This paper re-examines the late medieval market in freehold land, the extent to which it was governed by market forces as opposed to political or social constraints, and how this contributed to the commercialisation of the late medieval English economy. We employ a valuable new resource for study of this topic in the form of an extensive dataset on late medieval English freehold property transactions. Through analysis of this data, we examine how the level of market activity (the number of sales) and the nature of the properties (the relative proportions of different types of asset) varied across regions and over time. In particular, we consider the impact of exogenous factors and the effects of growing commercialisation. We argue that peaks of activity following periods of crisis (Great Famine and Black Death) indicate that property ownership became open to market speculation. In so doing, we present an important new perspective on the long-term evolution of the medieval English property market.

中文翻译：

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对中世纪晚期英格兰永久业权房地产市场的重新评估

本文重新审视了中世纪晚期的永久业权土地市场，它在多大程度上受市场力量而非政治或社会约束的支配，以及这如何促进了中世纪晚期英国经济的商业化。我们以关于中世纪晚期英国永久业权财产交易的广泛数据集的形式采用了宝贵的新资源来研究这个主题。通过对这些数据的分析，我们研究了市场活动水平（销售数量）和资产性质（不同类型资产的相对比例）在不同地区和不同时间的变化。我们特别考虑了外生因素的影响和日益商业化的影响。我们认为，危机时期（大饥荒和黑死病）之后的活动高峰表明财产所有权对市场投机开放。这样做，我们就中世纪英国房地产市场的长期演变提出了一个重要的新视角。