Susan Kilby | University of Nottingham (original) (raw)
Books by Susan Kilby
Peasant Perspectives on the Medieval Landscape: a Study of Three Communities, 2020
This compelling new study forms part of a new wave of scholarship on the medieval rural environme... more This compelling new study forms part of a new wave of scholarship on the medieval rural environment which focuses on the lived experience of the lower orders of society. For too long, the principal intellectual approach has been to consider both subject and evidence from a modern, rationalist perspective. New perspectives are needed.
By re-evaluating the source material from the perspective of the peasant worldview, it is possible to build a far more detailed representation of rural peasant experience. Susan Kilby seeks to reconstruct the physical and socio-cultural environment of three contrasting English villages – Lakenheath in Suffolk, Castor in Northamptonshire and Elton in Huntingdonshire – between c.1086 and c.1348 and to use this as the basis for determining how peasants perceived their natural surroundings. Her research draws upon a vast array of sources including documents, material culture, place- and family names, and the landscape itself. She explores the approaches adopted by a wide variety of academic disciplines, including onomastics, anthropology, ethnography, landscape archaeology and historical geography. This interdisciplinary process reveals exciting insights into peasant mentalities. For example, cultural geographers’ understanding of the ways in which different groups ‘read’ their local landscape has implications for how we might interpret evidence left to us by medieval rural communities, while anthropological approaches to place-naming suggest similarities between the naming practices of First Nations people and medieval society. Topographical precision in naming, alongside the landscape’s significance as a repository for communal history were important to both groups. . The study also reveals that, although uneducated in the formal sense, peasants understood aspects of contemporary scientific thought.
In addition to enhancing our understanding of the lived experience, this new approach augments our comprehension of subjects such as social status, peasant agency, peasants’ economic experiences and the construction of communal and individual memory. Susan Kilby’s groundbreaking study enables us to reclaim significant elements of the environment inhabited and traversed by English people over 700 years ago.
Chapters in Edited Volumes by Susan Kilby
Local Histories: Essays in Honour of Nigel Tringham, 2022
Waiting For the End of the World? New Perspectives on Natural Disasters in Medieval Europe, 2021
Oxford Handbooks Online, Feb 5, 2018
The approach to the perception of landscape and settlement adopted by medieval archaeologists has... more The approach to the perception of landscape and settlement adopted by medieval archaeologists has been rather different to those of their colleagues working on the prehistoric period. To a large extent such differences can be attributed to the quality of the evidence. Many of the studied medieval buildings still survive, albeit often as ruins. The landscape with its pattern of roads, fields and farms can be largely reconstructed in broad terms, and sometimes in detail. This sort
The Oxford Handbook of Later Medieval Archaeology, 2018
Medieval archaeologists, possessing elements of the landscape and the buildings of the past, toge... more Medieval archaeologists, possessing elements of the landscape and the buildings of the past, together with a good knowledge of the historical context, can recover many aspects of the way that space was perceived in the past. A phenomenological approach has been applied not only to castles, but also to the mundane world of peasants. Phenomenology emphasizes the experience of the world whereas archaeologists have been no less interested in the way in which that experience was manipulated and also in the competing ideas of space. Examples of encultured landscapes examined include natural places, gentry houses, village tofts, liminal places, and sites of pilgrimage. Drawing upon the evidence of place-names and documents, as well as the archaeological remains, it has been possible to reconstruct how people conceived of and experienced the world around them.
Papers by Susan Kilby
Church Archaeology, 2019
Situated at the heart of an early twelfth-century rural Northamptonshire church – St Kyneburgha’s... more Situated at the heart of an early twelfth-century rural Northamptonshire church – St Kyneburgha’s church in Castor – a beautiful set of Romanesque capitals depicts an array of creatures, encompassing both the natural and supernatural worlds. This paper attempts to identify the inspiration behind elements of the scheme, to assess the myriad ways in which it might be interpreted, and to place it firmly within its landscape context. Traditional readings of the images, largely inspired by scripture, are assessed alongside supplementary interpretations found within didactic texts, in particular Isidore of Seville’s Etymologia, one of the key texts on animal lore in this period. These readings are then set against the expectations and experiences of local people in the surrounding landscape, both during and preceding the time the capitals were constructed, as elucidated in contemporary written texts. Minor landscape names created by local peasants provide further evidence that the iconography was to some extent chosen to reflect its landscape setting. Taken together, the evidence allows us an insight into how one early twelfth-century rural community perceived its environment. It is suggested that elements of the scheme operate on a number of levels. It was – in part, at least – designed to remind locals that the demonic and ungodly could be found within commonplace spaces, and that those commonplace spaces were recognizable as the environment immediately outside the church door, in the fields, meadows and woodlands of medieval Castor.
