The Material Culture of English Rural Households C.1250-1600

The Material Culture of English Rural Households C.1250-1600 PDF Author: Ben Jervis
Publisher: Ubiquity Press (Cardiff University Press)
ISBN: 9781911653448
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Drawing on archaeological and historical evidence, this is the first comprehensive analysis of the possessions of non-elite households in medieval England.

The Material Culture of English Rural Households C.1250-1600

The Material Culture of English Rural Households C.1250-1600 PDF Author: Ben Jervis
Publisher: Ubiquity Press (Cardiff University Press)
ISBN: 9781911653448
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Drawing on archaeological and historical evidence, this is the first comprehensive analysis of the possessions of non-elite households in medieval England.

The Material Culture of English Rural Households c. 1250–1600

The Material Culture of English Rural Households c. 1250–1600 PDF Author: Ben Jervis
Publisher: Cardiff University Press
ISBN: 1911653482
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
This book presents a synthesis and analysis of the possessions of non-elite rural households in medieval England. Drawing on the results of the Leverhulme Trust funded project ‘Living Standards and Material Culture in English Rural Households, 1300-1600’, it represents the first national-scale interdisciplinary analysis of non-elite consumption in the later Middle Ages. The research is situated within debates around rising living standards in the period following the Black Death, the commercialisation of the English economy and the timing of a ‘revolution’ in consumer behaviour. Its novelty derives from its focus on non-elite rural households. Whilst there has been considerable work on the possessions of the great households and those living in larger towns, researchers have struggled to identify appropriate sources for understanding the possessions of those living in the countryside, even though they account for the majority of England’s population at this time. This book will address the gap in understanding. The study combines 3 sources of data to address 2 questions: what goods did medieval households own, and what influenced their consumption habits? The first is archaeological evidence, comprising 14,706 objects recovered from archaeological excavations. The book synthesises this data, much of which is unpublished and therefore inaccessible to researchers. The second dataset derives from lists of the seized goods of felons, outlaws and suicides collated by the Escheator, a royal official, in the 14th and 15th centuries. The work of the Escheator is not well understood, but these lists, relating to some of the poorest people in medieval society (for whom traditional sources such as wills and probate inventories do not exist), provide new insights into the living standards of rural households. The lists typically detail and value the possessions of a household, meaning that it is possible to present a quantitative analysis of non-elite consumption for the first time. The final dataset draws on equivalent lists generated by the Coroner for the 16th century. An interdisciplinary approach is essential, as many objects identified archaeologically do not occur in the written records, and goods such as textiles do not survive in the ground. Drawing these sources together therefore allows the presentation of a more comprehensive analysis of the possessions of medieval households. The introduction lays out the research context in a manner accessible to historians and archaeologists who may not be familiar with work in each other’s disciplines. This is followed by a brief summary of the research methodology and the sources underpinning the research. The next 5 chapters focus on addressing the question of what medieval households owned, discussing the evidence for kitchen equipment, tableware, furniture, clothing and personal items. The following 3 chapters discuss household economy, considering the evidence for the production of goods, variation in consumption between town and country and variation in accordance with wealth, firstly through the consideration of these themes at the national scale and secondly through a regional case study focussed on Wiltshire, which has particularly rich archaeological and documentary sources. The volume closes with a concluding chapter which places the research back into its wider context.

A United Europe of Things

A United Europe of Things PDF Author: Jakub Sawicki
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031483367
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
This volume studies high and late medieval material culture in a Pan-European context. The idea of ‘unity of culture’ in Medieval Latin Europe is well known in historical texts, especially when it concerns the so-called ‘Europe North of the Alps’. This book investigates the similarities and differences in material culture between areas, regions and political entities and opens the dialogue for a more interregional discussion. The editors acknowledge that there are numerous challenges in understanding the phenomenon the volume addresses, the fundamental one being defining (or even redefining) a common material culture of Europe. Important in determining this is greater appreciation of how objects reflect interactions between peoples, both local and foreign, which can be driven by a variety of factors, including trade, conflict and diplomacy etc. But just as important is observing the differences between ‘things’ across Europe, reflecting developments and transformations its cultural, social and economic history. These works are traditionally presented in isolation or at the local level, maybe even in very specialized tomes, as often it is thought their observation are not relevant to wider discourses. Conversely, what is clear, however, is that by interconnecting these seemingly introvert studies of specific artefact types or sites etc., readers can better appreciate the similarities and differences in material culture across Europe. This book is of interest to researchers in archaeology and material culture.

