The Balanced Economic Growth of Carolingian Europe: Suggestions for a New Interpretation

Abstract

of Carolingian Europe: Suggestions for a New Interpretation The Carolingian period has been characterized by the advent of feudalism, a return to a closed or house economy, and economic retrogression. Recent literature, however, no longer views feudalism as the necessary political companion to manorial agriculture. The latter, in turn, has ceased to be defined as a closed or static economy. Characteristics of dynamic change are now frequently ascribed to eighth and ninth century northern Europe. Yet few efforts have been made to interpret the results of recent economic research with reference to any specific theory of economic growth, and rarely have critical assessments of economic theories been applied to Carolingian Europe. This essay will discuss the shortcomings of an older theory that has been utilized and suggest a new one to replace it. The first problem to be considered is the nature and extent of the available evidence. For the high middle ages (Io5o-I350), written evidence is relatively abundant. For the Carolingian period, archaeological and numismatic findings have provided the newest evidence in recent decades. Yet much of this material seems to generate new problems for the economic historian. If a hoard of Arab coins were uncovered in Scandinavia, how did it get there? What is the relative fine metal content of the early medieval coins, and how can their position in a chronological series be ascertained? In the absence of written records which exist in sufficient number and can be coordinated with coins of known date