Preface -- Part I. Theory and Overview: 1. The issue -- 2. The overview -- Part II. 900-1500: 3. Property rights in land and man -- 4. Economic conditions at the end of the Early Middle Ages -- 5. The High Middle Ages: a fronier movement -- 6. Thirteenth-century Europe -- 7. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries -- Part III. 1500-1700: 8. Fiscal policy and property rights -- 9. The Early Modern period -- 10. France and Spain - the also-rans -- 11. The Netherlands and successful economic growth -- 12. England -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Index.