Strangers and Neighbours
Rural Migration in Eighteenth-Century Northern Burgundy
Published on 1. February 2016
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-4426-5048-0 (ISBN)
Description
Though historians have come to acknowledge the mobility of rural populations in early modern Europe, few books demonstrate the intensity and importance of short-distance migrations as definitively as Strangers and Neighbours. Marshalling an incredible range of evidence that includes judicial records, tax records, parish registers, and the census of 1796, Jeremy Hayhoe reconstructs the migration profiles of more than 70,000 individuals from eighteenth-century northern Burgundy.
In this book, Hayhoe paints a picture of a surprisingly mobile and dynamic rural population. More than three quarters of villagers would move at least once in their lifetime; most of those who moved would do so more than once, in many cases staying only briefly in each community. Combining statistical analysis with an extensive discussion of witness depositions, he brings the experiences and motivations of these many migrants to life, creating a virtuoso reconceptualization of the rural demography of the ancien rEgime.
In this book, Hayhoe paints a picture of a surprisingly mobile and dynamic rural population. More than three quarters of villagers would move at least once in their lifetime; most of those who moved would do so more than once, in many cases staying only briefly in each community. Combining statistical analysis with an extensive discussion of witness depositions, he brings the experiences and motivations of these many migrants to life, creating a virtuoso reconceptualization of the rural demography of the ancien rEgime.
Reviews / Votes
'Hayhoe's creativity in this book should not go unnoticed... His finding that no local policies prohibited migrations and that provincial authorities attempted to make them as orderly as possible highlights the use of history to create a better understanding of the present.'- Jerome Loiseau (Journal of Interdisciplinary History vol 47:04:2016) "Hayhoe does more than simply document mobility...he explains why peasants moved to certain villages rather than others."
- Stephen Miller (The American Historical Review, Volume 123, Issue 1, 1 February 2018) "Jeremy Hayhoe's excellent new study of rural migration in eighteenth-century northern Burgundy makes an important contribution towards renewing our understanding of the social life of the early modern French countryside...This is a model study, whose claims for a high degree of rural mobility in early modern France are convincing and important and whose broader claims about the consequences of this fact for rethinking social life and cultural identity are suggestively thought-provoking. Hayhoe's book merits an important place in the historiography of mobility and early modern rural life."
- Paul Cohen, University of Toronto (University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
1 figure, 6 maps
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
590 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4426-5048-0 (9781442650480)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jeremy Hayhoe is an associate professor in the Department of History and Geography at the UniversitE de Moncton.
Content
Introduction
1. Measuring Mobility, I. Exogamy, Native Proportions and Distances
2. Measuring Mobility, II. Annual Migration Rates
3. The Meaning of Distance. Migration and the "Espace de Vie"
4. Temporary and Seasonal Migration
5. Migrants' Reasons for Moving
6. What Attracted Migrants? The Geography of Internal Migration
7. The Regulation of Mobility and the Integration of Migrants into the Community Conclusion
1. Measuring Mobility, I. Exogamy, Native Proportions and Distances
2. Measuring Mobility, II. Annual Migration Rates
3. The Meaning of Distance. Migration and the "Espace de Vie"
4. Temporary and Seasonal Migration
5. Migrants' Reasons for Moving
6. What Attracted Migrants? The Geography of Internal Migration
7. The Regulation of Mobility and the Integration of Migrants into the Community Conclusion