Images of the Medieval Peasant:

Paul Freedman

Published by Stanford University Press 1999

Images of the Medieval Peasant

Paul Freedman

In the series Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503617537

Overview
Contents

About this book

The medieval clergy, aristocracy, and commercial classes tended to regard peasants as objects of contempt and derision. In religious writings, satires, sermons, chronicles, and artistic representations peasants often appeared as dirty, foolish, dishonest, even as subhuman or bestial. Their lowliness was commonly regarded as a natural corollary of the drudgery of their agricultural toil. Yet, at the same time, the peasantry was not viewed as “other” in the manner of other condemned groups, such as Jews, lepers, Muslims, or the imagined “monstrous races” of the East. Several crucial characteristics of the peasantry rendered it less clearly alien from the elite perspective: peasants were not a minority, their work in the fields nourished all other social orders, and, most important, they were Christians. In other respects, peasants could be regarded as meritorious by virtue of their simple life, productive work, and unjust suffering at the hands of their exploitive social superiors. Their unrewarded sacrifice and piety were also sometimes thought to place them closest to God and more likely to win salvation. This book examines these conflicting images of peasants from the post-Carolingian period to the German Peasants’ War. It relates the representation of peasants to debates about how society should be organized (specifically, to how human equality at Creation led to subordination), how slavery and serfdom could be assailed or defended, and how peasants themselves structured and justified their demands. Though it was argued that peasants were legitimately subjugated by reason of nature or some primordial curse (such as that of Noah against his son Ham), there was also considerable unease about how the exploitation of those who were not completely alien—who were, after all, Christians—could be explained. Laments over peasant suffering as expressed in the literature might have a stylized quality, but this book shows how they were appropriated and shaped by peasants themselves, especially in the large-scale rebellions that characterized the late Middle Ages.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
A Note on Translations Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Introduction: Marginality and Centrality of Peasants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I Peasant Labor and a Hierarchical Society
Chapter 1 Peasant Labor and the Limits of Mutuality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Chapter 2 The Breakdown of Mutuality: Laments over the Mistreatment of Peasants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
Part 2 The Origins of Inequality
Chapter 3 Equality and Freedom at Creation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Chapter 4 The Curse of Noah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
Chapter 5 National Myths and the Origins of Serfdom Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
Part 3 Unfavorable Images of Peasants
Chapter 6 Representations of Contempt and Subjugation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Chapter 7 Peasant Bodies, Male and Female Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Part 4 Peasant Agency, Peasant Humanity
Chapter 8 Peasant Warriors and Peasant Liberties Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Chapter 9 Pious and Exemplary Peasants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
Part 5 The Revolt Against Servitude
Chapter 10 The Problem of Servitude: Arbitrary Mistreatment, Symbolic Degradation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Chapter 11 Peasant Rebellions of the Late Middle Ages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Conclusion Harmony and Dissonance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	403
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	451

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 484
Illustrations
- Other: 14 illustrations

eBook

Published: January 21, 2022
ISBN: 9781503617537