Ch14/Sec1: Rural Growth and Crisis
The Middle Ages: 476-1450 (Early Middle Ages: 476-1000; High Middle
Ages: 1000-1300; Late Middle Ages: 1300-1450)
The High Middle Ages:
1) Dramatic increase in population: 38 mill.  74 mill.
 Increased peace & stability: the invasions of the early middle ages stopped

 Increase in food production: due to
- Positive change in climate: warmer
- More available farmlands: due to clearing forests & draining swamps
- Improved farming technology: water and wind mills; iron tools, such as
scythes, axes, hoes, saws, hammers, nails; new horse collar &
horseshoes; heavy iron plow

 Growth of farming villages: to share expensive plows and horses
 Long strips of farmlands: to minimize the # of turns during plowing
 Three-field system of crop rotation: farmlands were divided into 3 strips
 Planted in the fall
 Planted in the spring  only 1/3 of farmland was unplanted
 Fallow
(as opposed to ½ or 50%)
2) The manorial system continues:
 Manor: agricultural estate run by a lord & worked by peasants (serfs)
 60% of people were serfs (not slaves): paid rent for land & usage fees,
tithe (10% of their produce) to the Catholic Church
 Feudal oath (homage)
3) Daily life of the peasantry:
a) Homes: simple, smoky, crowded
 Cottages w/ wood frames filled w/ sticks, straw, & clay; thatched roofs
 1-2 multi-purpose rooms; 1 fireplace but no chimney  smoke went
out through cracks in the wall and the roof
b) Cycle of Labor: depended on the seasons; ~ 50 days off for holidays
 Plowing, planting, weeding, harvesting on own land, lord’s land,
vegetable gardens (kitchen gardens)
 Slaughtering of livestock, sheep shearing
 Repair work
c) Faith: revolved around the village church & priest
 Religious feast days, Sunday mass, baptisms, marriages, funerals
 The village priest taught the peasants the basic ideas of Christianity
 God was seen as an all-powerful force who needed to be pleased for
good harvests
d) Women: farm work & childbearing/-raising; managing the household
e) Food and drink: multigrain bread, dairy, vegetables, nuts & berries,
fruits; eggs; chicken on feast days; enormous quantities of ale (beer)
The Black Death (1347-1353)
 The most devastating natural disaster in European history
 Most common form: bubonic plague
 Spread by black rats infested w/ bacterium-carrying flees
 Originated in Asia, but was brought to Europe by merchants
 Spread in waves from south (Italy) to north (Scandinavia)
 Especially devastated were crowded cities
 No cure: it had a 50-60% death rate (1 in 2 people died)
 Europe’s population dropped from 75 million to 38 million
Social and economic consequences:
 It tore families apart, made entire villages disappear
 Rise in anti-Semitism (esp. in Germany; Jews fled to Poland)
 Trade declined
 Shortage of workers  high wages
 Decreased demand for food  low prices
 Lords income were declining  serfs were freed  rented their
lands from the lords