The Past, the Present and the Future in Medieval Rural History

Abstract

More books and articles are being published about medieval rural history, archaeology and geography than ever before. This is not just because academics have been told to improve their productivity, but mainly reflects the enthusiasm of authors and the demand of a numerous reading public. Publishers find that books on medieval subjects have a steady sale, both among young students, who, despite gloomy predictions, are still attracted to the Middle Ages, and among the thousands of older people who attend adult education classes. There are more ideas in circulation, more stimulating differences of opinion, and more cross-fertilisation between disciplines. One might sometimes regret a certain narrowness of view which prevents some experts reading the works of others, even to the point when their footnotes consist almost entirely of citations of their own publications. And one wishes that British scholars had more contacts with their counterparts in continental Europe. But in general these are expansive and stirring times in which to be involved with the study of the medieval countryside, and we can look forward to more important advances in the next decade. The long term is a different matter, in view of the decline in the numbers of postgraduate students, the pursuit of a spurious ‘relevance’ by such funding bodies as the Economic and Social Research Council, the squeezing of economic and social history as a separate discipline out of many universities in the interests of ‘rationalisation’, and the continued financial uncertainties for public archaeology. But to return to the 1990s.

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