This account of the changing relationship between lords and peasants in medieval England challenges many received ideas about the "e;origins of the manor"e;, the status of the Anglo-Saxon peasantry, the 12th-century economy and the origins of villeinage. The author covers the period from the end of the Roman empire to the late-12th century, tracing in post-Conquest society the continuing influence of developments which originated in Anglo-Saxon England. Drawing on work in archaeology and landscape studies, as well as on documentary sources, the book describes a fundamental division within the peasantry: that between the very dependent tenants and agricultural workers on the "e;inland"e; of the estates of ministers, kinds and lords, and the more independent peasantry of the "e;warland"e;. The study leads to the expression of views on many aspects of the development of society in the period.
