XII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2020

Britain of the 6-7th centuries was an interesting historical phenomenon. During this period important social changes took place. The tribal system was replaced by feudalism. The structure of a class society was determined by the form of the relationship of the class of producers to the means of production, and, consequently, the relation of these direct producers to the ruling class acting as the owner of the means and instrument of the process of production.

The conquest of England, which lasted from the middle of the fifth to the beginning of the seventh century, accelerated its social development. However, the data of the first Anglo-Saxon laws suggest that even during this period the community continued to play the main role in their lives. However, migration and conquest dealt a severe blow to both a large family and clan relations in general. The very military-colonial nature of the settlement of Anglo-Saxons on new lands, combined with the need for the lasting struggle with the local Celtic population, implied a serious decrease in the importance of tribal relations and strengthening territorial ones between them. [3, 4, 5]

The Anglo-Saxon society of this period was not unique in respect to the transition from tribal organization with a huge number of categories of the population (personally free and dependent) like in many other states undergoing the period of formation.

The main categories of personally free populations included curls and earls. [3,5]

The main social group of the Kent society of the 7th century was composed of free members of communes – curls. In their personal use they had arable plots lying within the lands of the community. It was this allotment that formed the basis of the free state of the curl: without it, no rights and obligations characteristic of a free member of the society could be exercised. [5 p.15]

Along with the curls, nobility existed in the early Kent society. To designate this category of free people early Kent sources usually use the term "earl", which, according to the unanimous opinion of researchers, was applied to the representatives of the tribal elite – nobility by birth. [1, 2, 3]

The question of the position of the slave population in Kent and Wessex has never caused historiographic discussions: researchers limited themselves to the descriptions of slave labor or expressed general hypotheses regarding the origin and development of the institution of slavery in the Anglo-Saxon society. [5, p.24]

The term "theow" in Kent refers to the persons of the slave status who served someone. This disenfranchised population, in turn, was divided into various groups according to various characteristics. The name slave could be applied to those who had a higher social position than slaves in the full meaning of the word. [3, p.12]

Slaves were held accountable regardless of the desire or unwillingness of the owner to deliver them. Thus, the slaves were responsible for the offenses, as well as free people, but were subjected to more severe punishments emphasizing the humiliating nature of their position. [3, p.13]

Despite all the successes of feudalization in the 10-11th centuries, the Anglo-Saxon feudal system had not yet fully developed by the time of the Norman Conquest. The process of personal, material and legal humiliation of the main social group of Anglo-Saxon society – free curls – actively developing at this time was far from being completed, and the traditional division into free persons and slaves continued to be an important element of social stratification. Social structures retained many features of multistructurality starting with the elements of the tribal system and ending with the significant role of slavery and semi-free labor. In general, the social system of the Anglo-Saxons seemed to have reached the level characteristic of the stage of early feudalism. Only the Norman Conquest and its immediate consequences finally approved feudalism in England, bringing it closer to the type of social relations that existed in the regions of the continental Europe.

Литература

Гуревич А.Я. Английское крестьянство в X - начале XI вв. // Средние века. Вып. IX. М., 1957.

Гуревич А.Я. Начальный этап феодального развития Англии // Ученые записки Калининградского государственного педагогического института. Т. XIX. Вып. 1. Калинин, 1956.

Петрушевский Д. М. Очерки из истории английского общества и государства в средние века. М., 1937.

Глебов А. Г. Англия в раннее средневековье. СПб., 2007.

Савело К.Ф Раннефеодальная Англия. Л., 1977.