ABSTRACT
In studying rural class struggle in its most day-to-day manifestations, as well as in revolutionary clashes such as 1381, one can see traditions of resistance developing in village communities which must have been an important element in forming peasant class consciousness. This is based on some fairly detailed work on manorial records rather than from any knowledge of the wider subject of medieval oral tradition or popular culture. The village community in question is the small Hertfordshire manor of Park, just south of St Albans. The payment of compulsory labour-rent is perhaps the most distinctive feature of the relationship of medieval peasants and their manorial lords. Labour-rent was not particularly high on the St Albans manors: the most important aspect was the obligation to work on the Abbey lands at the most labour-intensive times of the year; at haymaking and harvest. This struggle was probably led by, a self-confident and politically sophisticated urban ruling class.
