This book examines the structures and texture of rural social relationships, using one type of document found in abundance over all the four component parts of Britain and Ireland: petitions from tenants to their landlords. The book offers unexpected angles on many aspects of society and economy on estates in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Robert Allan Houston is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of St Andrews, UK. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and St Andrews University before spending six years at Cambridge University, UK, as a research student (Peterhouse) and research fellow (Clare College).

PART I: INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING THE RURAL SOCIETIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES 1. 'Unimportant Minorities': The Landholding Peasantry of Britain and Ireland, C.1600-1850 2. People Above and Below: 'Landlordism', 'Estate Studies', and Relationships Between Owners and Workers of Land 3. Methodologies: The Practice and Theory of Petitions, and the Choice Of Estates PART II: LANDED ESTATES: PERSONNEL, ORGANISATION, DOCUMENTATION, AND ELEMENTS OF VARIANCE 4. Stewards and Other Estate Officials 5. The Estates and the Petitions 6. Petitions and the Rhythms of Estate Life 7. Empty Spaces: The Missing Estate Petitions of Eighteenth- and Early-Nineteenth-Century Wales PART III: AUTHORSHIP, PHYSICAL FORM, AND WRITTEN STYLE OF PETITIONS 8. Authenticity and Authorship 9. Physical Form 10. Address 11. Ending 12. Delivery and Receipt PART IV: THE CONTENT OF PETITIONS 13. The North of Ireland, C.1750-1850 14. North-West England, c.1600-1800 15. The Highland Margin of Scotland, C.1770-1860 V. LAND, PSYCHOLOGY, AND THE 'HARD SURFACES OF LIFE': ASKING FOR POOR RELIEF ON LANDED ESTATES 16. Poverty and Self-Help in North-West England and Wales 17. Petitioning For Relief on Breadalbane: Estate Policy, Family Life, and Strategies for Care 18. Poverty and its Relief in the North of Ireland: The Place of the Estate 19. Psychology and Necessity: Attachment to the Land in Parts of Scotland and Ireland PART VI: CONCLUSION: THE LANDLORDS AND TENANTS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND 20. Paternalism and Deference 21. Oppressions, Freedoms, and their Politico-Legal Context 22. The Texture of Rural Society In Parts Of Britain And Ireland