E-Book Overview
Between 1200 and 1520 medieval English society went through a series of upheavals - wars, pestilence, and rebellion. This book looks at aristocrats, peasants, townsmen, wage-earners, and paupers, and examines how they obtained and spent their incomes. Did the aristocracy practice conspicuous consumption? Did the peasants really starve? The book focuses on the varying fortunes of different social groups in the inflation of the thirteenth century, the crises of the fourteenth, and the apparent depression of the fifteenth. Dr. Dyer explains the changes in terms of the dynamics of a social and economic system subjected to stimuli and stresses.
E-Book Content
Cambridge Medieval Textbooks This is a series of specially commissioned textbooks for teachers and students, designed to complement the monograph series Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought by providing introductions to a range of topics in medieval history. This series combines both chronological and thematic approaches, and will deal with British and European topics. All volumes in the series will be published in hard covers and in paperback. For a list of tides in the series, see end of book. STANDARDS OF LIVING IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES Social change in England c. 1200-1520 REVISED EDITION CHRISTOPHER DYER Professor of Medieval Social History University of Birmingham CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1989 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreement, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press First published 1989 Reprinted 1990, 1993, 1994, Revised edition, 1998 Typeset in Bembo 11/11.5 British Library cataloguing in publication data Dyer, C (Christopher), 1944Standards of living in the later Middle Ages: social change in England c. 1200—1520. — (Cambridge medieval textbooks). 1. England. Social life 1154-1485. I. Title 942.03 Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Dyer, Christopher, 1944Standards of living in the later Middle Ages: social change in England, c. 1200-1520 / Christopher Dyer. p. cm. — (Cambridge medieval textbooks) Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 521 25127 3 ISBN 0 521 27215 7 (pbk.) 1. Cost and standard of living — England — History. 2. England — Social conditions — Medieval period, 1066-1485. 3 England - Social conditions - 16th century. I. Title. II. Series. HD7024.D94 1989 339.4'7'0942-dcl9 88-21087 CIP ISBN 0 521 25127 3 hard covers ISBN 0 521 27215 7 paperback Transferred to digital printing 2002 CONTENTS List of illustrations List of tables Preface Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Weights, measures and places Introduction Late medieval society Aristocratic incomes The aristocracy as consumers Aristocratic expenditure: making ends meet Peasant living standards: modelling the peasant economy 6 Peasants as consumers 7 Urban standard of living 8 The wage-earners 9 Poverty and charity io The weather and standards of living Conclusion Medieval living standards - postscript i 2 3 4 5 Bibliography Index page vi vii ix xi xiii XV i 10 27 49 86 109 151 188 211 234 258 274 278 3i8 T27 ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURES 1 The population of England, 1086-1786 2 Aristocratic houses of the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries 3 Chronology of building major churches, 1100-1500 4 Harves