Enclosures and communal rights in England in the Thirteenth Century: An historiographical approach around the Statute of Merton [1236]

Abstract

The following paper attempts a general approach to the various interpretations of a document of the thirteenth century, the Statute of Merton [1236]. The context that presides over this approach were the transformations of the Economic feudal system, and specifically it aspects, aims to rethink the process of enclosure in England in that century. Although much research to pursue the origin of the enclosures in the XV and XVI, the Statute will be attesting to their former presence. The present work aims to reflect on historiographical productions that have been made in relationship to the subject. The study of this remarkable document becomes important to analyze the background of the transition from feudalism to capitalism