The regulation of the rural market in waged labour in fourteenth-century England

Bailey, Mark (2023) The regulation of the rural market in waged labour in fourteenth-century England. Continuity and Change, 38 (2). pp. 137-162. ISSN 0268-4160

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Abstract

This article reconstructs the size and organisation of the rural market in hired labour in fourteenth-century England, providing a comparative reference point for arrangements elsewhere in medieval Europe. Quantitative assessment of 1,445 manorial court sessions from six manors casts new light on the English labour market, which was larger and less regulated than previously assumed and the government's wide-ranging labour legislation in the wake of the Black Death was novel in its scale and provisions. Contrary to received wisdom, manorial authorities made few efforts to regulate labour. The older view had placed an over-reliance on the early work of W.O. Ault and had ignored the significance of nil returns. The reasons for the lack of regulation, and its implications for our understanding of the complex interaction between pandemics, labour markets, and legal responses are explored. Finally, the study illustrates how legal responses to pandemics can have inadvertent yet profound consequences.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	history,social sciences(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1202
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Medieval History
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Mar 2023 16:30
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2023 00:43
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/91513
DOI:	10.1017/S0268416023000188

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