Serfdom in medieval England

Mark Bailey is Professor of Later Medieval History at the University of East Anglia

• IntroductionPart I: Serfdom in theory and practice1 Serfdom in legal theory2 Serfdom in practice: freedom and unfreedom3 Serfdom in practice: certainty and uncertainty4 Serfdom in practice: access to the lawPart II: Serfdom in England: causes and consequences5 Causes: explaining the weakness of serfdom6 Consequences: serfdom and the crisis of the early fourteenth centuryPart III: Serfdom in England: the impact of the Black Death through three case studies7 The Black Death and serfdom8 The manor of Codicote9 The manor of Winslow10 The manor of Norton11 Serfdom, the Black Death and three manors of St Albans abbeyConclusionBibliographyIndex

WINNER of the Joan Thirsk Memorial Prize 2026 'A book of outstanding quality that achieves a massive advance in our knowledge and understanding of serfdom...Bailey not only provides the best available account of serfdom in the round, he also addresses and successfully resolves the fierce disputes that have raged over its character and significance from the earliest accounts to the present day...as close to a definitive history of later medieval [English] serfdom as is possible to write'.Professor John Hatcher, University of Cambridge'Rigorously evidenced, methodologically exemplary, and written with the authority of a senior scholar, this is a landmark study that will shape the next generation of scholarship. The result has far-reaching implications for how we understand medieval society and economy for all of England.'Dr. Peter Larson, University of Central Florida