The articles in this book, reprinted from the journal Past and Present, are all, in different ways, concerned with the ownership of landed property in medieval England and with those who worked the land. Problems debated include those concerning the keeping intact of the great estates of the Anglo-Norman barons in the face of both inheritance claims and of political manipulation by the crown. Other articles show that the difficulties of knights and lesser gentry were no less complex, as social shifts resulted from economic developments as well as from their military role and their relationships with their overlords. The essays are of as much importance for those interested in the history of politics as to those concerned with the economy and society of medieval England.

Preface; Editorial Note; Introduction R. H. Hilton; 1. The landholding foundations of the open-field system Robert A. Dodgshon; 2. Horse hauling: a revolution in vehicle transport in twelth- and thirteenth-century England John Langdon; 3. Politics and property in early medieval England J. C. Holt; 4. Debate: politics and property in early medieval England Edmund King, Stephen D. White and J. C. Holt; 5. Large and small landowners in thirteenth-century England: the case of Peterborough Abbey Edmund King; 6. Sir Geoffrey de Langley and the crisis of the knightly class in thirteenth-century England P. R. Coss; 7. Mortmain in medieval England Sandra Raban; 8. Minor landlords in England and medieval agrarian capitalism R. H. Britnell; 9. English serfdom and villeinage: towards a reassessment John Hatcher; 10. The English peasantry and the demands of the crown 1294-1341 J. R. Maddicott; 11. Family, land and the village community in later medieval England Zvi Razi; 12. Historian