Agriculture, Economy and Society in Early Mode Scotland:4 (Boydell Studies in Rural History)

by: Harriet Coell (Editor),Professor Julian Goodare(Editor),Alan R. MacDonald(Editor),Robert Allan Houston(Contributor),Brian Smith(Contributor), Kevin Hall(Contributor), Norah Carlin (Contributor), John G. Harrison (Contributor), Briony Kincaid (Contributor), T. C. Smout (Contributor), Gains Murdoch (Contributor),Philipp Robinson Rössner (Contributor)&9more"

Publisher: Boydell Press

Publication Date: 23 April 2024

Language: English

Print Length: 308 pages

ISBN-10: 1837650489

ISBN-13: 9781837650484

Book Description

Showcases the latest research on Scotland's rural economy and society. Early mode Scotland was predominantly rural. Agriculture was the main occupation of most people at the time, so what happened in the countryside was crucial:economically, socially and culturally. The essays collected here focus on the years between around 1500 and 1750. This period, although before the main era of agricultural "improvement" in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, was nevertheless far from static in terms of agrarian development. Specific topics addressed include everyday farming practices; investment; landlords, tenants and estate management; and the cultural context within which agriculture was "imagined". The disastrous famine of 1622-23 is analysed in detail. The volume is completed by a comprehensive survey of recent historiography, setting agricultural history in its broader context.