Extreme weather and economic crisis in the 1430s in England, and the implications for tenurial change

Abstract The 1430s were characterized by extreme weather conditions, food and fodder shortages, and high mortalities among animals and humans, although the severity of events and their consequences in England have received limited attention. The economic downturn and the depressed customary land market in this decade marked the beginning of the Great Slump, which lasted until at least the 1460s. Evidence is drawn from across England to sketch the anatomy of the crisis, followed by consideration of its impact on tenurial change. Various devices adopted in the 1430s to retain or attract tenants gained traction over the next three decades. Some lords opted to alienate sections of their demesnes permanently into the peasant sector on customary tenure; the practice of leasing customary land diminished; grants of land for money tenure held heritably or for lives now became the dominant form of customary tenure; and the issue of copies of unfree land transfers became widespread. These changes were decisive in preventing any return to direct demesne management and the traditional servile tenures based on labour services and uncertain dues, and created the essential preconditions for the emergence of copyhold tenure.