The peasants of Ottobeuren, 1487-1726 : a rural society in early modern Europe
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The peasants of Ottobeuren, 1487-1726 : a rural society in early modern Europe
(Past and present publications)
Cambridge University Press, 2004
- : hbk
- : pbk
Available at 7 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Peasants of Ottobeuren offers an interesting perspective on one of the enduring problems of early modern European history: the possibilities for economic growth and social change in rural society. Based on the voluminous records of the Swabian Benedictine monastery of Ottobeuren, this study underscores the limitations of the traditional narrative of a sixteenth-century boom which foundered on the productive rigidities of the peasant economy and then degenerated into social crisis in the seventeenth century. Population growth did strain resources at Ottobeuren, but the peasantry continued to produce substantial agricultural surplus. More importantly, peasants reacted to demographic pressure by deepening their involvement in land and credit markets, and more widely and aggressively marketing the fruits of their labour. Marriage and inheritance underwent a similar process of commercialization which made heavy demands on the peasantry, but which maintained a degree of social stability through the devastations of war, plague and famine.
Table of Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Note on weights, measures and currencies
- Introduction
- 1. Right and might (c.1480-c.1560)
- 2. The discrete society (c.1480-c.1560)
- 3. A crisis of numbers? (c.1560-c.1630)
- 4. Integrity and the market (c.1560-c.1630)
- 5. Living on borrowed time (c.1560-c.1630)
- 6. To empty and to refill (c.1630-c.1720)
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of places
- General index.
by "Nielsen BookData"