South Lincolnshire at the beginning of the fourteenth century : the social, economic and cultural environment of Robert Mannyng's Handlyng synne

Platts, Graham (1978). South Lincolnshire at the beginning of the fourteenth century : the social, economic and cultural environment of Robert Mannyng's Handlyng synne. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This work aims to place the composition of Handlynq Synne within a social and economic context. Attention is focused upon the relationship between lords and peasants, the prevailing conditions for agriculture, and the opportunities for obtaining revenue by other means in south Lincolnshire during the first two decades of the fourteenth century. The evidence indicates that the period was one of economic hardship in the area, the result of demographic and political factors. Around 1300 the local economy was further debilitated by a sequence of bad harvests, apparently brought on by a deterioration in the climate and extensive waterlogging, particularly on the Fen margins. Unfortunately the region’s resources were not sufficiently varied for lost revenues to be re-couped from alternative activities.

In consequence, lords in their economic plight increasingly turned inwards upon their tenants who were clearly hard- pressed themselves by circumstances. The result was that there were greater temptations than usual to infringe the customary codes of social morality while lords assiduously counted heads as never before. Relations were under strain in a region where lords were accustomed to exercise a strong control, and their difficulties in doing so after 1300 are evidenced (among other things) by the composition of Handlynq Synne, which was at once a plea for financial assistance on behalf of Sempringham priory directed at the local community, as well as a treatise on social disintegration. The final chapter opens up the question of regional ’mentality’, and begins to look at other aspects of this which the poem sheds light on.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

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