Peasant Perceptions of Landscape: Ewelme Hundred, South Oxfordshire, 500-1650

Peasant Perceptions of Landscape is a significant contribution to the history of everyday life, focusing on the experiences and perceptions of ordinary medieval and early modern people in one geographical area from AD 500 to 1650. The study examines a well-documented and archaeologically-rich area of lowland vale and hilly Chiltern wood-pasture, drawing on a range of sources to reconstruct the fabric of villages and the framework for inhabitants' spatial practices and experiences.

Format: Hardback
Length: 384 pages
Publication date: 04 November 2021
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Peasant Perceptions of Landscape represents a significant shift in the field of landscape history, as well as making a substantial contribution to the study of everyday life. Until now, there has been a lack of comprehensive analysis regarding how ordinary medieval and early modern individuals experienced and perceived their material environment and constructed their identities in relation to the places they inhabited. This volume aims to address this gap by examining peasant perceptions in a specific geographical area, spanning the long period from AD 500 to 1650. The study focuses on the Ewelme hundred, a well-documented and archaeologically rich area located in the lowland vale and hilly Chiltern wood-pasture, consisting of fourteen ancient parishes. The analysis draws upon a diverse range of sources, including legal depositions, thousands of field names and bynames preserved in largely unpublished deeds and manorial documents. Archaeology plays a pivotal role, particularly in understanding the period before 900, but also contributes significantly to reconstructing the fabric of villages and the framework for inhabitants' spatial practices and experiences. By emphasizing the ways in which inhabitants interacted with the landscape they worked, prayed, and socialized, Peasant Perceptions of Landscape offers a fresh perspective on the lives and attitudes of the majority of the rural population, which often remains overlooked in traditional landscape analysis and documentary history.

Weight: 1004g
Dimension: 199 x 256 x 32 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192894892