Rural Economics: From Feudalism to Agricultural Revolution
I. Feudalism
A. A. Origins:
1. 1.
Feudalism first emerged in Western Europe in the ninth
century. It was a type of government were political power was a
possession.
2. 2. The present theory on its origin is that wealthy lords and kings
bought their loyalty with land. The peasants needed protection and
the kings demanded something in return.
3. 3. The peasants became part of the lords permanent labor force.
They were then tided to the land.
4. 4. The lords encouraged population growth and immigration
because the most profitable capital was laborers.
B. B. Players:
1. 1. Kings- These were the largest and most powerful land
owners. Kings would lease out their land to lords in return for a
set number of solders to fight in his army. The solders would
have to be in the army for a set number of days. It was usually
40 days. They would also receive some of the food produced
on their land.
2. 2. Dukes- The dukes were usually family members of the king.
They were given very large plots of land to rule over. Too large
to rule them so they divided their land up and leased it to lords.
3. 3. Lords- They were the next highest on the political ladder
under Dukes and Counts. These were wealthy men given a
land lease by their Duke. Their job is to rule over smaller plot of
land. They did this by dividing their land into smaller plots of
land called manors. Then they were given to Knights to rule
over. In return they gained protection from the knight.
4. 4. Knights- These men were mercenaries hired to protect the
lords manors. They were given a manor to rule over by their
lords. They would also receive some of the food produced on
the manor. They would in return for the manor, give protection
to the king’s land.
5. 5. Serfs- They were the lowest class in the Feudal system.
They were free men that were tided to the land. These peasants
worked the land for protection from the lord. They would give
part of their food produced to the lord. Some peasants even
gave up their land in order to gain protection. The lord then
return the land but the peasant was now a serf and tided to his
land.
C. C. Manorial Economy:
1. 1. During this time farmers used a system of crop rotation.
They would only farm 1/3 of the field at a time. In doing this, the
soil never lost all of its nutrients.
2. 2. The serfs would farm their plot of land most of the time.
They also did work for the lord.
3. 3. They would do 3 to 5 days of lords work to rebuild roads,
repair structures, and other communal jobs. In return the lord
provided the serfs with some services.
4. 4. The services were mill, forge, land, a common land, and
protection.
D. D. The decline of Feudalism:
1. 1. Feudalism lasted as long as it was useful, 900 to 1500.
From 1500 to 1800 many people began the move to small
towns.
2. 2. The decline of feudalism was caused by 4 main reasons:
~ Population growth
~ Plague
~ Payments for security
~ Growth in trade.
3. 3. The use of money to trade goods was also a factor in the
decline of feudalism. Kings could tax money from their
population to hire a standing army.
4. 4. Many serfs fled their land to move to small towns looking for
a better life.
II. The rise of small towns
A. A. Origins:
1. 1. With the rise of trade at the end of the feudal system, more
people began to move to small towns. People no longer were serfs
because it was more profitable to have them pay taxes to the kings
and lords.
2. 2. The economy switched from a system of barter and trade, to a
monitory system. With the invention of money people could easily
buy goods from merchants.
3. 3. These changes lead to a rise in trade. They also may have
moved to towns for protection from invaders. Many farmers would
live in town and farm outside it.
4. 4.
They also had access to new and better goods because of the
rise in trade during this period.
5. 5. These new towns also gave rise to a new social and economic
class.
B. B. Rise of trade:
1. 1. Money made the exchange of goods easy so trade grew
rapidly. There was a larger demand for goods meet by this growth
in trade.
2. 2. Many serfs escaped from their land that they were tided to.
They would run away to live in small towns. If they escaped and
were not caught for one year they were considered free men.
3. 3. More trade meant more wealth; this is why the economies grew
so much during the High Middle Ages. The rise in trade sparked a
growth in the economy of the High Middle Ages.
C. C. Development of the middle class:
1. 1. During this time a new class of workers came out, the middle
class. This new class of artisans and merchants came from the
peasant class of workers. They were skilled workers the lived in
these small towns.
2. 2. The origins of this class came from landless younger sons of
peasant who had to look elsewhere to find work. Another
explanation is the some men were willing to take a risk to have a
better life.
3. 3. So they moved to small towns. They became merchants and
artisans to make a living.
4. 4. The merchants settled just outside the town walls. As trade
grew they would build a new wall around them every 100 years or
so. These merchants formed merchant guilds.
5. 5. The merchant guilds would control the quality of goods and set
the prices of merchandise. These guilds controlled all trade in any
area that they were in.
