This collection of essays on the medieval peasant presents a variety of methodologies by which historians can come to know the full range of activity in rural Europe in the Middle Ages. Archaeology, textual criticism, legal records, fair records, and manuscript illumination are all sources of evidence which have affected, and continue to radically revise, our view of rural life. Housing, farming, entertainment, industry, trade, commerce, litigation, debt, and marriage are just some of the topics explored.