The Origin of Capitalism in England 1400-1600

Drawing on an impressive array of original archival research and a series of critiques of recent accounts of economic development in pre-modern England, The Origin of Capitalism in England 1400-1600 offers a rich and multi-layered account of the historical rupture in English feudal society that led to the first sustained transition to agrarian capitalism and the industrial revolution.

Weaving together political, social, and economic themes, Spencer Dimmock makes the case that capitalism should be viewed as a form of society rather than narrowly as an economic system. This wide-ranging work convincingly argues that the beginnings of capitalist society must be firmly located in a precisely defined historical context, rather than through reference to evolutionary and transhistorical commercial developments. This novel approach is sure to stimulate a thorough reappraisal of current orthodoxies on the transition to capitalism.

Introduction

PART I: A DEFENCE OF ROBERT BRENNER

1. Robert Brenner’s Thesis on the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism
2. The Prime Mover of Economic and Social Development
3. Feudalism, Serfdom and Extra-Economic Surplus Extraction
4. Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism
5. Insecure Property and the Origin of Capitalism
6. The Rise of Capitalist Yeomen and a Capitalist Aristocracy
7. Periodising the Origin of Capitalism in England
8. Orthodox Marxism versus Political Marxism


PART II: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN KENT: A CASE STUDY

9. Economy and Society in Late Medieval Lydd and its Region
10. Engrossment, Enclosure and Resistance in the Fifteenth Century
11. An Emerging Capitalist Social-Property Structure
12. Engrossment, Enclosure and Resistance in the Sixteenth Century
13. Legitimising Social Transformation: The Festival of St. George

Conclusion
Appendix
References
Index