Medieval Economy Research Articles

Risk Instruments in the Medieval and Early Modern Economy

This paper describes the evolution of financial risk instruments in Europe before 1600. It discusses the evolution of marine insurance and its displacement of the sea loan, as well as early examples of forward transactions, options, and futures contracts. In contrast to business, households had only limited access to financial risk instruments-mainly in the form of life-contingent annuities.

Growth and recession in the fifteenth‐century economy: the Wiltshire textile industry and the countryside

This study explores regional and chronological variations within the later medieval economy. In the later fourteenth century, the cloth industry grew rapidly in Salisbury and neighbouring Somerset, where it was beginning to break out from an urban core. In the first half of the fifteenth century it grew rapidly in west Wiltshire, until hit by the great slump from c.1450, and revived in the later part of the century. Industrial growth and recession affected the agricultural hinterland, where farming and the demand for land became dependent on the demands of a flourishing industry.

Essays on the Medieval Economy in Memory of David Farmer. Special issue of the Canadian Journal of History, 31, 1 (1996), 163pp. No price stated.

Essays on the Medieval Economy in Memory of David Farmer. Special issue of the <i>Canadian Journal of History</i>, 31, 1 (1996), 163pp. No price stated.

Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse by Richard R. John

512 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE gant study of the medieval economy and its complex legacy; hers is an impressive achievement. Elaine Clark Dr. Clark teaches in the Department of History at the University of Michigan— Dearborn. Spreading the News: The American Postal Systemfrom Franklin to Morse. By Richard R. John. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996. Pp. xiii+369; notes, index. $49.95 (cloth). Innovative applications ofold technologies created a communica­ tions revolution in the United States long before the commercial use of electric telegraphy. RichardJohn has built a convincing case that the postal system achieved that and operated as “an agent of change” from its inception in 1792 through the 1840s (p. 24). By placing the postal system on center stage,John brings to light events and processes that will challenge historians of technology and poli­ tics alike to think differently about their fields and the links between them. A communications revolution entails at least a dramatic change in the flow of information, and John demonstrates how federal pol­ icy, as executed prior to 1829, “created a communications infra­ structure” (p. 110) that conveyed vast amounts ofwritten (primarily printed) material. His explication of how postal officers accom­ plished this revolution with “few mechanical contrivances that would have been unfamiliar to the ancients” (p. 110) clearly shows the importance of the systems within which technologies are ap­ plied. Organizing and supervising the rapid and reliable transporta­ tion of political and business matter transformed “the character of American public life” by hastening “the establishment of a national market” and creating “a public sphere to link the national capital” to the rest of the nation (pp. 52-53). While many lauded the postal system’s contributions to nation building, antistatist forces gathered under theJacksonian banner to oppose its tightly centralized control over the flow of information and its vast expenditures. They feared its potential for corruption and its power to advance federal aggrandizement through the Amer­ ican system, including internal improvements. For instance, enthusi­ asm for subsidized postal routes had already led to petitions for con­ gressional support for thousands of miles of roads. John vividly details the battles that raged over this highly salient instrument of federal power. He excoriates the Jacksonians’ abuses of patronage, which they defended by their rhetoric about dangerous governmen- TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 513 tai powers. The “dismantling operation” that resulted stalled the postal system’s development and damaged its prestige. John’s disdain for theJacksonians parallels most reactions to their destruction of the Second Bank ofthe United States. Moreover, their resolute states’ rights position on abolitionists’ mailing literature into the South lent the federal government “an explicitly proslavery cast” by 1836 (p. 281). But John’s interpretations of the ramifica­ tions ofjacksonian fears, bigotries, and actions regarding postal poli­ cies exceed his evidence. By keeping the postal system at center stage, John neglects the importance of decades of other disputes, such as the Nullification Crisis, where states’ rights rhetoric also dis­ guised proslavery interests, but in which Jackson supported the Union. Certainly the postal system was both a conduit for debate and a subject ofthat debate, contributing to polarizing attitudes over slavery. Yet we need evidence for the intervening years to substanti­ ate John’s claim that “the Jacksonians who forged the fateful link between proslavery and the Union” initially over postal issues made “a sectional clash inevitable and [set] the country on a collision course . . .” (p. 280). John’s contrast ofJohn McLean’s tenure as postmaster general (1823-28) with that of the Jacksonians’ does persuade me that they seriously set back the postal system. Perhaps the central government would have “played a more prominent role in the history of electric telegraphy, as had been the earnest hope of Samuel F. B. Morse” (p. 256). YetJohn notes in another context that “a bitter financial squabble between Morse and his business partners” had deterred Congress from extending the line built in 1844 under the aegis of the post office (p. 88). The earlier loss of prestige and public trust may have cost the post office this prize, but John advances no evi­ dence for that conclusion. John correctly argues for the importance of...

