A Study On The Phenomenon Of Enclosure In The Midland Of England In The 14th - 16th Century

The period of14C-16C is a transformation time in English history, historians regard this period as Transition Period. There are many great achievements about English eco-social history of Transition Period. And researches about enclosure of this period are very sophisticated. Whereas some researches pay much attention to the general condition, cause of enclosure and the influence of enclosure to birth and development of capitalism. On the basis of summarizing and referencing achievements of predecessor, Study object of this dissertation is enclosure movement of14C-16C. The goal of this dissertation are analyzing reason of enclosure from the rent decline and rise of wage caused by demographic change, and researching influence of enclosure to manor, peasant, and social order. Ownership of land caused by enclosure didn’t affect peasants’ life; but different land management after enclosure influence English country life.Full paper is divided into preface, text, conclusion and references. The preface summarizes the goal and significance of this issue, and introduces present research situation of the domestic and foreign scholars on14C-16C enclosure of Midlands of England. There are three parts in the text.The first part of text of this paper introduces enclosure size of Midlands in14C-16C. There are many controversies about size of enclosure and change of land ownership in Midlands. In this part, on the basis of referencing achievements of predecessor, and raw file, I will put forward my opinion about enclosure size and land ownership change. I think that size of enclosure is very big, and transition of land ownership is very complicated.The second part analyzes reasons of breaking out of enclosure in Midlands in14C-16C. Population, price, and wage are main reason which causing enclosure. Demographic decline leads to land area per capita become bigger, and there is space possibility of enclosure. High price of livestock product simulate producers in manor engaging in feeding sheep and cattle. Wage per capita become higher and higher, lord of manor would like to feeding cattle, rather than cultivating land by peasant. So lord of manor enclosed land to reduce wage. The third part discusses impact of enclosure to14C-16C Midlands, and how does government solve the problems caused by enclosure. There are two positive effects of enclosure on Midlands of14C-16C. First of all, recover ability of manor after plagues; second, enhance income of manor. But enclosure in Midlands brings some passive effects. Firstly, enclosure flush peasants out of their home, lord of manor can’t independently run manor well, so many manor become deserted. Secondly, manufacturing industry in England is not very mature. So the ability of absorbing surplus labor is weak, refugee become unstable element in the society. Finally government promulgated "the poor relief" to improve the low-income earners’ wage.