The Local Historian, 2019
Landscape reconstruction is often an important aspect of the work of local historians in uncoveri... more Landscape reconstruction is often an important aspect of the work of local historians in uncovering the history of a parish. For many English parishes in particular, tithe and enclosure maps of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—alongside contemporary field-books, surveys and terriers—help researchers to take the first steps in recreating the historic environment. Local history groups embarking upon this work often generate useful material and deposit this with county record offices for the benefit of all. However, continuing back beyond the modern period can be problematic, especially for those without the specialist skills to read and decipher medieval records. This paper recognises the important contribution that volunteer researchers make to the discipline of local and regional history and, using material developed in conjunction with volunteer groups at the Staffordshire Record Office, provides a set of guidelines and resources designed to help non-specialist researchers to access medieval documents. Specifically, these resources aid local historians in finding and recording the abundant minor landscape- and field-names written in later medieval charters.The paper is also designed to illustrate the value of this work for place-name scholars, especially those working on the English Place-Name Society’s (EPNS) Survey of English Place-Names, and for historians of all kinds.
Journal of the English Place-Name Society, 2017
Early field-names and minor landscape names are beginning to be recognised by scholars as an impo... more Early field-names and minor landscape names are beginning to be recognised by scholars as an important source for the reconstruction of both medieval landscapes and medieval communities’ perceptions of their environment. This study is situated within this emerging scholarly context and assesses microtoponyms alongside additional documentary sources to develop a clear sense of how the inhabitants of Flintham in Nottinghamshire observed their surroundings, and to understand which landscape features were considered foremost. Flintham is located within the catchment of three rivers: the Trent, the Devon and the Smite, and extant material from a range of texts emphasises that flooding was a persistent problem from at least the fourteenth century, continuing into the modern period. The survival of a large quantity of medieval field-names leaves us in no doubt that water loomed large within the collective consciousness of the community of peasants that named this landscape. A large percentage of these names relate to water, and this suggests that localised flooding and problems with excessive water more generally predated the Norman Conquest. A lack of suitable etymological evidence at settlement level has led onomasts to define Flintham as OE hām – ‘homestead’, rather than OE hamm – ‘land hemmed in by water or marsh’. However, mapping the settlement’s watery minor landscape names in conjunction with an assessment of those parts of the landscape designated as most likely to flood strongly supports a reinterpretation weighted in favour of hamm.
Landscape History, 2015
In recent years, it has largely been the domain of the landscape archaeologist to uncover and ana... more In recent years, it has largely been the domain of the
landscape archaeologist to uncover and analyse the physical
terrain of the late medieval manor. This has provided
much material for the examination of ideas of rural
power, control and social organisation. Considering the
morphology of the settlement and adjacent fieldscape, it is
rare, however, to reflect upon the views of the peasantry,
who would after all have made up the majority of the
population of rural communities. Using evidence gathered
from fourteenth-century manorial court rolls, this study
examines peasant attitudes to the rural landscape from an
historical perspective through the analysis of incidences of
trespass on demesne and peasant land in the Suffolk vill
of Walsham-le-Willows. Unusually, these documentary
sources frequently make reference to the specific location of
peasant trespass allowing for a quantitative investigation
that reveals something of the motivation behind these
seemingly petty and notionally accidental incidents.
Traditionally, cases of trespassing on neighbouring land
have been considered only fleetingly by historians, since it
is generally believed that many incidents were the result of
accidental damage by wandering livestock, or that manorial
officials used court fines as a means of licensing access. This
study shows that the reality was far more complex, and that
there was a range of motivational stimuli for these acts.
Landscape History, 36:2 (2015)
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RpKH2CK3EtHeaPqMaTnu/full
http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy3.lib.le.ac.uk/toc/rlsh20/36/2
The Trent is England’s third longest river. Its propensity to flood has long been recognised. In... more The Trent is England’s third longest river. Its propensity to flood has long been recognised. Indeed it is this distinguishing trait that appears to have given the river its name. In this paper, we examine how this mercurial and potentially dangerous river was understood and how its floodplain was settled in the middle ages. Drawing on toponomastic and palaeoecological evidence we examine the relationship between archaeologically attested medieval riparian settlements and the river; how the names given to these places served to highlight the hydrological characteristics of the river along its whole course; and how individual communities bestowed an array of minor names to parts of their fields and meadows to create detailed maps of the Trent’s floodplain environment. These themes are examined against the twin backgrounds of climate and anthropogenic landscape change which ensured that England’s floodplains were some of the most dynamic, and thus complex, spaces in which medieval people chose to live.
