ABSTRACT
The central concern of this study is the negotiation of power between lords and peasants after the Black Death in County Durham. This is not a study of any particular incident or flash point, although those are included, but an attempt to assay the culture and dynamics of these negotiations in both villages and estates. While speaking of “power” and “lords and peasants” likely evokes thoughts of “class” conflict, the situations rarely were so clear cut; therefore, my focus here is on the nuanced ways in which both conflict and compromise were used in these negotiations. The emphasis on choice and the variety of action and response (agency) necessitates that all individuals and groups have a prominent role in the explanation. 1 Both lords and peasants faced choices, and usually not an “either-or” proposition. Revenues were falling after the pestilence; does the lord press his peasants harder, work his demesne more intensely, or look for other forms of revenue? If the choice is to press the peasants harder, each peasant has a choice: run away, fight back openly, fight back indirectly, or collaborate in hopes of making the situation better? And, of course, the peasants’ individual choices provided feedback to the lord, who had to continue making decisions: continue the oppression, alter it, ease it, end it? The often underrated role of the peasant was crucial in this tug of war, as his or her responses in turn shaped the options not just of the lord but of other peasants as well. Rather than straight paths, the result is a multiplicity of zig-zags, and thus the agency of the individuals must take center stage.
