Locality and Polity A Study of Warwickshire Landed Society, 1401–1499

This is a comprehensive study of minor landowners - the gentry - in one county in fifteenth-century England. In common with other local studies of the later Middle Ages, it builds upon the seminal work of K. B. McFarlane, looking at the political and social world in the localities from which the nobles drew their power. The book aims to present a rounded picture of the experiences of the gentry, relating their private and their public lives, and their permanent concerns to the changing needs of local and national politics. Its approach is thus both thematic, exploring the main elements, often private in nature, which moulded their public actions, such as marriage, estate management and senses of family, and chronological, presenting a detailed narrative of politics and account of political structures and relationships. The book is intended as a contribution to the history of England as a whole in the fifteenth century and to the study of the long-term development of the English landed classes and the English constitution.

List of figures and tables; Preface; List of abbreviations; Note on text; 1. Introduction; Part I. Structural: 2. Geography, economy and regional identity; 3. Who were the gentry?; 4. Social mobility and the creation of estates; 5. The exploitation of estates; 6. Expenditure and dispersal; 7. Conclusions: land, family and lineage; 8. The local officers; Part II. Chronological: 9. Social and political networks 1401–50; 10. Warwickshire under Richard Beauchamp: 1401–39; 11. The interregnum: 1439–49; 12. The period crisis I: Warwickshire under the Kingmaker: 1449–61; 13. The period of crisis II: Warwickshire under the Kingmaker and the Duke of Clarence: 1461–78; 14. The period of crisis III: Warwickshire under the crown: 1478–85; 15. The period of crisis IV. Warwickshire under the crown: 1485–99; 16. Politics and society c. 1449–1500; 17. Conclusions; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

This is a comprehensive study of minor landowners - the gentry - in one county in fifteenth-century England. In common with other local studies of the later Middle Ages, it builds upon the seminal work of K. B. McFarlane, looking at the political and social world in the localities from which the nobles drew their power.