Evolution Of 12-16 Century Britain Lease Holders

The article is a research on the praedial right of British peasants during12th and16th century. It can be said that the evolutional process of the praedial right of British peasants from the Middle Ages to early modern times was the very one that seisin level of peasants was constantly deepen, and the property right was gradually clear. Thus, the personal property right to land was ultimately established.The paper is divided into three parts. The first part is the Introduction, which not only elaborates the sense of this topic and illuminates the history of studies on this topic of domestic and overseas scholars, but also introduces the methods of the dissertation. The second part is the principal part of the dissertation, which includes three chapters. The first chapter discusses that the leaseholders had already existed in England during the Anglo-Saxon period. The Black Death in1348led to such a massive reduction of population that the demesnes was wasted away for lack of cultivation. Moreover, the demesne was less profitable for the lord because of the rapid development of the land market at this time in England. All of these urged the demesne to be leased out significantly. Thus the number of leaseholders increased remarkablely. At the same time, with the transition from freeholder, customer and copyholder to leaseholder and the sublease of freehold-and custom-land, the demesne、freehold-and custom-land had been leseased out extensively by the early17th century, the leaseholders also formed a certain scale. Chapter2deals with the number and types of leaseholders in England, which also inspects the gradually deepening process of the possession strength of land finished by leaseholders during12th and16th century from the economic and legal perspective. Chapter3focuses on the emergence and development of leaseholders, also its great economic and social impacts on the whole England. It has changed the operation pattern of the rural, which demanded the peasants to make many changes to adjust it; Non-peasant lessees got access to the technical innovations esierly; The lessees with business background broght the capitalist mode of production through the trade of agricultural products. To a certain extent, leaseholders formed an important part of the tenant farmers. The farmers in the13th and14th century were indeed the leaseholders that existed at that time. Farm changed a lot in the16th century, those who held a large area of lands became the new-style tenant farmers in the new era. The last part of the article is the Conclusion, which gives a summary of the leaseholders in England during the12th and16th century.