PEASANTS OF OTTOBEUREN, 1487-1726: A RURAL SOCIETY IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE

"The Peasants of Ottobeuren offers a new perspective on one of the enduring problems of early modern European history: the possibilities for economic growth and social change in rural society."

"Based on the records of the Swabian Benedictine monastery of Ottobeuren, the book underscores the limitations of the traditional narrative of a sixteenth-century boom which foundered on the productive rigidities of the peasant economy and then degenerated into social crisis in the seventeenth century. Population growth did strain resources at Ottobeuren, but the peasantry continued to produce a sizable agricultural surplus. More importantly, peasants reacted to demographic pressure by deepening their involvement in land and credit markets, and more widely and aggressively marketing the fruits of their labor.

Marriage and inheritance underwent a similar process of commercialization which made heavy demands on the peasantry, but which produced a degree of social stability through the devastations of war, plague and famine."--Jacket.