The Trent is England’s third longest river. Its propensity to flood has long been recognised. Ind... more The Trent is England’s third longest river. Its propensity to flood has long been recognised. Indeed it is this distinguishing trait that appears to have given the river its name. In this paper, we examine how this mercurial and potentially dangerous river was understood and how its floodplain was settled in the Middle Ages. Drawing on toponomastic and palaeoecological evidence we examine the relationship between archaeologically attested medieval riparian settlements and the river. These themes are examined against the twin backgrounds of climate and anthropogenic landscape change which ensured that England’s floodplains were some of the most dynamic, and thus complex, spaces in which medieval people chose to live.
Midland History, Jan 1, 2010
Recent studies of peasant welfare during the high point of medieval agriculture have largely over... more Recent studies of peasant welfare during the high point of medieval agriculture have largely overturned the idea that peasants were the constant victims of brutal seigniorial oppression. Using a variety of manorial sources, this study investigates the successes and struggles of servile peasants in the Northamptonshire manor of Wellingborough between 1258 and 1322. A growing community is revealed, whose economic survival is fi rmly tied to the harvest, but, crucially, is not always wholly dependent on the demesne performance. Despite evidence of some struggle, the emergence of a small group of entrepreneurial tenants suggests a 'hidden' peasant hierarchy that a brief glance at the manorial sources does not reveal. The fi ndings suggest that peasant welfare cannot be considered in general terms, that lordly oppression was not always as harsh as previously believed, and that the combination of a supportive manorial infrastructure alongside a good harvest performance provided the foundations for nascent peasant enterprise. It suggests that the welfare of Wellingborough's peasants was more likely to be determined by the vagaries of the weather and the instabilities inherent in making a living from the land than the actions of the lord.
Medieval Settlement Research, 2010
The abundant documentation of the 13th-14th century manor has long been considered central to the... more The abundant documentation of the 13th-14th century manor has long been considered central to the reconstruction of the socio-economic world of lords and peasants. But historians have rarely questioned the validity of the seigneurial view of the manorial environment that survives through surveys and extents, despite this being the observation of frequently absent elites. Using the Huntingdonshire manor of Elton as a case-study, comparing these documents with literary texts alongside surveys outlining lands closer to the aristocratic heart, like forests and chases, it is evident that there was a deliberate seigneurial distancing from manorial land, which was increasingly seen dispassionately in fiscal terms in the post-Conquest period. Peasant naming strategies – personal and environmental – emphasise the local environment as an intimately known place, closer to modern ideas of landscape as opposed to the arid lordly descriptions of mere land. Indeed, looking at the manorial environment through the eyes of resident peasants it is clear that our understanding of how local landscapes were seen has hitherto been one-dimensional. The innovation in this study lies in drawing together different scholarly disciplines and diverse documentary sources, from agricultural treatises to scientific manuals, in order to reconsider afresh the medieval peasant landscape. Lords traditionally associated peasants with the soil they tilled, but there is evidence that free tenants attempted to sever this connection, preferring to emulate elites in viewing the natural world as symbolic. Peasant furlong names sustain the seigneurial convictions, but when assessed alongside the manorial documentation, the negative connotations are called into question and it is possible to detect evidence of scientific knowledge and close observation of the natural world amongst a group almost exclusively portrayed as uneducated and ignorant. Reconsidering the manorial documentation from the peasants’ perspective reveals multiple conceptual environments, each having equal if not greater validity than the dominant but distant seigneurial view.
This compelling new study forms part of a new wave of scholarship on the medieval rural environme... more This compelling new study forms part of a new wave of scholarship on the medieval rural environment in which the focus moves beyond purely socio-economic concerns to incorporate the lived experience of peasants. For too long, the principal intellectual approach has been to consider both subject and evidence from a modern, rationalist perspective and to afford greater importance to the social elite. New perspectives are needed. By re-evaluating the source material from the perspective of the peasant worldview, it is possible to build a far more detailed representation of rural peasant experience. Susan Kilby seeks to reconstruct the physical and socio-cultural environment of three contrasting English villages – Lakenheath in Suffolk, Castor in Northamptonshire and Elton in Huntingdonshire – between c. 1086 and c. 1348 and to use this as the basis for determining how peasants perceived their natural surroundings. In so doing she draws upon a vast array of sources including documents, ...
The abundant documentation related to the thirteenthto fourteenth-century manor has long been con... more The abundant documentation related to the thirteenthto fourteenth-century manor has long been considered central to the reconstruction of the socio-economic world of lords and peasants. But historians have rarely questioned the validity of the seigneurial view of the manorial environment that survives through surveys and extents, despite this being the observation of elites who were frequently absent from their lands. Using the Huntingdonshire manor of Elton as a case-study, comparing these documents with literary texts alongside surveys outlining lands closer to the aristocratic heart, like forests and chases, it is evident that there was a deliberate seigneurial distancing from manorial land, which was increasingly being seen dispassionately and simply in fiscal terms in the postConquest period. The much overlooked evidence that can be termed peasant naming strategies – both personal and environmental names – means that we can start to recognise the local environment as an intimat...
