G. G. Coulton

CHAPTER I. THE OPEN ROAD
The workman's lot as seen by the workman
Necessity of scientific study of medieval society
The rural glory and the rural gloom
CHAPTER II. VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT
Beginnings of serfdom
The fully-developed serf
Sales of serfs
And of their brood
Modern and medieval testimony to servile misery
CHAPTER III. A FEW CROSS-LIGHTS
Janssen's untrustworthy counterpleas
Rough indulgences for the serf
Scot-ales
Power of money in the Middle Ages
The lawyer-class and the serf
CHAPTER IV. A GALSTONBURY MANOR
Wealth of medieval abbeys
Manorial customs
The peasant's holding
Minute subdivision
Consequent confusion
CHAPTER V. THE SPORTING CHANCE
Uncertainty of measures
"Natural measures"
Sporting chances
Corporal chastisement
"Compulsory "gifts"
CHAPTER VI. BANS AND MONOPOLIES
Manorial monopolies: mill
Oven
Wine-ban
Evasions of justice
Tithes
Uncertainty of status
CHAPTER VII. THE MANOR COURT
The village self-sufficing
The lord's court
Its proceedings
The lord's mill
"Beating the bounds"
CHAPTER VIII. LIFE ON A MONASTIC MANOR
"The "heriot" system"
Manorial dovecotes
Rabbits
"The serf "buys his own blood"
Jus primae noctis
Breeding in and in
"Leywite"
Forced marriages
The mill again
Ale-tolls
Rackrenting
Village discipline
CHAPTER IX. FATHERLY GOVERNMENT
Village discipline (continued)
"Villein" as a term of abuse"
Games and dance repressed
The rough side of football
Other affrays
A peasant's cottage and effects
Clothing
Arcadian simplicity
CHAPTER X. THE LORD'S POWER
Oppressive lords
Especially on the Continent
Worst on lay estates
Bad even in England
Wars and plagues
Game-preserving
Gradual improvement
Manorial help for the poor
CHAPTER XI. EARLIER REVOLTS
Comparative proseperity in England
Yet far short of modern
"The main factors, economic"
Peasant revolts
Communistic ideas
"Riots at Dunstable, Burton, and Vale Royal"
At Meaux
Froissart's testimony
The Black Death
Flights of peasants
Gradual emancipation
CHAPTER XII. MONKS AND SERFS
Attempts to represent the Reformation as the main factor in reaction
"The monk scarcely better, as landlord, than the layman"
A cardinal and a bishop paint him as even worse
Monastic conservatism here counterbalance monastic charity
Emptiness and inaccuracy of Montalembert's arguments
CHAPTER XIII. THE CHANCES OF LIBERATION
"Gregory the Great as "liberator"
No medieval philosopher condemns serfdom except Wyclif
Incomparably more serfs were freed by layfolk than by churchmen
The serf had nearly always to buy his freedom
Especially on monastic estates
And it was under monks that serfdom lingered longest
CHAPTER XIV. LEGAL BARRIERS TO ENFRANCHISEMENT
"For the churchman was forbidden by canon law to free serfs, except under severe restrictions"
And the Church actually made fresh slaves
"And the popes encouraged slavery, especially in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries"
Nor did the Church even fight against servile injustices in detail
CHAPTER XV. KINDLY CONCESSIONS
Yet we find kindly concessions a little more frequently on monastic estates
Especially in cases of pregancy and child-birth
CHAPTER XVI. JUSTICE
Justice and money in the Middle Ages
The monks and gallows-rights
And the trial by battle
They are always unfriendly to town liberties
"They exact heavy "tallages"
And resort to rackrenting
Do not always allow for holy-days or sickness or weather
Evict tenants wholesale
Judgements of Leadam and Hanotaux
CHAPTER XVII. CLEARINGS AND ENCLOSURES
"Nor did they, except very rarely, set an example of labour"
They were often sportsmen
"In their best days, they planned and superintended a great deal of clearing and drainage; but perhaps less, on the whole, than lay lords"
Evidence from England
From Italy
From France
From Germany
They enclosed land for parks and sheep-runs
Balance between lay and monastic landlordism
CHAPTER XVIII. CHURCH ESTIMATES OF THE PEASANT
"Churchman, here and there, praise the peasant and his lot"
But medieval egalitarianism was scarcely even skin-deep
The overwhelming majority of churchmen speak of the peasant with dislike and reprobation
The extreme rarity of peasant saints
Barbarous punishments
Wives lent out by law
Aucassin and Nicolete
CHAPTER XIX. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Aquinas desiderates an ignorant and mutually distrustful peasantry
Village ignorance and quarrels
Vast gap between theory and practice in medieval education
Work and dance on holy-days
The peasant ignorant even of the Mass
Startling ignorance even among the clergy
Rich absentee clergy
Poverty of the curates
Villon and Jeanne d'Arc on village education
The peasant's irreligion
Except where he and his clergy agree in superstition
Excommunication of caterpillars
Pagan survivals
Witchcraft
Holdy-day scandals
The village inn
Vendettas
CHAPTER XX. TITHES AND FRICTION
Paganism of the Dark Ages
Clergy and capitalism
Church pews and privilege
Monastic banking
Clerical usurers
Sale of the sacraments
Consequent unpopularity of the clergy
Tithe quarrels
Scene at tithegathering
CHAPTER XXI. TITHES AND FRICTION (CONTINUED)
Poverty and dependence of lower priesthood
Parson-squires
Parishioners assert financial control
The real poor neglected
Robbery of parochial tithes by the monasteries
Two medieval bishops' criticisms of parochial conditions
Jessopp's verdict
Lamprecht's
CHAPTER XXII. POVERTY UNADORNED
The peasant of Saxon times
His descendant in the thirteenth century
His food and drink
A serf's dinner
His dress
The rough side of his life
His sports
CHAPTER XXIII. LABOUR AND CONSIDERATION
Long hours of work
Ravage of war
Famine
Growth of capitalism and plague of usury
All men despise the serf
And he himself feels the moral grievance of his status
Evidence of cold-blooded business documents
Sordid conditions of parish life
Persecution by tax-collectors and royal officers
CHAPTER XXIV. THE REBELLION OF THE POOR
"As the peasant improves, his discontent grows"
Medieval society inelastic; growth means revolt
Preachers and pamphleteers in the later fifteenth century
Mystic exaltation of the rebels
"Frequency of revolts, especially in Germany"
The rebel's claims
Lord Acton's verdict
CHAPTER XXV. THE REBELLION OF THE POOR (CONTINUED)
Monastic no less unpopular than lay landlords
Their conservatism
The prince-abbot of Kempten
The great revolt of 1524-5 (Bauernkrieg)
Social and religious d
Failure of the revolt
CHAPTER XXVI. THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES
The Lincolnshire Rising and the Pilgrimage of Grace exceptional in their comparative favour to the monasteries
Other factors than the Reformation worked against the peasant
Elizabeth's selfish policy
Not essentially different from that of Catholic rulers
Unpopularity of the later monks in Germany
Evidence f…