Sheilamae Reyes & Luis Fonseca
Anthropology 179
02/27/2007
 Demographic, economic
trends during:
• Expansion (1450-1520)
• Stagflation (1520-1570)
• Crisis (1570-1660)
• Depression (1600-1660)
Case Study: Norman nobility
and social
 End
of 100 Years War expulsed English from
France
 Threat to internal stability alleviated with
Burgundy state collapse
 Lower rates of epidemic
 Increase in agricultural production
 Higher standards of living
 Mortality rates decreased
 Countryside was repopulated as
abandoned villages from the English wars
were resettled
 Elites
during the period
• Recovered fortunes and income by 1500
• End of civil war reconciliated Dauphines and
Burgundians
• Increased internal strength in economic and
socioeconomic terms and state territory grew
 Population and economy:
• The population was double by 1560 from a low,
at 20 million
 But this was a point just before decline
 Population growth outpaced food production
• By 1540’s food production reached ceiling in
south of France (but agricultural production
varied from region to region)
• Population growth caused increase in land
prices and rent
 Peasants were paying ½ of production to landlord
 This
period marked by worsening
economic situation for commoners
(working poor and farm managers)
• Average real wages fell
• Agricultural wages fell
 Some
farmers did well during this period
 Inequality grew among commoners,
between working poor and farmers
 Elites and the State
• Growing inequality and rise in land costs increased
income
 Elites able to provide inheritance to sons
 Expanded nobility from dividing family estates
 For example, the top elite grew from 12 in 1505 to 36 in
1588
• However, elite power to collect revenue declined and
led to financial crises in the state, lost control of army
 in 1562 royal finances collapsed as there was insufficient
funds to meet military expenditures
 Civil War
 Population
growth ceased
• Population in 1720 the same as in 1560
• Plague was carried by troops
• Famine, weather and civil war
• War: within and external
 War of Religion
 Rebellions
 Different
regions experienced variations
in demographic changes
 Each region experienced different
conflicts
• Religious conflicts in South was most intense in
1568, production fell in 1560
• North devastation not until 1590s
 North vs. South of France
• Expansion in North started after 1450
• South achieved maximum population in 1540
 Numerical dynamics of nobility
• Ratio of noble to commoner in 1560 show slow
steady increase as general population grew at a
faster rate
• As a result the proportion of nobility to commoner
was declining
• Nobles peaked in number in the 16th century
 To enter nobility status
• Land ownership, office, marriage, university, military
• Growth of income from agriculture
• Revenues from price of grain
• Doubled incomes in 1540s
 Population
growth and overproduction of
elite caused state breakdown
• Example of Malthusian theory of population
growth effects
• Financial ruin of state, loss of military control,
factionalism and civil war  state collapse