Agricultural History Review, Volume 51 Part 2 (2003), pp. 1–22

Sheep husbandry played a vital role in late medieval English agriculture, but evidence from demesne farms reveals that it was blighted by falling fleece weights and rising mortality rates. These trends are currently thought to have been caused by a long term climatic shift towards colder winters. This essay, however, argues that these trends, together with rising fertility rates on some manors, can be explained by changes in the way in which demesne flocks were managed after the Black Death. Rather than being thwarted by their environment, demesne officials were, in essence, responding rationally to worsening economic conditions. 

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