{"product_id":"freedoms-price-serfdom-subjection-and-reform-in-prussia-1648-1848-9780199662753","title":"Freedom's Price: Serfdom, Subjection, and Reform in Prussia, 1648-1848","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): S. A. Eddie\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: OUP Oxford\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: OUP Oxford\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Europe - Germany\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is usually claimed that serfs were oppressed and unfree, but is this assumption true? \u003cem\u003eFreedom's Price\u003c\/em\u003e, building on a new reading of archival material, attempts a fundamental re-appraisal of the continuing orthodoxy that a 'serf' economy embodied peasant exploitation. It reveals that, in fact, Prussian 'subject' peasants fared much better than their 'free' neighbours; they had mutual rights and obligations with nobles and the state. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this volume, Sean Eddie seeks to establish the true 'price of freedom' paid by the peasants both in the so-called Second Serfdom around 1650 and in the enfranchisement of 1807-21. Far from representing further exploitation, the peasants drove a hard bargain, and many nobles subsequently fared worse than their tenants; subjection was abolished and land ownership was transferred from noble to peasant. Capital was therefore at the centre of the pre-capitalist economy, and the growing economic polarization of society owed more to the peasants' access to capital than to noble exploitation. By locating Prussian serfdom and reforms in a pan-European context, and within debates about the nature of economic development, feudalism, and capitalism, \u003cem\u003eFreedom's Price \u003c\/em\u003etargets a wider audience of early modern and modern European historians, economic historians, and interested general readers.","brand":"Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46490438992023,"sku":"9780199662753","price":12462.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780199662753.jpg?v=1766345489","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/freedoms-price-serfdom-subjection-and-reform-in-prussia-1648-1848-9780199662753","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}