Local Markets and Regional Trade in Medieval Exeter

This book examines the vital role of market towns in the medieval economy. It focuses on Exeter, and on how it served as an important link in a marketing chain that connected local, regional, and overseas trade. Although small by most standards (the population stood at around 3,100 in 1377), Exeter was the largest town in south-western England and had long played a central role in the marketing hierarchy of the region. Its functions can be illustrated through prosopographical analysis, a methodology which creates 'collective biographies' of specific groups of traders, thereby revealing the identity - status, occupation, residence - of buyers and sellers, the goods they exchanged, where they traded, and how they marketed their goods. Such an approach also helps to characterise the town's regional networks of trade and hinterland.

Local Markets and Regional Trade in Medieval Exeter

This book examines the vital role of market towns in the medieval economy. It focuses on Exeter, and on how it served as an important link in a marketing chain that connected local, regional, and overseas trade. Although small by most standards (the population stood at around 3,100 in 1377), Exeter was the largest town in south-western England and had long played a central role in the marketing hierarchy of the region. Its functions can be illustrated through prosopographical analysis, a methodology which creates 'collective biographies' of specific groups of traders, thereby revealing the identity - status, occupation, residence - of buyers and sellers, the goods they exchanged, where they traded, and how they marketed their goods. Such an approach also helps to characterise the town's regional networks of trade and hinterland.

The medieval islamic system of credit and banking: legal and historical considerations

In contradiction to the above-quoted passage from Ecclesiastes) many economists in the past asserted, in their evolutionary views of economic history, that credit was a uniquely modern phenomenon, not occurring, or occurring with only minor economic importance, in the Middle Ages. With regard to medieval Europe, M. Postan has shown convincirlgly that credit did indeed exist, and that it played a crucial role in rhe medieval English economy, not only for consumption but for mercantile purposes as well.l Unfortunately, as C. Cahen warns us, the economic history of the medieval Near East is far behind that of medieval Europe,2 and no work analogous to Postan's has been done demonstrating the importance of credit

The medieval reindeer economy at Gæccevaj'njar'ga 244 B in the Varanger Fjord, North Norway

Medieval reindeer exploitation in northern Norway is examined via a bone assemblage excavated by Dr Knut Odner at Gæccevaj'njar'ga 244 B on the Varanger Fjord. Reindeer was by far the most important animal. The reindeer are likely to have been wild because (a) most were adult when they died—not what is expected for domestic animals—and (b) more tentatively, skeletal element representation resembles a transported assemblage. The few sheep present may have been milked, and could therefore have replaced milching reindeer.

Medieval socio-economic historiography in Western Europe: towards an integrated approach

The revival of interest in the economic history of the Middle Ages after World War II has benefitted first to the study of the fourteenth and fifteenth century through the introduction to historical practice of the theories and methods of modern economic science. Secondly the discussion on the early medieval economy launched by Pirenne's posthumous book on Mohammed and Charlemange (1937) resulted in a more dynamic and economic interpretation of the Carolingian renaissance and in a vivid discussion about its end around the year one thousand. On the contrary the centuries between these two periods, i.e. the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries, although they witnessed the biggest demographic expansion since Neolithic times, the movement of the great clearances and the growth of big cities, have been neglected. The author argues for a renewed interest in the economic history of these centuries through a more integrated approach now that the quantitative approach has passed its zenith and interest in individual people is reviving, especially the common people and their behaviour and habits. Archeology, demography and anthropology can be used for this purpose in the context of a more integrated social history of the period, no longer dominated by historians of law and institutions.

Tenurial developments and the availability of customary land in a later medieval community

T he degree to which plague was responsible for the collapse of the manorial economy has long been a vexed question, but recent commentators have tended to place it at centre stage, acknowledging that the Black Death was more than just a catalyst for processes under way since the end of the thirteenth century.2 Studies of estates and individual manors have reflected the more general debates but, whatever their stance, most have been obliged to record considerable changes in the manorial regime subsequent to the outbreak of plague and its recurrence.3 In particular, more than one study has stressed the gradual adoption of novel tenurial forms seemingly in the wake of recurrent national or local outbreaks of plague. Estate studies by Dyer and Harvey have shown how, in the second half of the fourteenth century, landlords, in order to ensure that holdings remained occupied, abandoned customary hereditable tenures with their traditional labour service component and substituted leasehold for terms of years or for lives.4 Studies of individual manors and groups of manors have often produced similar findings, although the way land was held was not uniform throughout England and responses varied according to region and type of lord.' I I am grateful to Miss Barbara Harvey and Prof. Zvi Razi for their advice on earlier drafts of this article. I would also like to thank members of seminars at the Universities of Leicester and Cambridge and anonymous referees for their valuable comments. Thanks are also due to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and to the staff of the Essex Record Office for permission to use their records. 2 Hatcher has recently reviewed the historiography and offered his own revisionist interpretation of developments in the first two decades after the arrival of plague: Hatcher, 'Aftermath of the Black Death', pp. 3-9. For a recent general overview, see also Horrox, Black Death, pp. 229-4I. Among the strongest proponents of the 'Black Death as catalyst' thesis were Levett, 'Black Death'; and, most obviously, Postan, 'Medieval agrarian society', pp. 569-70, and idem, Medieval economy and society,

