The Management And Thoughts Of English Manorial Agriculture In The Thirteenth Century

Manor was the typical mode of productive organization in medieval England, and it played an important part in English history. Till the 13^th century, the system and methods of manorial management had been relatively perfect. Furthermore, the agricultural productivity of manor had been improved greatly than before. For these reasons, manorial economy of England reached its peak at the end of the 13^th century. This article reveals the thoughts of manorial managers in the 13^th century by researching management system, methods, behavior. It also discusses the impacts of managers' thoughts.The dissertation is mainly divided into three sections.Part One: this part mainly introduces the general situation of English manorial system in the 13^th century. Agricultural production of the manor, especially the production of the demesne was very important for the lord, because it was the main income of them. But, for either being busy or other reasons, the lord couldn't manage their manors personally. They commonly appointed the steward to manage their manors. Because of the village community's influence, the lord had to choose one person holding prestige or skills from the local people and appointed him as the reeve. Manorial officers turned up on the manors commonly in the 13^th century.Part Two: this part discusses the topic of manorial management from three aspects: the management of agricultural factors, process, and management methods. As we know, 'lord's demesne' and 'serf works and services' were the two cornerstones of the manorial system, so the manor managers made much account of them. During the process of choosing seeds, plowing, planting and applying fertilizer, the managers had been aware of the importance of experience and technology. For better management, The English manor had adopted accounting system and manorial book. Researching those manorial books of the 13^th century, we can understand the economic thoughts of the managers. Part Three: The management system and methods adopted by the manorial agriculture, together with the economic thoughts of the managers, produced a series of results. The direct result was the emergence of a new social rank and the outstanding improvement of agricultural productivity. The improvement of agricultural productivity caused many changes of the society and economy, such as the collapse of manorial system.