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The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were to some extent a period of increasing occupational specialization. As towns grew, and money circulated more frequently, some groups of workers became more specialized, and as they did so their productivity is likely to have risen. However, this argument has limited value as evidence for rising aggregate levels of welfare. This article queries the extent of productivity gains attributable specifically to occupational specialization between 1100 and 1300, first by proposing that increasing specialization characterized only a small proportion of the workforce and secondly by arguing that there were offsetting trends elsewhere in the economy.

This is a new collection of essays on agriculture and rural society in the late Middle Ages, in particular following the Black Death. It combines a broad perspective on agrarian issues such as depopulation and social conflict with illustrative material from detailed local and regional research to show how general problems were worked out in specific contexts. The contributors explore the wide regional variety across Europe (which was influenced by climatic differences and broad spatial variables such as levels of urbanisation and commercial infrastructure), yet they argue that a European history is nevertheless possible. They also supply detailed studies from regional British contexts relating to, amongst other issues, the use of the land, the movement of prices, the distribution of property, the organisation of trade and the cohesion of village society. There is new research on several aspects of regional development in medieval England and other European countries: Robert Swanson, a leading authority on the history of the late medieval Church, discusses how the collection of tithes to maintain local clergy in the medieval Church contributed to the commercialisation of trade in grain and other agricultural products; Peter Larson shows how villagers became increasingly prone to violence in the generations following the Black Death, in response to the social upheavals caused by the epidemic. If there is a single overarching idea that gives the collection coherence, it is that trends in agriculture during the late Middle Ages were more varied than has usually been supposed. Taken as a whole, the book supplies a valuable introduction to problems and research methods together with original contributions to knowledge based on current research.

This collection presents new and original research into the long thirteenth century, from c.1180-c.1330, with a particular focus on the reign of Edward II and its aftermath. Other topics examined include crown finances, markets and fairs, royal stewards, the aftermath of the Barons' War, Wace's ‘Roman de Brut’, and authority in Yorkshire nunneries; and the volume also follows the tradition of the series by looking beyond England, with contributions on the role of Joan, wife of Llywelyn the Great in Anglo-Welsh relations, Dublin, and English landholding in Ireland, while the continental connection is represented by a comparison of aspects of English and French kingship. Contributors: David Carpenter, Nick Barratt, Emilia Jamroziak, Michael Ray, Susan Stewart, Louise J. Wilkinson, Sean Duffy, Beth Hartland, Francoise Le Saux, Henry Summerson, Janet Burton, H.S.A. Fox, David Crook, Margo Todd, Seymour Phillips.

Bibliographic surveys, dealing mainly with British history, on the periods 400-1500, 1500-1700, 1700-1850,and since 1850.

A review of economic periodical literature published in 1997 covering the Middle Ages, 1500-1700, 1700-1850, and 1850 to the present is presented.

A review of economic periodical literature published in 2000 concerning activities in England between 400 and 1500 is presented. In a year exceptionally rich for articles on all parts of the Middle Ages, the early Saxon period is well represented.

In the period following the Black Death, English landlords obstructed the operation of the land and labor markets to maintain a distribution of income favorable to themselves. The records of the estate of Thomas Hatfield, bishop of Durham England in 1343-81, are examined for insights into feudal relations in the bishops' estates in the 1350s.

Britnell et al review periodical literature relevant to economic history that was published in 1996. The review is broken down as follows--The early Middle Ages, 400-1100; 1100-1350; 1350-1500; 1500-1700; 1700-1850; Since 1850.