Spanish history research paper
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sampleprecis.docxHanawalt, Barbara. Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1988.
Barbara Hanawalt is the King George III Chair of British History at The XXX University. She has published extensively in the field of medieval British social history and is highly regarded in the field, having served as president of the Medieval Academy.
Hanawalt contends that the medieval British family is substantively the same as the modern British family and sets out to debunk myths about family size, parental affection, privacy, and more.
Hanawalt begins her survey of peasant life from the ground up – literally – giving an account of fields and houses, before moving into issues of family structure, fertility, marriage, childhood, old age, and every other major facet of family life. Though she relies on a wide range of evidence from wills to manor rolls to achaeology, her main source is the coroners rolls.
Hanawalt uses her evidence very effectively pointing out, for instance, that both wills and coroners reports indicate that nuclear families (not extended ones) were the norm for households. She further supports her argument by looking at agreements between lords and peasants and at the structure of peasant houses. Her argument about parental affection is also strong. The fact that peasants condemned (or even remarked on) having a small child watch an infant, leaving a baby unattended, or severely beating a child does suggest that these behaviors were not the norm. Again, that parents’ sought to protect their children indicates that they cared for them, despite a high infant mortality rate. However, this by itself does not necessarily indicate strong bonds of love.
The potential problem with Hanawalt’s work comes inevitably from the nature of her sources. There is something odd about saying people loved and cared for their children (or elderly parents or spouses) because we know how upset they were when they did not care for their children (or elderly parents or spouses). Or again, that they valued privacy because of how upset they were when it was violated. While the argument holds, the nature of the evidence and Hanawalts description of it is so vivid that one cannot help but get caught up in the gory details, which leads to the opposite of her intended effect (or to laughing uncontrollably). Nonetheless, the careful reader cannot help but be persuaded by her argument. That Hanawalt can build such a compelling case from coroner’s rolls is truly impressive. Medievalists must work with the limited sources available and Hanawalt demonstrates the great creativity and insight to which we should all aspire.
The work has been very well received by medievalists and continues to be widely read nearly three decades after publication. However, the value of the work is perhaps even greater for non-medievalists. As notes David Nicholas notes, “The conclusions of this meticulous, scholarly, and highly readable book will not surprise any medievalist who has studied women, children, and the family from origi- nal sources, or indeed any social historian who admits the impact of biology and environment on individuals and groups. Perhaps tor that reason, it will - or should make many historians of the modern family distinctly uncomfortable.”
Nicholas, David. Review of Ties that Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England by Barbara Hanawalt. Speculum 62, no. 3 (Jul. 1987): 681-683.
Helmholz, R. H. Review of Ties that Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England by Barbara Hanawalt. American Historical Review 92 no.2 (Apr. 1987): 394.
