Examining the development of lordship, peasant status and estate structures in the Northern Danelaw (now Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire), this book places the region in its wider European context and addresses issues concerning the nature of early medieval society in general. The author investigates, in particular, the large number of free peasants and the transition from a peasant-based economy to one dominated by seigneurial exploitation. She also looks at the effect of social organization on the landscape, through the creation of villages and the development of the parish system.