6. 6. There were also craft guilds that were formed by the artisans of
these small towns. These craft guilds set fixed wages, controlled
quality of goods, and taught new people their trade.
D. Long-distance Trade:
1. 1. Artisans and craftsmen manufactured goods for local and
foreign trade. Most of the trading was done on a local level but
there was a rise of long-distance trade.
2. 2. With the establishment of better trade routes, foreign trade
became more popular. This was also improved by new ship
technology.
3. 3. Because long-distance trade required large investments of
capital, professional traders only practiced it. The transportation
of goods was at very high risk of failure. Shipwrecks and
robberies were very common.
III. The commercial revolution
A. A. Origins:
1. 1. The economy of Europe slowly was expanding through
international trade. In cities across Europe trade firms opened
branch offices.
2. 2. Credit was extended to the buyers. Merchants devised the
letter of credit, which made unnecessary the slow and dangerous
shipment of coin. This would allow the merchants business to grow
and produce more wealth.
3. 3. These merchants would invest surplus capital into new
enterprises and to open new markets. They were always looking
for a new market to sell their goods in. A capitalistic spirit
developed.
B. B. Trade and wealth
1. 1. Across the trade routes in the Baltic and North Sea, trade ships
carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine.
2. 2. These goods were traded for finished goods like cloth and salt,
that was produced in these western cities.
3. 3. The commercial Revolution created a great deal of new wealth.
This wealth was from the new trade markets and new goods
produced. This new wealth meant a new higher standard of living.
4. 4. Spices, for example, allowed for variety in food. These spices
gave the food a better tastes. Gradually dietary habits changed
and tastes became more sophisticated.
5. 5. This new wealth did not escape the attention of the kings. They
taxed this new wealth and built strong central states.
6. 6. This new wealth could pay for things like a large standing army.
This greatly increased the kings power.
7. 7. These large standing army’s gave nation grater power to form
larger and more powerful countries.
8. 8. The commercial revolution also gave many serfs an opportunity
to raise their social status. They could become a part of the middle
class by becoming a merchant or an artisan.
C. C. Conclusion
1. 1. The commercial revolution created a great growth in population
between the 11th and 13th centuries.
2. 2. Most of Europe was still dominated by Castles and manors.
The number off these small towns grew slowly over time.
3. 3. The Feudal system still dominated the landscape until the
1500’s. The commercial revolution did however lay the groundwork
for the foundation of urban life in Europe.
4. 4. This growth of trade and move to small towns set up Europe to
develop into an urban internalized economy.
IV. Renaissance Economics
A. Early Renaissance economy:
1. 1. The economy during the early renaissance was still growing
after the commercial revolution.
2. 2. Wasteland was cleared to produce more farmland. This
increase in food production made an increase in population.
3. 3. Europe began to trade with the Far East more. It new trade
brought new goods and diseases.
B. Decline
1. 1. There was a decline in the European economy during the
time of the middle to late Renaissance . There was almost no
economic growth.
2. 2. The main cause of this decline was the Black Plague. This
plague killed of over 1/3 of Europe’s work force.
3. 3. Hole cities and towns were wiped out. This took away some
of the trade markets that were there before the plague.
4. 4. The plague killed many peasants and surfs. This left
Europe with a very high demand for labor.
5. 5.
This meant that laborers could demand more money for
work because there was a high demand for labor.
6. 6. This raise in pay for peasants slowed the European
economy because the profits made were less.
C. Revolts
1. 1.
During the time of the black death their was lots of peasant
and worker revolts.
2. 2.
Through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries their were
many peasant uprisings. This was caused by heavy taxation by
the government to pay for wars.
3. 3.
The peasants revolted to gain rights and social dignity.
They gained many rights during this period.
4. 4.
Some historians say that the peasants rights during the
period of 1350 to 1450 was better that it was centuries before
and centuries after.
V. Economics during the Age of Expansion
A. Exploration:
1. 1. During this time new technologies were developed to aid
exploration. There were new advance in ship making and in
navigation.
2. 2. This lead to more exploration of the world and the discovery
of the new world.
3. 3. The discovery of the new world brought Europe a new
market and a new source of natural resources.
B. Growth:
1. 1. The surge of new raw materials into the European market
helped the economy grow.
2. 2. The raw materials were made into finished goods that were
sold international though out Europe.
3. 3. The discovery of the new world also gave Europe a new
market to sell the products.
