The Dictionary of Human Geography

in their dealings with their unfree tenants. The
power of this exploitative relationship provided
a ready explanation for low and declining prod-
uctivity within the peasant sector before the
Black Death, which in this analysis has little if
anything to do with a population-resourceim-
balance as proposed in thepostan thesis. Not
only was this relationship inimical to the main-
tenance of effective husbandry within the peas-
antry, but it also led to a build-up of tenants on
the land, since it curtailed themigrationof
serfs to areas where their labour could be
more effectively deployed.
The struggle between lords andpeasants
had different outcomes in different regions,
which Brenner argues accounts for macro-
geographical variations in the move towards
agrariancapitalismineurope: in England
lords were the victors, since tenants never
gained absolute property rights, whereas in
France peasants were far more successful.
Brenner contends that landlord capacity was
diminished in the period of demographic de-
pression after the Black Death, but that when
population growth resumed in the sixteenth
century, lords who still retained their power
were able to evict peasant producers and
install entrepreneurial tenants who farmed
larger holdings with the increasing use of
wage labourers. In this way, Brenner explains
how agrarian capitalism emerged earlier in
England than in the rest of Europe.
The thesis has been subject to considerable
debate in history andhistorical geography
(Aston and Philpin, 1985). Many now claim
that serfdom did not operate in the manner
proposed by Brenner, since custom gave un-
free tenants much protection from market
forces – and, indeed, benefited this group in

the period of price and rent inflation in the

thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries

(Hatcher, 1981; Kanzaka, 2002; Campbell,

2005). Furthermore, English customarylaw

may have been greatly influenced by the com-

mon law to the extent that lords were in no

position to operate their courts arbitrarily to

their advantage (Razi and Smith, 1996b).

While Brenner purports to treat the landlord–

tenant relationship as an endogenous com-

ponent, he is reluctant to admit the impact of

exogenous forces associated with demographic

change driven by epidemiological movements

that have little to do with human agency

(Hatcher and Bailey, 2001). Others have ar-

gued that changes in the distribution of land

and the stimulus of land markets came as

much from within the tenantry as it did from

landlord initiatives (Glennie, 1988; Hoyle,

1990; Smith, 1998b). Likewise, it has been

claimed that middling sized owner-occupied

farms were the principal source of an early

modern agricultural revolution (Allen,

1992). Even within Marxist circles, there are

those who would stress the emergence of a

world systemin which international trade

and colonial expansion served to advantage

England and its near neighbour Holland, lead-

ing to the emergence of large urban centres,

which in turn stimulated demand for food-

stuffs and the move towards capitalistfarm-

ing. Such arguments have loomed large in the

writings of Pomeranz (2001), who also

stresses the importance of access to the

‘ghost acres’ of theamericasas fundamental

to English economic success. rms

Suggested reading

Aston and Philpin (1985); Brenner (1976).

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_B Final Proof page 56 31.3.2009 11:01am

BRENNER THESIS