Market Towns and the Countryside in Late Medieval England

This study of the interactions between market towns and their surrounding countryside is inspired by David Farmer’s work on agricultural marketing. Central place theories of "spheres of influence" are applied to a number of small English towns for which there is evidence of commercial contacts in the period 1280-1520. A sample of towns is used, including a group of contiguous market centres in the west midlands. Trading hinterlands are defined and compared, showing that a half of places with which small towns traded lay within a radius of ten km. The shape of hinterlands was influenced by a number of geographical and economic factors. Analysis of debts and records of trade contacts allows us to define the urban hierarchy and the extent of competition between towns. A commercial chain is found linking London and the ports to provincial cities and then with the network of market towns, which in turn dealt with small-scale village traders. Even some small towns, which usually went in for little specialization, developed a distinctive product or commodity. Social and cultural factors also played a part in defining relations between town and country. The study of hinterlands and relations between towns gives general insights into the medieval economy.

The Mobilization of Labour in the Milling Industry of Thirteenth- and Early Fourteenth-century England

The recourse to wage labour has traditionally been seen by historians as a second-rate option for medieval people, where access to land remained the key factor for ensuring their survival. Yet, labour opportunities, especially for craftsmen, were seemingly attractive for much of the thirteenth century at least, both in relation to the levels of pay and the probability of finding work during a time of notable investment, particularly in building. This article investigates the opportunities for labour in the milling industry of thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century England. By using mill data drawn from manorial accounts for the construction, operation and maintenance of water-mills and windmills, it was possible to estimate the equivalent full-time labour requirement for the industry. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, this ranged from 15,000 to 25,000 equivalent full-time workers per year. Employment opportunities of this scale reveal the power of industries like milling to draw substantial and varied workforces around them. The milling industry, however, peaked around 1315, after which opportunities for employment seemingly declined. Considering this in the context of the medieval economy as a whole, there seems to be a case for thinking of the adversities of the early fourteenth century in terms of recession rather than purely as a crisis in subsistence.

A Commercialising Economy: England, 1086 to c. 1300.

Commercialization and economic development in England, 1000-1300, R.H. Britnell the dynamic role of the market in the Anglo-Norman economy and beyond, 1086-1300, Graeme Donald Snooks modelling medieval monetization Nicholas Mayhew Jewish lending and the medieval English economy, Robert C. Stacey disposing of a surplus, or producing for the market? some reflections on woodland and pasture sales on the Winchester manors in the 13th century, David L. Farmer how commericalized was the seigneurial sector of English agriculture c.1300? some evidence from the hinterland of London, Bruce M.S. Campbell. Appendices: a note on the calculation of GDP and GDP per capita in 1086 and c.1300, Graeme Donald Snooks the calculation of GDP from Domesday Book, Nicholas Mayhew a note on the calculation of GDP for 1086 and c.1300, Christopher Dyer.

Women, Work, and Life Cycle in a Medieval Economy: Women in York and Yorkshire, c. 1300-1520

York and the regional economy in the later Middle Ages women and work servants and servanthood marriage in town and country moving to town patterns of cohesion and residence women, work and life cycle - a hypothesis explored.

Trade, towns and states: A reconsideration of early medieval economics∗

Trade and exchange are frequently the focus of archaeological explanations. In the study of the early medieval period an orthodoxy has been established which perceives gifts, trade and markets as the dynamics of social complexity and state formation. This article critically examines such perspectives by stressing the need to integrate patterns of exchange into broader analyses of social history. It is argued, that the fundamental development in early medieval Europe was the transformation of kinship‐based tributary social structures into structures grounded on feudal social relations. Rather than being their catalyst, patterns of trade and exchange were a reflection of these changes, as, well as an expression of the tensions and conflicts generated by an era of social transition. This will be illustrated by comparing and contrasting the rise of feudalism in England and Norway. In particular, the role of gifts, emporia and towns in the early medieval economy will be reconsidered.

Ökonomische Entwicklung des Nahen Ostens im Mittelalter im Lichte der Weizenpreise

The article provides a brief analysis of the economic development of the Middle East in the Middle Ages in light of wheat prices. In addition to highlighting the importance of wheat prices, the article concludes that the stability of wheat prices provides us with a solid foundation for further research in the field of medieval economics.

Comments on trade, towns and states: A reconsideration of early medieval economics

Comments on trade, towns and states: A reconsideration of early medieval economics

Comments on trade, towns and states: A reconsideration of early medieval economics

Comments on trade, towns and states: A reconsideration of early medieval economics

Reply to comments on trade, towns and states: A reconsideration of early medieval economics

Reply to comments on trade, towns and states: A reconsideration of early medieval economics

Women, Work, and Life Cycle in a Medieval Economy: Women in York and Yorkshire, c. 1300-1520.P. J. P. Goldberg

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsWomen, Work, and Life Cycle in a Medieval Economy: Women in York and Yorkshire, c. 1300-1520. P. J. P. Goldberg Lorraine AttreedLorraine Attreed Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 69, Number 4Oct., 1994 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2865646 Copyright 1994 Medieval AcademyPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.