The News below is reprinted from British Agricultural History Society

The committee has decided to award this year’s Joan Thirsk Memorial Prize to two excellent books, written by scholars who both make a considerable impact on the field of agricultural and rural history.

Mark Bailey’s Serfdom in Medieval England: Theory and Practice 1200 to 1500 (published by MUP) critically summarises a substantial historiography, including work by the author, to provide an argument about how unfreedom worked at the national scale. The clarity of the analysis, and readable style, will ensure this becomes a key text for established researchers and first-year undergraduates alike.

Shaun Evans’ first book, Coming of Age Celebrations on Welsh Landed Estates: Gentry, Culture and Society, c.1770–1920, (published by Boydell and Brewer) fills a significant gap in explaining how landed estates worked in Wales. Through an interdisciplinary approach which combines forensic analysis with vivid descriptions, Evans uses coming of age celebrations to provide a fascinating window onto whole communities, encapsulating those at the top and bottom of social hierarchies.