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The Medieval Peasantry: A Homogeneous Whole or a Space of Social Diversity? (Carballido González)

A poster containing the title and a short description of the podcast episode. Drawings of two medieval peasants frame the text.

The peasantry constituted an impressive percentage of the medieval population. Historiography has not ignored the existence of this vast and diverse group, but the peasantry has nonetheless been frequently presented as a homogeneous whole, lacking complexity, and approached from elitist discourses. In consequence, the possibility of studying many aspects of peasants' daily reality is often overlooked. This episode reviews different historiographical approaches to the peasantry and then considers evidence about Northwest Iberian peasants' relationships, their ties of friendship or enmity, their emotions, and community gender roles.


Elías Carballido González is a predoctoral fellow in the area of Medieval History at the University of Oviedo, where he combines teaching and research work. His main lines of research have to do with internal differentiation in Early Medieval rural communities, focusing on the social and emotional experience of being single, addressed from a gender perspective. Carballido González holds a bachelor's degree in history (2021) and a master's degree in gender and diversity (2022) from the University of Oviedo. He is a member of the LLABOR-LANDS Group, which is dedicated to the studies of the medieval peasantry and is led by Margarita Fernández Mier.


For further reading:


  • Bloch, Marc (1956). Les caractères originaux de l’histoire rurale française. Paris: Armand Colin (First published: 1931).

  • Coulton, George Gordan (1925). The Medieval Village. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Davies, Wendy (2007). Acts of Giving: Individual, Community, and Church in Tenth Century Christian Spain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Duby, Georges (1974). The Early Growth of the European Economy: Warriors and Peasants from the Seventh to the Twelfth Century. Ithaca and New York: Cornell University Press (First published: 1973).

  • Fernández Mier, Margarita (2018). “Nes llendes de l’aldea: paisaxe y territoriu en Vigaña (Miranda)”. In Excavaciones arqueológicas en Asturias, 2013-2016, coordinated by Pablo León Gasalla. Oviedo: Ediciones Trabe.

  • Hernando, Almudena (2012). La fantasia de la individualidad. Sobre la construcción sociohistórica del sujeto moderno. Buenos Aires: Traficantes de Sueños.

  • Rodríguez González, Celtia (2022). Una arqueología de género para el studio de la Sociedad de la Gallaecia de los siglos IV-VI d.C. (Doctoral tesis). University of Santiago de Compostela.

  • Sáez, Emilio y Sáez, Carlos (1996). Colección diplomática del monasterio de Celanova (842-942). Tomo I: 842-942. Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares.

  • Sáez, Emilio y Sáez, Carlos (2000). Colección diplomática del monasterio de Celanova (842-942). Tomo II: 943-988. Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares.

  • Sáez, Emilio y Sáez, Carlos (2000). Colección diplomática del monasterio de Celanova (842-942). Tomo III: 989-1006. Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares.

  • Wickham, Chris (2009). The Inheritance of Rome. A History of Europe from 400 to 1000. New York: Viking Press.


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