This volume deals with the social implications of land transactions, especially with the role of personal and institutional networks in a precapitalist society. The four authors discuss different aspects of the relationship between three monasteries (two Cistercians, Montederramo and Oseira, and one Benedictine nunnery, Ramiranes) and the peasant communities around them in thirteenth-Century Galicia. They use a Data Base to register 2500 'foros', the typical Galician land contract and more than 8000 people and their goods.
The thesis of the authors is that monasteries did not exert their authority upon powerless peasants, but constraint by preexisting networks of local people. Most of the peasants involved in the transactions turned out to be members of 'middle groups' like knights, squires or upper peasants. The book is especially important for all those interested in social perspectives as a means to understand the medieval economy.
Reyna Pastor, Ph.D. (1979) in Mediaeval History, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Complutense (Madrid), is Professor at the National Research Centre (CSIC). She has published extensively on peasant community and the feudal society including Resistencias y Luchas campesinas (Madrid, Siglo XXI, 1980).
Esther Pascua, Ph.D. (1993) in Mediaeval History, Universidad Complutense (Madrid) is Lecturer at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). She has published a book on the feudal monarchies (Guerra y Pacto en el Siglo XII, Madrid, 1996) and several articles in English (Journal of Medieval History, 2000).
Ana RodrÃguez-Lopez, Ph.D. (1992) in Mediaeval History, Universidad Complutense (Madrid) is a Researcher at the Institute of History (CSIC, Madrid). She has published on thirteenth-century Castile including La consolidación territorial de la monarquÃa feudal castellana (Madrid, 1994).
Pablo Sánchez-León, Ph.D. (1993) in History, Universidad Autónoma (Madrid), is Researcher at the same university. He has published on social conflicts and identities in Spanish and European History, including Absolutismo y Comunidad. Los OrÃgenes sociales de la guerra de los comuneros de Castilla (Madrid, Siglo XXI, 1998).
Foreword
List of Contributors
Introduction: Transactions, Social Relations, and Monasticism in the Rural Medieval World
I. The Logic of Exchange: Redistribution and Reciprocity⦠3
II. The Dynamics of Society: Power and Social Relationsâ¦10
III. Methods: Microhistory and Computerized Analysisâ¦17
IV: The Articles.. 23
Vassals and Allies in Conflict: Relations Between Santa Maria De Montederramo and Local Galician Society in the Thirteenth Century / Esther Pascua
Introduction: Personal Relationships and the Circulation of Goods..27
I. Social Agents.. 36
II. The Processesâ¦79
Monasticism, Lineage, and Community: Collective Organizations in Medieval Galician Society: (San Pedro de Ramiranes, 1200-1300) / Pablo Sanchez-Leon
Introduction: The Social and Economic Dynamics of Class Organizationâ¦109
I. The End of the Civil Wars and the Introduction of Monastic Feudalism to Galiciaâ¦112
II. 'Patrimonialism' and Feudalism: the Social and Economic Foundations of Organizations in Pre-Industrial Societiesâ¦120
III. The Community of Nuns and the Definition of Inheritance within the Local Nobilityâ¦130
IV. The Clerical Chapter and the Gender-Based Division of Labour and Powerâ¦140
V. Knights, Landowners, and the Individualization of Property Rights within the Monasteryâ¦148
VI. Conclusions: Long-Term Class Organization and Social Differentiationâ¦163
Monastic Strategy and Local Relations: The Social Influence of the Monastery of Oseira in the Thirteenth Century / Ana Rodriguez-Lopez
Introduction: Cistercian Organization and Local Powerâ¦173
I. The Social World of Local Militesâ¦176
II. Monastic Strategy and Local Relationsâ¦181
Social Mobility and the Personal Networks of 'Low-Intermediate Social Groups': Relations Between Communities of Peasants and Foreros and the Monastery of Oseira in the Thirteenth Century / Reyna Pastor
Introductionâ¦247
I. Peasant Communities and their Relations with Oseiraâ¦248
II. Foreros and the Monastery's Personal Networksâ¦290
Bibliographyâ¦319
Mapsâ¦325
All those interested in Social and Economic History, the Middle Ages, Medieval Spain, Cistercians, Management of Estates, land market and contracts, anthopologists of kinship, Agriculture and Environment, the Peasant Community and the Gentry.