Enclosure in Tudor and Stuart England

Paper Summary:

This paper refers to several articles on the history of English agriculture after the late 16th century. The writer discusses the importance of enclosure, in relation to agrarian business orientation and looks at its social effects. The paper also explores Marxist versus research based approaches, favouring the second, as enclosure developed piecemeal, not in the sweeping way that Marxists claim it changed the countryside and all class relations.

From the Paper:

"Marxist historians have made much of the effects of enclosure and engrossment in British agrarian history that resulted in much movement of the rural population, in the later 17th and early 18th century to towns that would offer employment with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. As Mark Overton explained, rural wages altered greatly in England through the 18th century, in irregular wage levels in the north, and then in the south, that were affected by the extent to which enclosure had taken form, and also, competing sources of wages in the towns.

More papers on Enclosure in Tudor and Stuart England:

• Research Paper # 73234 : "'Juvenile Delinquency': Its Evolution in Late 19th Century England"
• Term Paper # 122931 : "Chesapeake and New England Settlement"
• Analytical Essay # 133868 : "Agricultural Development in France and England"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: