ABSTRACT
Renting and buying property is often seen as a very contemporary concern, but in fact property markets were present as early as the Middle Ages. Rent rolls and deeds recording property transactions survive from a number of English towns, including Bristol, Coventry, Gloucester and Hull. This chapter examines the information about people and their property which can be found in these sources. Using Coventry as a case study, it demonstrates methods for analysing the surviving quantitative and qualitative information. Surviving quantitative information on medieval rents has often been neglected by economic historians, because it has been believed that all rents were fixed perpetual rents or only represented political forces. This chapter examines rents and property values for over 600 properties in Coventry from 1200–1320. It shows that the type, location and use of the property, all recognised as important influences in today’s property market, also had an impact on rents and property values in medieval Coventry.
