People and Space in the Middle Ages, 300-1300: 15 (Studies in the Early Middle Ages) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 2503515266 ISBN 13: 9782503515267

Publisher: Brepols N.V., 2007

Synopsis

This book compares community definition and change in the temperate zones of southern Britain and northern France with the starkly contrasting regions of the Spanish meseta and Iceland. Local communities were fundamental to human societies in the pre-industrial world, crucial in supporting their members and regulating their relationships, as well as in wider society. While geographical and biological work on territoriality is very good, existing archaeological literature is rarely time-specific and lacks wider social context; most of its premises are too simple for the interdependencies of the early medieval world. Historical work, by contrast, has a weak sense of territory and no sense of scale; like much archaeological work, there is confusion about distinctions - and relationships - between kin groups, neighbourhood groups, collections of tenants and small polities. The contributors to this book address what determined the size and shape of communities in the early historic past and the ways that communities delineated themselves in physical terms. The roles of the environment, labour patterns, the church and the physical proximity of residences in determining community identity are also examined. Additional themes include social exclusion, the community as an elite body, and the various stimuli for change in community structure. Major issues surrounding relationships between the local and the governmental are investigated: did larger polities exploit pre-existing communities, or did developments in governance call local communities into being?

Edition details

• Publisher: Brepols N.V.
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 2503515266
• ISBN 13: 9782503515267
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Davies Wendy, Halsall Guy, Reynolds Andrew