.................................................................................................... more ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv Table of contents .............................................................................................................. v List of figures ................................................................................................................... vii List of tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of appendices ........................................................................................................... xii Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. xiii Additional notes ............................................................................................................xviii Chapter One: Introduction................................................................................................ 1 Chapter Two: Understanding the rural environment: the seigneurial perspective ....... 39 Chapter Three: The unseen environment ...................................................................... 72 Chapter Four: Naming the landscape ........................................................................... 106 Chapter Five: Re-imagining the medieval environment ............................................... 138 Chapter Six: The hidden economy ................................................................................ 166 Chapter Seven: The practical landscape ....................................................................... 203 Chapter Eight: Ordering the landscape ........................................................................ 237 Chapter Nine: Conclusion ............................................................................................. 280 Appendices .................................................................................................................... 291 Appendix One ............................................................................................................... 292 Appendix Two ............................................................................................................... 300 Appendix Three ............................................................................................................. 310 Appendix Four ............................................................................................................... 314 Appendix Five ................................................................................................................ 360 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 371
Peasant Perspectives on the Medieval Landscape: a Study of Three Communities, 2020
This compelling new study forms part of a new wave of scholarship on the medieval rural environme... more This compelling new study forms part of a new wave of scholarship on the medieval rural environment which focuses on the lived experience of the lower orders of society. For too long, the principal intellectual approach has been to consider both subject and evidence from a modern, rationalist perspective. New perspectives are needed.
By re-evaluating the source material from the perspective of the peasant worldview, it is possible to build a far more detailed representation of rural peasant experience. Susan Kilby seeks to reconstruct the physical and socio-cultural environment of three contrasting English villages – Lakenheath in Suffolk, Castor in Northamptonshire and Elton in Huntingdonshire – between c.1086 and c.1348 and to use this as the basis for determining how peasants perceived their natural surroundings. Her research draws upon a vast array of sources including documents, material culture, place- and family names, and the landscape itself. She explores the approaches adopted by a wide variety of academic disciplines, including onomastics, anthropology, ethnography, landscape archaeology and historical geography. This interdisciplinary process reveals exciting insights into peasant mentalities. For example, cultural geographers’ understanding of the ways in which different groups ‘read’ their local landscape has implications for how we might interpret evidence left to us by medieval rural communities, while anthropological approaches to place-naming suggest similarities between the naming practices of First Nations people and medieval society. Topographical precision in naming, alongside the landscape’s significance as a repository for communal history were important to both groups. . The study also reveals that, although uneducated in the formal sense, peasants understood aspects of contemporary scientific thought.
In addition to enhancing our understanding of the lived experience, this new approach augments our comprehension of subjects such as social status, peasant agency, peasants’ economic experiences and the construction of communal and individual memory. Susan Kilby’s groundbreaking study enables us to reclaim significant elements of the environment inhabited and traversed by English people over 700 years ago.
Local Histories: Essays in Honour of Nigel Tringham, 2022
Waiting For the End of the World? New Perspectives on Natural Disasters in Medieval Europe, 2021
Oxford Handbooks Online, Feb 5, 2018
The approach to the perception of landscape and settlement adopted by medieval archaeologists has... more The approach to the perception of landscape and settlement adopted by medieval archaeologists has been rather different to those of their colleagues working on the prehistoric period. To a large extent such differences can be attributed to the quality of the evidence. Many of the studied medieval buildings still survive, albeit often as ruins. The landscape with its pattern of roads, fields and farms can be largely reconstructed in broad terms, and sometimes in detail. This sort
The Oxford Handbook of Later Medieval Archaeology, 2018
Medieval archaeologists, possessing elements of the landscape and the buildings of the past, toge... more Medieval archaeologists, possessing elements of the landscape and the buildings of the past, together with a good knowledge of the historical context, can recover many aspects of the way that space was perceived in the past. A phenomenological approach has been applied not only to castles, but also to the mundane world of peasants. Phenomenology emphasizes the experience of the world whereas archaeologists have been no less interested in the way in which that experience was manipulated and also in the competing ideas of space. Examples of encultured landscapes examined include natural places, gentry houses, village tofts, liminal places, and sites of pilgrimage. Drawing upon the evidence of place-names and documents, as well as the archaeological remains, it has been possible to reconstruct how people conceived of and experienced the world around them.
