Synopses & Reviews
The first sustained attempt to explore the 13th-14th century origins of the English gentry.
Review
"Coss, an authority on knighthood and gentry, has produced for the gentry what K.B. McFarlane did for the aristocracy--a well-documented, well-defined, and well-argued history of a blass that played a central role in medieval England... This is a work of great scholarship.... Essential." Choice"This is a thoughtful, thought-provoking, and important contribution to the debate on the origins of the gentry. It will be a profitable read for anyone with any interest in the politics and society of medieval England." Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire, Andy King, University of Durham"Coss's meticulous examination becomes the standard guide to [the gentry's] rise and development." Albion, Lorraine Attreed
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-306) and index.
Synopsis
The gentry played a central role in medieval England, yet this is the first sustained attempt to explore its origins and to account for its contours and peculiarities between the mid-thirteenth and the mid-fourteenth century. The book deals with the deep roots of the gentry, but argues against views which see the gentry as formed or created earlier. It investigates also the relationship between lesser landowners and the Angevin state, the transformation of knighthood, and the role of lesser landowners in the society and politics of Edwardian England.
About the Author
Peter Coss is Professor of Medieval History, School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff University.
Table of Contents
1. The formation of the English gentry; 2. The roots of the English gentry; 3. The Angevin legacy: knights as jurors and as agents of the state in the reign of Henry III; 4. The crisis of the knightly class revisited; 5. Knights in politics: minor landowners and the state in the reign of Henry III; 6. Knighthood, justice and the early Edwardian polity; 7. The explosion of office and its consequences; 8. Identity and gentry; 9. Knights, esquires and the origins of social gradation in England; 10. Crystallisation: the emergence of the gentry; Appendices; Bibliography.