Scabby horses and unrung swine: The regulation of livestock in the early modern period

This books complements John Kruses other book on rural byelaws, Customs' duties (KDP, 2012), but whereas that was concerned with the rural infrastructure, natural resources and the built environment, this boook is interested in the farm livestock kept by cultivators. Animals were essential to crop production and to substistence: they supplied manure, food and clothing. However, their presence in the farmed countryside was also a risk, because if they strayed valuable crops could be consumed and destroyed. The control of animals was therefore essential. This book examines how this was done- by rules (byelaws), by physical means (tethers, fences, sties and rings in pigs' noses) and by the employment of herders. All the different livestock kept in the early modern countryside are considered- cattle, horses, swine, poultry, donkeys, bees and goats. Each had its unique problems of behaviour and disease. Each required its own special set of rules to govern how it could be grazed and contained. The book focusses on the early modern period in England , but also considers the rules for animals laid down in Anglo-Saxon England and in the early Middle East.