot.com/2014/04/rodney-hilton-bond-men-made-free.html
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