THE PRE BRENNER DEBATE

The Agrarian Problem In The Sixteenth Century

by R.H. Tawney

Publication date 1912

CONTENTS 

Introduction 1 

PART I.—THE SMALL LANDHOLDER 

The Rural Population— (a) 

The Classes of Landholders . . .19 (5) 

The Freeholders 27 (c) 

The Customary Tenants . . . 40

 II. The Peasantry — (a) The Variety of Conditions . . . .55 

( b) The Consolidation of Peasant Holdings . 57

 (c) The Growth op a Land Market among the Peasants 72 

III. The Peasantry { continued)— 

{d) The Economic Environment of the Small Cultivator ....... 98 17. 

The Peasantry {continued)— {e) Signs op Change 136 

The Growth of Competitive^ Rents on New Allotments 139 

{g) The Progress of Enclosure among the Peasantry 147

 PART II.—THE TRANSITION TO CAPITALIST AGRICULTURE

 I. The New Rural Economy — (a) Motives and Causes 177

 {b) The Growth op the Large Leasehold Farm 200

 (c) Enclosure and Conversion by the Manorial Authorities 213 

II. The Reaction of the Agrarian Changes on the Peasantry —

 (a) The Removing of Landmarks. . . .231

 (b) The Struggle fob the Commons . . .237

 (c) The Engrossing of Holdings and Displacement OF Tenants . *. . . .253 

(1) The Agrarian Changes and the Poor Law .,^266

 III. The Question of Tenant Right — 

(a) The Tenants at Will and the Leaseholders 281

 (b) The Copyholders 287

 (c) The Undermining of Customary Tenures . 

PART III.—THE OUTCOME OF THE AGRARIAN REVOLUTION

 I. The Agrarian Problem and the State — 

(a) T^ Political and Social Importance op the Peasantry 313

 (b) Legislation and Administration . . .351

 (c) Success and Failure of State Intervention 377

 II. General Conclusions 401 

Appendix I 410 

Appendix II 422 Index 437

Richard Henry "R. H." Tawney (/ˈtɔːni/; 30 November 1880 – 16 January 1962) was an English economic historian,^[1][2]social critic,^[3][4] ethical socialist,^[5] Christian socialist,^[6] and an important proponent of adult education.^[8][9]

The Oxford Companion to British History (1997) explained that Tawney made a "significant impact" in all four of these "interrelated roles".^[10] A. L. Rowse goes further by insisting that "Tawney exercised the widest influence of any historian of his time, politically, socially and, above all, educationally".^[11]