Church Archaeology, 2019
Situated at the heart of an early twelfth-century rural Northamptonshire church – St Kyneburgha’s... more Situated at the heart of an early twelfth-century rural Northamptonshire church – St Kyneburgha’s church in Castor – a beautiful set of Romanesque capitals depicts an array of creatures, encompassing both the natural and supernatural worlds. This paper attempts to identify the inspiration behind elements of the scheme, to assess the myriad ways in which it might be interpreted, and to place it firmly within its landscape context. Traditional readings of the images, largely inspired by scripture, are assessed alongside supplementary interpretations found within didactic texts, in particular Isidore of Seville’s Etymologia, one of the key texts on animal lore in this period. These readings are then set against the expectations and experiences of local people in the surrounding landscape, both during and preceding the time the capitals were constructed, as elucidated in contemporary written texts. Minor landscape names created by local peasants provide further evidence that the iconography was to some extent chosen to reflect its landscape setting. Taken together, the evidence allows us an insight into how one early twelfth-century rural community perceived its environment. It is suggested that elements of the scheme operate on a number of levels. It was – in part, at least – designed to remind locals that the demonic and ungodly could be found within commonplace spaces, and that those commonplace spaces were recognizable as the environment immediately outside the church door, in the fields, meadows and woodlands of medieval Castor.
The Local Historian, 2019
Landscape reconstruction is often an important aspect of the work of local historians in uncoveri... more Landscape reconstruction is often an important aspect of the work of local historians in uncovering the history of a parish. For many English parishes in particular, tithe and enclosure maps of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—alongside contemporary field-books, surveys and terriers—help researchers to take the first steps in recreating the historic environment. Local history groups embarking upon this work often generate useful material and deposit this with county record offices for the benefit of all. However, continuing back beyond the modern period can be problematic, especially for those without the specialist skills to read and decipher medieval records. This paper recognises the important contribution that volunteer researchers make to the discipline of local and regional history and, using material developed in conjunction with volunteer groups at the Staffordshire Record Office, provides a set of guidelines and resources designed to help non-specialist researchers to access medieval documents. Specifically, these resources aid local historians in finding and recording the abundant minor landscape- and field-names written in later medieval charters.The paper is also designed to illustrate the value of this work for place-name scholars, especially those working on the English Place-Name Society’s (EPNS) Survey of English Place-Names, and for historians of all kinds.
Journal of the English Place-Name Society, 2017
Early field-names and minor landscape names are beginning to be recognised by scholars as an impo... more Early field-names and minor landscape names are beginning to be recognised by scholars as an important source for the reconstruction of both medieval landscapes and medieval communities’ perceptions of their environment. This study is situated within this emerging scholarly context and assesses microtoponyms alongside additional documentary sources to develop a clear sense of how the inhabitants of Flintham in Nottinghamshire observed their surroundings, and to understand which landscape features were considered foremost. Flintham is located within the catchment of three rivers: the Trent, the Devon and the Smite, and extant material from a range of texts emphasises that flooding was a persistent problem from at least the fourteenth century, continuing into the modern period. The survival of a large quantity of medieval field-names leaves us in no doubt that water loomed large within the collective consciousness of the community of peasants that named this landscape. A large percentage of these names relate to water, and this suggests that localised flooding and problems with excessive water more generally predated the Norman Conquest. A lack of suitable etymological evidence at settlement level has led onomasts to define Flintham as OE hām – ‘homestead’, rather than OE hamm – ‘land hemmed in by water or marsh’. However, mapping the settlement’s watery minor landscape names in conjunction with an assessment of those parts of the landscape designated as most likely to flood strongly supports a reinterpretation weighted in favour of hamm.
Landscape History, 2015
In recent years, it has largely been the domain of the landscape archaeologist to uncover and ana... more In recent years, it has largely been the domain of the
landscape archaeologist to uncover and analyse the physical
terrain of the late medieval manor. This has provided
much material for the examination of ideas of rural
power, control and social organisation. Considering the
morphology of the settlement and adjacent fieldscape, it is
rare, however, to reflect upon the views of the peasantry,
who would after all have made up the majority of the
population of rural communities. Using evidence gathered
from fourteenth-century manorial court rolls, this study
examines peasant attitudes to the rural landscape from an
historical perspective through the analysis of incidences of
trespass on demesne and peasant land in the Suffolk vill
of Walsham-le-Willows. Unusually, these documentary
sources frequently make reference to the specific location of
peasant trespass allowing for a quantitative investigation
that reveals something of the motivation behind these
seemingly petty and notionally accidental incidents.
Traditionally, cases of trespassing on neighbouring land
have been considered only fleetingly by historians, since it
is generally believed that many incidents were the result of
accidental damage by wandering livestock, or that manorial
officials used court fines as a means of licensing access. This
study shows that the reality was far more complex, and that
there was a range of motivational stimuli for these acts.
