Great Britain and Ireland
Although the importance of the county gentry as a social and political group in the later middle ages is well established, their precise origins are uncertain. In a fine study of the honour and locality of Coventry, Coss argues that the forerunners of the gentry are first discernible in the thirteenth century. This new knightly class replaced a more traditional class of knights, whose numbers declined after the late twelfth century as the importance of military service waned and as the costs of military knighthood rose rapidly. The new class placed greater emphasis on rural lordship, and the links between gentility and the soil: thus knighthood had gradually acquired a different meaning and status. Coss is concerned principally with the changing fortunes and concepts of knighthood, and so to some extent this is a socio-political, rather than an economic, study. Yet there is much for the economic historian to gain and glean from his work. He regards the rapid monetary inflation of c. ii80-I220 as the main reason for the decline in the old forms of knighthood. The very nature of their endowments meant that many knights were unable to restructure and rationalize their estates to meet the new economic conditions, and were consequently plunged into debt. Successful lords were those who could increase their incomes by reorganizing their land, directly exploiting their demesnes, and renegotiating tenancies with their peasantry. Thus the period provided opportunities for some lords, and terminal difficulties for others; the net result was a significant change in the concept and nature of the knightly class. The book also contains some valuable comments on lord-peasant relationships in the thirteenth century, the tightening of villeinage, and the fortunes of minor landlords. Coss provides an admirable and salutary reminder that a proper understanding of the medieval economy-and of agriculture and estate management in particular-can only be achieved with due regard for its feudal context.