"Drawing on untapped archival records, this book provides new insights into lord-tenant relations, state formation, social inequality, political participation and everyday life in rural societies. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details"--

Spike Gibbs is Junior Professor for the Economic History of the Middle Ages at the University of Mannheim. His writing on manorial officials, felony forfeiture and managing stray animals has been published in journals such as the Journal of British Studies and the English Historical Review. This is his first book.

Introduction; 1. The changing role of manorial officers and manor courts; 2. Manorial officeholding and selection processes: participation or restriction?; 3. Manorial officeholding and unfreedom; 4. Manorial officeholding and village governance: misconduct and landscape control; 5. State formation I: the parish; 6. State formation II: vills, quarter sessions and constables; Conclusion; Appendix 1: Categorising presentments; Appendix 2: Identifying individuals; Appendix 3: Population estimates.