Faculty and Staff

Education

• Ph.D. in History from Rutgers University (2004)

Research Interests

Medieval & Early Modern England; social and economic history; legal history.

Recent Research Activities

Peter Larson's research focuses on the social and legal history of premodern England, and the relation of local/regional to national history. His first book, Conflict and Compromise in the Late Medieval Countryside: Lords and Peasants in Durham, 1348 to 1400, is a study of the reactions of lords and peasants in County Durham as they struggled to put their lives and society back together in the half-century following the Black Death. His latest book, Rethinking the Great Transition: Community and Economic Growth in County Durham, 1349-1660 investigates the so-called "transition from feudalism to capitalism" by examining agricultural expansion in northeast England as a necessary precursor to the industrial revolution and a contributor to the 'Little Divergence" that saw England emerge as a global economic power. His next project is an exploration of identity, occupation, and the emergence of industry in northern England. Other interests include English Common Law, and women & gender in premodern England.

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Selected Publications

Books

• Forthcoming Rethinking the Great Transition: Community and Economic Growth in County Durham, 1349-1550 (Oxford University Press, 2022).
• Conflict and Compromise in the Late Medieval Countryside: Lords and Peasants in Durham, 1348 to 1400 (Routledge, 2006).

Articles/Essays

• “Widow-right in Durham, England (1349-1660),” in Continuity & Change 33:2 (2018): 173-201.
  

   

• "Village Voice or Village Oligarchy The Jurors of the Durham Halmote Court, 1349-1424," in The Law and History Review 28:3 (2010): 675-709.

Book Sections/Chapters

• Forthcoming

  "Gendered roles and female litigants in northeastern England, 1300-1700," in Litigating Women: Gender and Justice in Europe c.1200-c.1750, ed. by Deborah Youngs and Teresa Phipps (Routledge, 2022).

• "Peasant Opportunities in Rural Durham: Land, Vills and Mills, 1349-1500," in Commercial Activity, Markets and Entrepreneurs in the Middle Ages: Essays in Honour of Richard Britnell, ed. by Ben Dodds and Christian D. Liddy (Boydell, 2011), pp. 141-164.
• "Rural transformation in northern England: village communities of Durham, 1340-1440," in Agriculture and Rural Society after the Black Death: Common Themes and Regional Variations, ed. by Richard H. Britnell and Benjamin Dodds (University of Hertfordshire, 2008), pp. 99-114.
• "Local Law Courts in Late Medieval Durham," in Richard H. Britnell and Christian D. Liddy, eds., North-East England in the Later Middle Ages (Boydell & Brewer, 2005).

Awards

• 2020 Elected Fellow, Royal Historical Society
  
• 2013 CAH Award for Excellence in Graduate Education.
• 2009 UCF Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education.
• 2009 CAH Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education.

Courses

• Spring 2025
• Fall 2024
• Summer 2024
• Spring 2024
• Fall 2023
• Summer 2023