Werner Rösener Book order

This is a history of the peasant societies of Europe - and of the part they have played in European history - from their origins in the early Middle Ages to the present. Peasants formed a majority of people in Europe during the first half of the 20th century, and, as Werner Rosener shows in this account, they have long been - and still are - a key force in European history. The author's studies range throughout the continent, from England to Russia and from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. He aims to show the diversity of peasant societies - some independent and affluent, others prosperous but enslaved, yet others free but impoverished. Proceeding chronologically with numerous thematic excursions, he examines the forms and evolution of peasant cultures and economies, considers their impact on society at large and describes the great peasant movements and uprisings that have taken place since the 14th century. He concludes with a discussion of the present condition of peasant societies and of the problems of decollectivization in the East and those caused by the Common Agricultural Policy in the West.

This book is a lively refutation of preconceptions that medieval peasants existed either in idyllic rural conditions or in unmitigated oppression and poverty. Werner Rosener redresses the balance of history in favor of the peasantry, illustrating that their lives were as complex and interesting as those of the nobility. Rosener considers the social, economic, and political foundations of peasant life, particularly the way in which occupational and land divisions determined the rural population's relative freedom. At the height of the Middle Ages, the peasant condition improved as tenant farming replaced the seigneurial system and progress in agricultural technology increased productivity. Peasants left overcrowded villages to farm less fertile or barely populated land. Forms of village settlement gradually diversified, and relationships among the peasants developed into more complex communal networks. The quality and variety of clothing and the design of farmhouses and farmyards changed. The author also sheds new light on successful peasants who owned land and began to form 'peasant republics' independent of the nobility. Peasants in the Middle Ages is sure to become a standard work on the history of peasant life. It will be welcomed by medievalists and by sociologists and anthropologists interested in the Middle Ages or comparative studies.