The open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in some places, particularly Russia and Iran. Under this system, each manor or village had several very large fields, farmed in strips by individual families. From the 12th century onwards open fields were gradually replaced by private fields through various reforms in agricultural technology and local government.
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Famous quotes containing the words open, field and/or system:
“Midnight, and the clock strikes. It is Christmas Day, the werewolves’ birthday, the door of the solstice still wide enough open to let them all slink through.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“How sweet I roam’d from field to field
And tasted all the summer’s pride,
Till I the Prince of Love beheld
Who in the sunny beams did glide!”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“In the course of the actual attainment of selfish ends—an attainment conditioned in this way by universality—there is formed a system of complete interdependence, wherein the livelihood, happiness, and legal status of one man is interwoven with the livelihood, happiness, and rights of all. On this system, individual happiness, etc. depend, and only in this connected system are they actualized and secured.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)