Landscape History, 36:2 (2015)
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RpKH2CK3EtHeaPqMaTnu/full
http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy3.lib.le.ac.uk/toc/rlsh20/36/2
The Trent is England’s third longest river. Its propensity to flood has long been recognised. In... more The Trent is England’s third longest river. Its propensity to flood has long been recognised. Indeed it is this distinguishing trait that appears to have given the river its name. In this paper, we examine how this mercurial and potentially dangerous river was understood and how its floodplain was settled in the middle ages. Drawing on toponomastic and palaeoecological evidence we examine the relationship between archaeologically attested medieval riparian settlements and the river; how the names given to these places served to highlight the hydrological characteristics of the river along its whole course; and how individual communities bestowed an array of minor names to parts of their fields and meadows to create detailed maps of the Trent’s floodplain environment. These themes are examined against the twin backgrounds of climate and anthropogenic landscape change which ensured that England’s floodplains were some of the most dynamic, and thus complex, spaces in which medieval people chose to live.
The Trent is England’s third longest river. Its propensity to flood has long been recognised. Ind... more The Trent is England’s third longest river. Its propensity to flood has long been recognised. Indeed it is this distinguishing trait that appears to have given the river its name. In this paper, we examine how this mercurial and potentially dangerous river was understood and how its floodplain was settled in the Middle Ages. Drawing on toponomastic and palaeoecological evidence we examine the relationship between archaeologically attested medieval riparian settlements and the river. These themes are examined against the twin backgrounds of climate and anthropogenic landscape change which ensured that England’s floodplains were some of the most dynamic, and thus complex, spaces in which medieval people chose to live.
Midland History, Jan 1, 2010
Recent studies of peasant welfare during the high point of medieval agriculture have largely over... more Recent studies of peasant welfare during the high point of medieval agriculture have largely overturned the idea that peasants were the constant victims of brutal seigniorial oppression. Using a variety of manorial sources, this study investigates the successes and struggles of servile peasants in the Northamptonshire manor of Wellingborough between 1258 and 1322. A growing community is revealed, whose economic survival is fi rmly tied to the harvest, but, crucially, is not always wholly dependent on the demesne performance. Despite evidence of some struggle, the emergence of a small group of entrepreneurial tenants suggests a 'hidden' peasant hierarchy that a brief glance at the manorial sources does not reveal. The fi ndings suggest that peasant welfare cannot be considered in general terms, that lordly oppression was not always as harsh as previously believed, and that the combination of a supportive manorial infrastructure alongside a good harvest performance provided the foundations for nascent peasant enterprise. It suggests that the welfare of Wellingborough's peasants was more likely to be determined by the vagaries of the weather and the instabilities inherent in making a living from the land than the actions of the lord.
Medieval Settlement Research, 2010
The abundant documentation of the 13th-14th century manor has long been considered central to the... more The abundant documentation of the 13th-14th century manor has long been considered central to the reconstruction of the socio-economic world of lords and peasants. But historians have rarely questioned the validity of the seigneurial view of the manorial environment that survives through surveys and extents, despite this being the observation of frequently absent elites. Using the Huntingdonshire manor of Elton as a case-study, comparing these documents with literary texts alongside surveys outlining lands closer to the aristocratic heart, like forests and chases, it is evident that there was a deliberate seigneurial distancing from manorial land, which was increasingly seen dispassionately in fiscal terms in the post-Conquest period. Peasant naming strategies – personal and environmental – emphasise the local environment as an intimately known place, closer to modern ideas of landscape as opposed to the arid lordly descriptions of mere land. Indeed, looking at the manorial environment through the eyes of resident peasants it is clear that our understanding of how local landscapes were seen has hitherto been one-dimensional. The innovation in this study lies in drawing together different scholarly disciplines and diverse documentary sources, from agricultural treatises to scientific manuals, in order to reconsider afresh the medieval peasant landscape. Lords traditionally associated peasants with the soil they tilled, but there is evidence that free tenants attempted to sever this connection, preferring to emulate elites in viewing the natural world as symbolic. Peasant furlong names sustain the seigneurial convictions, but when assessed alongside the manorial documentation, the negative connotations are called into question and it is possible to detect evidence of scientific knowledge and close observation of the natural world amongst a group almost exclusively portrayed as uneducated and ignorant. Reconsidering the manorial documentation from the peasants’ perspective reveals multiple conceptual environments, each having equal if not greater validity than the dominant but distant seigneurial view.
This compelling new study forms part of a new wave of scholarship on the medieval rural environme... more This compelling new study forms part of a new wave of scholarship on the medieval rural environment in which the focus moves beyond purely socio-economic concerns to incorporate the lived experience of peasants. For too long, the principal intellectual approach has been to consider both subject and evidence from a modern, rationalist perspective and to afford greater importance to the social elite. New perspectives are needed. By re-evaluating the source material from the perspective of the peasant worldview, it is possible to build a far more detailed representation of rural peasant experience. Susan Kilby seeks to reconstruct the physical and socio-cultural environment of three contrasting English villages – Lakenheath in Suffolk, Castor in Northamptonshire and Elton in Huntingdonshire – between c. 1086 and c. 1348 and to use this as the basis for determining how peasants perceived their natural surroundings. In so doing she draws upon a vast array of sources including documents, ...
