Abstract：The rural history of England from the Middle Ages to the 21^stcentury can be divided into three periods to study in accordance with its characteristics: the Middle Ages, the early modern times and the 19^thand 20^thcenturies. In the rural areas of medieval England, the level of agricultural productivity was not high, so the focus of the study should be on how to promote the formation of the mechanism of subsequent change. Therefore, the most concerned are the social and economic systems and relations centered on the land system and the status of farmers. From the middle of the 19^thcentury to the middle of the 20^thcentury many historians put their eyes on them. In the early modern countryside of England, many changes took place, including the enclosure movement, the rise of the gentry and Yeoman class, the agricultural revolution and the rise of rural industry, so historians in the mid and late 20^thcentury especially favored this period. From the 19^thcentury on, the rural urbanization and rural structural changes in England represent the new direction of rural development in the industrialized and post-industrial era. Since they are closely related to present real life, they have naturally become the academic focus in the last decades.

Published on Journal of Historical Science, Issue 11, 2019.