*Population over 5000.

§ 7. General condition of the Period

Yet with all these evils the economic condition of England, although depressed, was by no means absolutely unhealthy; and the following reign (Henry III., 1216–1272), with its comparative peace and leisure, afforded, as we shall see, sufficient opportunity to enable the people to regain a position of general opulence and prosperity. This time of quiet progress and industrial growth forms a fitting occasion for the marking out of a new epoch.

PERIOD III FROM THE THIRTEENTH TO THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, INCLUDING THE GREAT PLAGUE (1216–1500)

CHAPTER I AGRICULTURE IN MEDIÆVAL ENGLAND

§ 1. Introductory. Rise of a wage-earning class

§ 2. Agriculture the chief occupation of the people

§ 3. Methods of cultivation. The capitalist landlord and his bailiff. The “stock and land” lease

§ 4. The tenant’s communal land and closes

§ 5. Ploughing