Household Goods and Good Households in Late Medieval London

Household Goods and Good Households in Late Medieval London PDF Author: Katherine L. French
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812253051
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Household Goods and Good Households in Late Medieval London looks at how increased consumption in the aftermath of the Black Death reconfigured long-held gender roles and changed the domestic lives of London's merchants and artisans for years to come.

Housing Culture

Housing Culture PDF Author: M.H. Johnson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113537046X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Housing Culture is an inter-disciplinary study of old houses. It brings together recent ideas in studies of traditional architecture, social and cultural history, and social theory, by looking at the meanings of traditional architecture in western Suffolk, England. The author employs in an English context many of the ideas of Glassie, Deetz and other writers on the American colonies. In so doing, the book forms an important critique and refinement of those ideas, and should prove an indispensable background text for American historical archaeologists in particular. The study spans the late medieval and early modern periods, looking at the layout and structural details of ordinary houses. It argues for a process of closure affecting both technical and social aspects of houses. The context of the process of closure is explored and related to wider social and cultural changes including the feudal/capitalist transition. Housing Culture embodies an innovative and exciting approach to the study of artefacts in an historic period. It will interest historians, historical geographers and archaeologists of the medieval and early modern periods in both England and America. It is also sure to be of interest to students of all areas and periods who seek a theoretically informed approach to the study of traditional architecture and material culture in general. This book is intended for archaeologists, historians (particularly of landscape, architecture, the medieval period, social and cultural) historical geographers, students and researchers of material culture; such groups are found within departments of archeaology, history and anthropology.

Production and Consumption in English Households 1600-1750

Production and Consumption in English Households 1600-1750 PDF Author: Darron Dean
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134620233
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
This economic, social and cultural analysis of the nature and variety of production and consumption activities in households in Kent and Cornwall yields important new insights on the transition to capitalism in England.

Geoffrey Chaucer in Context

Geoffrey Chaucer in Context PDF Author: Ian Johnson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107035643
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 499

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Book Description
Provides a rich and varied reference resource, illuminating the different contexts for Chaucer and his work.

Hearth & Home

Hearth & Home PDF Author: Norman John Greville Pounds
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description


The Social Topography of a Rural Community

The Social Topography of a Rural Community PDF Author: Steve Hindle
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192694731
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
The Social Topography of a Rural Community is a micro-history of an exceptionally well-documented seventeenth-century English village: Chilvers Coton in north-eastern Warwickshire. Drawing on a rich archive of sources, including an occupational census, detailed estate maps, account books, private journals, and hundreds of deeds and wills, and employing a novel micro-spatial methodology, it reconstructs the life experience of some 780 inhabitants spread across 176 households. This offers a unique opportunity to visualize members of an English rural community as they responded to, and in turn initiated, changes in social and economic activity, making their own history on their own terms. In so doing the book brings to the fore the social, economic, and spatial lives of people who have been marginalized from conventional historical discourse, and offers an unusual level of detail relating to the spatial and demographic details of local life. Each of the substantive chapters focuses on the contributions and experiences of a particular household in the parish-the mill, the vicarage, the alehouse, the blacksmith's forge, the hovels of the labourers and coalminers, the cottages of the nail-smiths and ribbon-weavers, the farms of the yeomen and craftsmen, and the manor house of Arbury Hall itself-locating them precisely on specific sites in the landscape and the built environment; and sketching the evolving 'taskscapes' in which the inhabitants dwelled. A novel contribution to spatial history, as well as early modern material, social and economic history more generally, this study represents a highly original analysis of the significance of place, space, and flow in the history of English rural communities.

Everyday Objects

Everyday Objects PDF Author: Tara Hamling
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754666370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Material culture research has become an increasingly important aspect of the study of medieval and early modern societies, yet its study often remains uncoordinated and confined to narrow subject specific boundaries. As such, scholars will welcome this volume which provides an overview of various methodological strands currently developing across a range of disciplines. Taking a refreshingly broad approach, the collection explores 'everyday objects' as a way of questioning the relationship between material culture and historical themes. In so doing it highlights the way in which the study of objects can provide unexpected access to the 'lived experience' of individuals who may otherwise have left little impact in the written records.