The abundant documentation related to the thirteenthto fourteenth-century manor has long been con... more The abundant documentation related to the thirteenthto fourteenth-century manor has long been considered central to the reconstruction of the socio-economic world of lords and peasants. But historians have rarely questioned the validity of the seigneurial view of the manorial environment that survives through surveys and extents, despite this being the observation of elites who were frequently absent from their lands. Using the Huntingdonshire manor of Elton as a case-study, comparing these documents with literary texts alongside surveys outlining lands closer to the aristocratic heart, like forests and chases, it is evident that there was a deliberate seigneurial distancing from manorial land, which was increasingly being seen dispassionately and simply in fiscal terms in the postConquest period. The much overlooked evidence that can be termed peasant naming strategies – both personal and environmental names – means that we can start to recognise the local environment as an intimat...
.................................................................................................... more ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv Table of contents .............................................................................................................. v List of figures ................................................................................................................... vii List of tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of appendices ........................................................................................................... xii Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. xiii Additional notes ............................................................................................................xviii Chapter One: Introduction................................................................................................ 1 Chapter Two: Understanding the rural environment: the seigneurial perspective ....... 39 Chapter Three: The unseen environment ...................................................................... 72 Chapter Four: Naming the landscape ........................................................................... 106 Chapter Five: Re-imagining the medieval environment ............................................... 138 Chapter Six: The hidden economy ................................................................................ 166 Chapter Seven: The practical landscape ....................................................................... 203 Chapter Eight: Ordering the landscape ........................................................................ 237 Chapter Nine: Conclusion ............................................................................................. 280 Appendices .................................................................................................................... 291 Appendix One ............................................................................................................... 292 Appendix Two ............................................................................................................... 300 Appendix Three ............................................................................................................. 310 Appendix Four ............................................................................................................... 314 Appendix Five ................................................................................................................ 360 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 371
Rural History, Apr 1, 2012
Rural History, Oct 1, 2013
The Five Parishes Journal, Jul 2014
Our current understanding of the medieval rural environment is largely based on scholarly writing... more Our current understanding of the medieval rural environment is largely based on scholarly writings focusing on the policies pursued by the social elite. This study re-examines manorial sources from the perspective of local peasants to reconstruct the farming environment – both physical and metaphorical - in one fourteenth-century English village. Maintaining soil quality was fundamentally important since peasants’ survival was closely linked to their agricultural success. Husbandmen understood that the land needed nourishment, but they had to decide where and how best to deploy their limited fertiliser stocks, and this required a thorough understanding of the land they worked. Nothing emphasises this more than the wide variety of local field-names, many of which describe the specific qualities of individual cropping units. This paper argues that some of the most enduring field-names survived as part of a collective mnemonic system used by local farmers in conjunction with commonly held scientific ideas, from which they determined how best to treat their fields. It suggests that, although uneducated in any formal sense, some peasants nevertheless had a reasonable grasp of contemporary scientific thought, and there is evidence to suggest that elemental and humoral scientific theory informed their approach to the sustainability of soil quality.
This paper assesses the landscape of one rural medieval manor, and considers the longevity of fie... more This paper assesses the landscape of one rural medieval manor, and considers the longevity of field-names, that survive over a long time period, having been passed down from generation to generation. This paper argues that some of the most enduring field-names survived as part of a collective mnemonic system used by local farmers in conjunction with commonly held scientific ideas, from which they determined how best to treat their fields. It suggests that, although uneducated in any formal sense, some peasants nevertheless had a strong grasp of contemporary scientific thought, and there is evidence to suggest that elemental and humoral scientific theory informed their approach to the sustainability of soil quality.
The settlement of Alrewas in Staffordshire is located at the confluence of the Trent and Tame. Th... more The settlement of Alrewas in Staffordshire is located at the confluence of the Trent and Tame. The name reveals the fact that its Anglo-Saxon inhabitants were aware of the propensity for this landscape to flood and drain rapidly, and yet this did not discourage them from settling there and farming the adjacent countryside. The survival of a great quantity of later medieval field-names means that it is possible to reconstruct the ways in which local people viewed, understood and managed this occasionally unpredictable landscape. During a period in which the elements could frequently undermine peasants' attempts at agrarian success, having a thorough understanding of a potentially problematic environment would have been essential for the inhabitants of Alrewas. The field-names bring to light this community's close observation of their watery surroundings, revealing how they lived successfully with the ever-present threat from the incursion of floodwaters.
