Medieval Rural Landscape Flashcards
1
Q
Approaches and perspectives
A
- Historians and archaeologists began to unite to study themes such as settlement abandonment
- Environmental determinism and culture history approach
- Empirical school of thought - real work done in field
2
Q
W.G. Hoskins’ The Making of the English Landscape (1955)
A
- First narrative history of countryside
- Key themes:
- Antiquity of the landscape
- Diversity and variety of historical and social processes
- How to identify visible aspects of the past landscape in the present
3
Q
Post-war period
A
- Interest in local and economic history, and archaeology as by-product
- Emphasis on getting out into the field and using sources like Ordnance Survey and place-names
- Long-running research excava9ons on rural settlement
- Processual archaeology adopted late in medieval archaeology
- Landscape archaeology since 1990s - integrated approach
4
Q
Changes in Late Saxon and Norman period
A
- Small estates based on the manor
- Nucleated settlement in villages
- Development of open fields
- Parochial system and churches
- Castles
- Feudal land holding
5
Q
Themes in the medieval rural landscape
AD 850-1300
A
- The manor
- Nucleation of settlement
- Open fields
- The parish
- Feudal system
- Castles
6
Q
Themes in the medieval rural landscape
1300-1500
A
- Population decline
- Climate deterioration
- Economic troubles
- Settlement desertion
- Feudal collapse
7
Q
Regional variations
A
- Patterns of settlement and field systems developed in radically different ways in different areas of England
- ‘Ancient’ vs ‘planned’ countryside
8
Q
Champion or planned countryside Grey’s ‘Midland system’
A
- Nucleated villages, open fields
- Predominantly clayland of Midlands
- Also light soils of heaths, wolds and downs in S and E England
9
Q
Open fields
A
- Great fields without internal hedges or boundaries
- Several hundred acres each
- Divided into narrow strips
10
Q
Crop rotation system
A
- Three-field system comprised main crop (wheat or rye), fallow field and additional crop such as legumes
- Fallow field used for communal grazing
- Also meadow and rough pasture used as common land
11
Q
Problems with open-field system
A
- People had to walk over your strips to get to theirs
- Soil exhaustion common problem
- Land had to lie fallow for longer periods to recover
- Animals trampled crops and spread disease
- No flexibility
- Peasants taxed heavily
12
Q
Landscape character areas
A
- Landscape historian Joan Thirsk identified a number of ‘regions’ in England characterised by variations in landscape character
- Also known by French term pays - areas of innately distinctive topographical or cultural identity
- ‘Leicester’ school - English Local History department
13
Q
Fenland
A
- Waterlogged, low-lying peat areas
- Settlements around margins and on ‘islands’
- Plentiful natural resources
- Wealthy monastic houses
- Examples: Norfolk Broads, Somerset Levels
14
Q
Marshland
A
- More tamed than fens, with permanent settlements from early on
- Beside coast and in former estuaries Moated site at Manxey, Pevensey Levels
- Valuable pasture and grazing land
15
Q
Downland
A
- Chalk of S England
- Light, freely-draining soils
- Linear settlement patterns along valley bottom or on escarpment/spring-line
16
Q
Wolds
A
- Once-wooded open upland underlain by limestone or chalk
- Transhumance economy - summer grazing
- Sheep kept for wool
17
Q
Moorland
A
- Originally signified barren wastes
- Now refers to dry heathland
- Peaty, with heather, ling and berries, reeds, mosses…
- Few permanent settlements, but transhumance
18
Q
Livestock management
A
- Keeping animals involved moving them
- Had to be moved frequently to avoid grass ‘sickening’ and parasites infesting animals
- Had to be moved off emerging crops
19
Q
Lordship and feudalism
A
- Lords drew income from work of rest of society and required working peasantry
- Numerous tiers of hierarchy - no single authority with complete control
20
Q
The manorial system
A
Shepherd’s (1923) Historical Atlas • Basic unit of lordly landholding and estate administration • Manor and village not same • Demesne = for lord’s own use • Peasantry had varying obligations
21
Q
The manor: origins and development
A
- Land grants to churches and nobles in 8th-9th centuries
- Estate fragmentation and localised lordships > manors
- Local lordship associated with emergence of major components of landscape: parish church, nucleated village, common field system
22
Q
The manor: size and composition
A
- Size varied considerably from area to area
- Regional differences in territorial division
- Two types of manorial tenant: villein and freeman
23
Q
Manorial customs and regulations
A
- Good organisation essential in such a communal system, especially with open-field farming
- Manor court upheld rights and obligations
24
Q
Castles
A
- High-status private residences and estate centres as well as military
- Highly visible and in significant places
- Hub of wider network of estates rendering services and rents to sustain seigneurial centres
25
Castles in the rural landscape
* Should be seen in context of landscape character areas and regional cultures
* Key role in rural economy and variety of administrative functions
26
Designed landscapes
* Powerful social role of parks and other elite landscapes
* Natural environment manipulated for visual impact and social expression
* Sense of control over nature - order from chaos
27
Influence of the Church Roche Abbey, S Yorks (EH)
* Most powerful landowner - by 14th century owned quarter of all land
* Carried out major land improvements
28
Churches in the landscape
* Reveal much about development of landscape
* Olen places of long-term significance
* Rebuilding or lack of - indicator of wealth
29
Houses and vernacular buildings
* Most surviving standing buildings on powerful/monastic estates
* Longhouse tradition in upland areas
30
Diet and the landscape
* Grain most important component of diet
* Production of other foodstuffs often linked to lordly/ecclesiastical activity
* Changes in agricultural production and demographics before and after Black Death prompted shifts in consumption
31
Gardens and orchards
* Grounds of monasteries and manor houses main focus
* Part of ‘designed landscape’ - display of wealth and exclusivity
* Provided food and medicines for community
32
Salt production
* One of most important commodities
* Domestic as well as ecclesiastical use
* Produced on fens and in littoral zone
33
Fish
* Fish important part of medieval diet - partly for religious reasons
* Fishponds status symbol as well as functional
* Fish-traps and weirs
* In use in Severn estuary since at least late Saxon period
34
Rabbit warrens and pillow mounds
* Kept for meat and fur
* Meat primarily consumed by elite classes
* Coneygarths or warrens for breeding rabbits
* Elongated, cigar-shaped mounds
* 10-40m in length
* Drainage ditch and on slope to keep tunnels and chambers dry
35
Dovecotes
* Doves and pigeons kept for meat, feathers and manure
| * Symbol of status and regulated part of manorial system
36
The Black Death
* Early 14th century
* Climatic deterioration
* Crop failure and poor harvests
* Insufficient food supply
* Population particularly vulnerable to several plague outbreaks from 1348 onwards
* Between third and half of population wiped out
37
Rural economy and labour
* Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
| * Decline of feudal system
38
Wharram Percy, N Yorkshire
* One of largest and best preserved DMVs
* Occupied from 9th/10th to 16th century
* Fieldwork ran for over 40 years
39
Hound Tor, Devon
* 4 Dartmoor longhouses - cattle kept under same roof
| * Abandoned in 14th or 15th century, perhaps due to deteriorating climate
40
Why were settlements abandoned?
* Black Death usually cited as main reason, but just one of range of causes
* Climate, poor harvests
* Retreat from marginal land
* Consolidation of estates with diminishing acreages
41
Changing farming system
* Restructuring of farming
* Conversion from arable to pasture
* Wool particularly profitable in 15th century
42
Late medieval landscape and society
* Shift from arable to pasture
* Population contraction
* Surplus wealth
* Rise of gentry farmer
