Abstract: The studies gathered in this volume are changing our ideas about medieval social history. With the lone exception of Georges Duby, no one since Marc Bloch has done so much as Pierre Bonnassie to clarify big questions relating to the persistence and transformation of pre-millennial societies in France. When and how did ancient slavery end? When and how did agrarian labour assume the diverse forms of subjection commonly (and vaguely) labelled ‘serfdom’ by historians? How were such changes related to economic growth, to the restructuring of social power, and to the cultures and initiatives of peasants? These were questions about the history of people in the mass and they evoked equally capacious theoretical issues concerning the nature and stages of pre-industrial societies.
Publication Year: 1991
Publication Date: 1991-04-04
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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