Quantifying the Decline of Serfdom in the West Midlands 1300 to 1400

Baylis, Joshua David Lawton (2026) Quantifying the Decline of Serfdom in the West Midlands 1300 to 1400. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Serfdom was widespread in medieval Europe and its subsequent decline is one of the most important developments in the social history of the continent, because the chronology of its decline, and even whether it declined, is directly linked to regional trajectories of economic development over the last millennium. The fourteenth century is regarded as a pivotal period in this process. In the first half of the century, extreme population pressure is held to have supported strong systems of serfdom. In the second half of the century, after the Black Death (1348-9) had killed up to half of the population, the shortages of tenants and workers could have had one of two effects: either lords reimposed serfdom or it was bargained away by market forces and peasant resistance.

A key influence on this research has been the Birmingham School of historians, who have maintained that English serfdom was powerful on the eve of the Black Death, was reimposed in a ‘seigneurial reaction’ in the aftermath of the Black Death, and only declined after c.1400 due to serf resistance and migration. These claims have been challenged by Bailey (2014, 2021, 2025), although Dyer (2022, 2024) contends that they still hold for the West Midlands. This thesis addresses this debate by applying Bailey’s quantitative methodology for dating and explaining the decline of serfdom to nine manors in the West Midlands, seven of which were held by Worcester Cathedral Priory, a highly conservative landlord, and shows a major swing from the old villein tenure to money tenures soon after 1349 and the attendant decline of tallage, labour services mill suit and entry fines. Personal servility lasted longer. The evidence paints a mixed picture but broadly shows the Black Death as the key moment in the decline of serfdom in the West Midlands.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	08 Sep 2026 14:16
Last Modified:	08 Sep 2026 14:16
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104474
DOI:

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