Tom
Williamson.
Shaping Medieval Landscapes: Settlement, Society,
Environment.
Macclesfield:
Windgather Press, 2003.
x,214pp.
Paperback ISBN
0953863069.
Publisher's
recommended price £16.99
To
explain the rich,
complex patterns in the English landscape today, we have to understand
the fundamental variations in the medieval countryside. Some regions
had
large villages with extensive open fields; others had scattered hamlets
and less communal forms of agriculture. These differences are still
with
us - in the shape of fields, the form of settlement, and the character
of hedges and woods.
Archaeologists,
historians and geographers have long argued about when, why and how
these
variations developed. In this radical and important book Tom Williamson
challenges many long-established theories. Some scholars have argued
that
differences in settlement and field systems were the consequence of
culture
and custom; others that they reflect geographical variations in the
strength
of lordship or population pressure. Williamson in contrast argues that
the overriding determinants were agricultural and environmental.
Using a wealth of evidence from the area between the Thames and the
Wash,
he shows how subtle differences in soils and climate shaped not only
the
diverse landscapes of medieval England, but the very structure of the
societies
that occupied them.
This
is a book
which puts the environment back where it belongs - at the centre of the
historical stage. It will be essential reading for all those interested
in the history of the English landscape, social and economic history,
and
the way that life was lived in the medieval countryside.
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