4. 4. This new wealth helped Europe’s economy grow and
prosper.
C. Decline:
1. 1. Spain experienced a sharp population growth during their
time of expansion. This sharp population increase made the
demand for food very high.
2. 2. Because Spain had exported some of its best farmers, the
Jews and Muslims, they could not meet this demand.
3. 3. The Spanish economy suffered and prices rose because the
new demand could not be meet.
4. 4. The price of cloth and other manufactured goods went up so
fast. The Spanish government could not levy taxes fast enough
to dampen the economy.
VI. Economics during Absolutism
A. Financial and Economic management:
1. 1. Under absolutism there were very high taxes to pay for all of
the rulers needs. The Taxes paid for their palaces, art, and
other luxuries.
2. 2. The absolutist monarch would impose high taxes on his
people. This still did not give enough money to the government.
3. 3. France, to increase it wealth, adopted a policy of
Mercantilism.
4. 4. Mercantilism is the governmental control over the economy.
Mainly over the commercial activities.
5. 5. The main idea behind mercantilism is there is a limited
amount of gold in the world. So you must export more products
than you import into your country.
6. 6. During this time it was believed that the more wealth a
country had the more powerful it was.
7. 7. It also encouraged skilled craftsmen and merchants to
immigrate to France.
8. 8. This system also encouraged shipbuilders to produce more.
Because if they had a larger shipping fleet they could ship more
goods.
9. 9. Colbert gathered farmers and peasants from western
France and sent them to Canada to farm the land there. They
were sent to Canada because it is some of the best farmland
France had.
B. Eastern Europe:
1. 1. Between 1500 and 1650 the peasants of Eastern Europe
right declined dramatically.
2. 2. Free peasants were made serfs again. In Poland the
nobility could inflict the death penalty on their surfs.
3. 3. One cause of this is thought to be the decline in population
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This left Eastern Europe with
a labor shortage.
4. 4. When peasants in Western Europe gained right, in Eastern
Europe the lost rights.
V. Agricultural Revolution
A. Origins
1. 1. During this time more that 80% of the people in Western
Europe made their living by farming.
2. 2. In Eastern Europe that number was a lot higher.
3. 3. The people were very weak because they would go through
flood and famine years. Some years would be very good and
yet others would be very bad.
4. 4. In the famine years lots and lots of people would die. 1/3 of
a village’s population could die. During these times people
would eat things like bark and grass.
5. 5. Not getting the right nutrition, people were very weak and
unhealthy. This made the susceptible to diseases like influenza
and smallpox.
6. 6.
The problem with the food production was that people did
not have good farming technology. So they produced very little
food.
7. 7. In the fields of northern Italy, for every bushels of grain
planted it would produce only 5 or 6 bushels.
B. The Revolution
1. 1. One possible way for peasants to make more food was to
take the land that they cultivate back from the nobility. But this
was not possible until the French Revolution when peasants
gained land.
2. 2. A new technique of rotating crops from Grain to Nitrogen
storing plants gave better yields.
3. 3. This new technique not only rejuvenated the soil better that
fallowing, but also produced more food.
4. 4. The new food produced could be used to feed livestock.
Slowly Farmers would be able to build up their herds.
5. 5. More animals meant more meat to eat. More meat meant a
better diet. This led to people living healthier lives.
6. 6. The Low Countries by the seventeenth century had
enclosed fields, rotated crops, and started heavy manuring.
C. The cottage Industry
1. 1. The growth of the population increased the number of
landless workers. This contributed to the development of the
rural industry.
2. 2. Landless peasants would work in shop together to produce
some basic manufactured goods.
3. 3. Rural industry has a big part of the European Economy
during the 17th and 18th centuries.
4. 4. As the demand for manufactured goods increased a new
method was needed to produce the goods.
5. 5. The cottage industry declined because of the new putting
out system.
D. The putting out system:
1. 1. The main idea behind the putting out system is that a
merchant will loan out raw goods to rural peasants who will
make them into finished goods.
2. 2. This was a good system because their were lot of
unemployed poor peasants to work.
3. 3. But as the demand for good increased the putting out
system decline. The putting out system could not keep up with
demand.
4. 4. Peasants moved to cities to work in factories that would
produce even larger amounts of manufactured goods.
E. Conclusion
1. 1. The decline of the rural industry marked the move of many
people to the cities to find work.
2. 2. They would find jobs in factories were they would work
harder and make less money.
3. 3. The peasants that remained in the rural areas, the were
mostly farmers.