Family and Inheritance
Rural Society in Western Europe, 1200-1800

This pioneering book examines different aspects of the inheritance customs in rural Western Europe in the pre-industrial age.

A comprehensive glossary of technical terms has been added for the non-specialist.

Introduction Jack Goody
1. Inheritance, property and women: some comparative considerations Jack Goody
2. Family structures and inheritance customs in sixteenth century France Emmanuel Le Roy Laudrie
3. Inheritance, land tenure and peasant family structure: a German regional comparison Lutz K. Berkner
4. Aspects of kinship behaviours and property in rural Western Europe before 1800 David Sabean
5. Peasant inheritance customs in the Midlands, 1280-1700 Cicley Howell
6. Peasant inheritance customs and land distribution in Cambridgeshire from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries Margaret Spufford
7. The European debate on customs of inheritance, 1500-1700 Jan Thirsk
8. Patterns of inheritance and settlement by great landowners from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries J. P. Cooper
9. The grid of inheritance: a comment E. P. Thompson
10. Private property in history V. G. Kieran
Glossary
Index.