Our current understanding of the medieval rural environment is largely based on scholarly writing... more Our current understanding of the medieval rural environment is largely based on scholarly writings focusing on the landscape policies pursued by the social elite. This study re-examines manorial sources from the perspective of local peasants to reconstruct the physical—and in some respects, metaphorical—environment of the lower orders in two contrasting English villages between 1086-1348, and to determine how this led to the development of the local economic strategies that can be pieced together from the records of the medieval manor. Maintaining soil quality was fundamentally important since peasants’ survival was closely linked to their agricultural success. Local peasants clearly understood that the land needed nourishment, but they also had to decide where and how best to deploy their limited fertiliser stocks, and this required a thorough understanding of the land they worked. Nothing emphasises this more than the wide variety of local field-names, coined by the peasants themselves. Many field-names were selected and retained over a long period, and describe the specific qualities of individual cropping units. This paper argues that some of the most enduring field-names survived as part of a collective mnemonic system used by local farmers in conjunction with commonly held scientific ideas, from which they determined how best to treat their fields. It suggests that, although uneducated in any formal sense, some peasants nevertheless had a strong grasp of contemporary scientific thought, and there is evidence to suggest that elemental and humoral scientific theory informed their approach to the sustainability of soil quality.
Assessing medieval peasant mentalities has been acknowledged as a difficult pursuit. Nevertheless... more Assessing medieval peasant mentalities has been acknowledged as a difficult pursuit. Nevertheless, an important set of peasant data exists within the written records of the late medieval manor: the names they bestowed upon each other, and on the landscape they occupied. Using a sociological framework, and case studies from the Midlands, East Anglia and the North West, this paper examines and seeks to explain the phenomenon that topographical bynames were largely bestowed on servile peasants.
Our current understanding of the medieval rural environment is largely based on scholarly writing... more Our current understanding of the medieval rural environment is largely based on scholarly writings focusing on the landscape policies pursued by the social elite. This study re-examines manorial sources from the perspective of local peasants to reconstruct the physical—and in some respects, metaphorical—environment of the lower orders in two contrasting English villages between 1086-1348, and to determine how this led to the development of the local economic strategies that can be pieced together from the records of the medieval manor. Maintaining soil quality was fundamentally important since peasants’ survival was closely linked to their agricultural success. Local peasants clearly understood that the land needed nourishment, but they also had to decide where and how best to deploy their limited fertiliser stocks, and this required a thorough understanding of the land they worked. Nothing emphasises this more than the wide variety of local field-names, coined by the peasants themselves. Many field-names were selected and retained over a long period, and describe the specific qualities of individual cropping units. This paper argues that some of the most enduring field-names survived as part of a collective mnemonic system used by local farmers in conjunction with commonly held scientific ideas, from which they determined how best to treat their fields. It suggests that, although uneducated in any formal sense, some peasants nevertheless had a strong grasp of contemporary scientific thought, and there is evidence to suggest that elemental and humoral scientific theory informed their approach to the sustainability of soil quality.
This paper traces, as far as it is possible, various strategies used to mitigate the threat of ri... more This paper traces, as far as it is possible, various strategies used to mitigate the threat of river flooding in England from the early to later medieval period. With an emphasis on how communities in flood-prone areas dealt with the issue of localized and recurrent flooding, it offers an alternative perspective on a natural phenomenon that is usually examined historically in the context of large-scale and extraordinary events. It draws on toponymic evidence from across the period and, in the later period, from manorial documents revealing how water was managed. In doing so, the paper explores both how the threat of flooding was communicated through names in the landscape and what practical steps were taken by local communities to limit its impact.
Medieval Settlement Research, 2014
Rural History, Jan 1, 2012
Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 2016
Our current understanding of the medieval rural environment is largely based on scholarly writing... more Our current understanding of the medieval rural environment is largely based on scholarly writings focusing on the landscape policies pursued by the social elite. This study re-examines manorial sources from the perspective of local peasants to reconstruct the physical—and in some respects, metaphorical—environment of the lower orders in two contrasting English villages between 1086-1348, and to determine how this led to the development of the local economic strategies that can be pieced together from the records of the medieval manor. Maintaining soil quality was fundamentally important since peasants’ survival was closely linked to their agricultural success. Local peasants clearly understood that the land needed nourishment, but they also had to decide where and how best to deploy their limited fertiliser stocks, and this required a thorough understanding of the land they worked. Nothing emphasises this more than the wide variety of local field-names, coined by the peasants themselves. Many field-names were selected and retained over a long period, and describe the specific qualities of individual cropping units. This paper argues that some of the most enduring field-names survived as part of a collective mnemonic system used by local farmers in conjunction with commonly held scientific ideas, from which they determined how best to treat their fields. It suggests that, although uneducated in any formal sense, some peasants nevertheless had a strong grasp of contemporary scientific thought, and there is evidence to suggest that elemental and humoral scientific theory informed their approach to the sustainability of soil quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=555VYvW3HTg
