Co-operation and conflict

Politics, institutions and the management of the English commons, 1500–1700

Abstract

A large proportion of the English population in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had some access to common land. This brought inevitable conflicts over shared resources and led to attempts to limit and police the access of commoners, and to exclude outsiders, usually undertaken through local manorial courts, but also resulting in a complex ‘politics of the commons’. This politics also encompassed political action ranging from gossip through
petty acts of violence up to engagement with central law courts and outright rebellion. This article discusses the key conflicts associated with English common lands – highlighted as the need to maintain sustainable usage and the need to exclude outsiders – and the institutional framework linked with managing these conflicts, before going on to describe the political tactics deployed in commoning disputes.