The European Peasantry

These essays discuss principal and much-debated issues in European agrarian history within the context of the general economic history of northwestern Europe. The authors endeavor to explain the phenomena with explicit use of economic reasoning, and several of the papers draw on fresh historical source materials. The use of economics provides a relevance beyond the specific historical context, at the same time making possible a broader understanding of the reasons for the persistence, spread, and variation of certain peasant practices and forms of organization. The topics discussed include: the origin, persistence, and demise of the famous open or common field system of village agricultural organization; the development of peasant and rural industry preceding and during the Industrial Revolution; and the nineteenth-century adjustments of agriculture on the continent to world competition. A foreword by William N. Parker describes the economic and social setting to which the essays are relevant and an afterword by Eric L. Jones relates the papers not only to traditional concerns of economic development and European economic history, but also to the history of the European physical and biological environment in the past several centuries. Originally published in 1976. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In recent years the peasant household has become a central focal point of social history. This is true not only because the peasant represents the major element of European society through the nineteenth century, but also because many of the main issues in modern historical debate can be studied within the sphere of the peasant family. This book deals with the European peasant family during the period of transformation from agrarian to industrial society, the time called by some the period of protoindustrialization. The essays in this volume explore some of the major issues concerning the influence of the economy, society and institutions on the peasant household and, conversely, the influence of the peasant household on the outside world. Themes dealt with include the ways in which the physical environment and the economy may make for very different family structures and even affect intra-family relationships; the effects of inheritance, marriage and kinship strategies, as well as social pressure, on peasant family structure and demography; the debate about changing gender roles and status; the debate over the manner and effects of class formation; questions of social and political agency; the nature of gender and parent-child relations; the validity of protoindustrial theory; and the role of peasants in initiating industrialization as consumers, producers and as a labor force. In examining these themes, the essays provide both case studies and innovative analysis by preeminent international scholars in the fields of family and women’s history, economic history and demography.

First published in 2006. This classic work examines the modern history of Europe from an unusual perspective. European history has usually focussed on the urban life elite and the middle classes, but before World War II more than half of the entire population of the continent was composed of rural peasants occupying a territory stretching from the Black Seas to the Baltic forming a natural barrier between East and West. These people- Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Southern Slavs and others- are the focus of this book. First published in the 1930s, Tiltman's Peasant Europe strays from the normal look at Europe during this time period. While much of the continent is concerned with problems of international relations, industry and the future of armaments, Tiltman goes a step further than most writers and speaks with the common peasant to uncover their day-to-day concerns. He finds that most simply want consideration and a reasonable standard of living for themselves and their children. Accompanying the text are full page photographs, most of which are taken by the author himself, which offer a candid look at peasant life.

Study of social change in respect of rural workers in Europe since 1945 - covers rural area social structures, traditional peasant economy, aspects of agriculture, farm investment, sociological aspects of agrarian reform and agricultural policy, etc., in EC countries and socialist countries of europe, with some particular reference to France, Germany, Federal Republic, Italy, Poland and Yugoslavia. Bibliography pp. 235 to 243, maps, references and statistical tables.

Explores the economics of Europe in the early Middle Ages.

This ambitious survey offers a guide to the different peasant societies and economies in Europe from the later Middle Ages through to industrialization. Eleven regional chapters investigate key themes including patterns of lordship and dependence; standards of living; and the role of the peasantry in politics. Throughout the text emphasisises the diversities of peasant society across the whole of Europe - from England to the Ottoman lands, and from Scandinavia and Russia to Iberia.