Pre-industrial Europe Research Articles

Response to: Reflections on 'Have we lost sleep?'

I would like to thank Professor Ekirch for his reflections on 'Have we lost sleep?', which contain several points that I have already responded to within the paper following his peer review of my original submission to Medical History in 2023 (Professor Ekirch having voluntarily identified himself as a reviewer in a normally double-blind process). I acknowledge that the focus of my paper was on Ekirch's original work from 2001; if I did not engage as he would have wished with his subsequent publications, this was simply because I do not perceive the same substantial developments in his thinking and research on the subject that he does. Indeed, the present critique by Ekirch amounts essentially to more of the same: a long list of references and quotes but little detailed discussion of any individual source. As my paper demonstrates, seemingly unambiguous evidence from a brief quotation can become less clear-cut when placed in context. I am sorry if I deploy the word 'might' more than Ekirch would like. This reflects, I hope, a healthy degree of uncertainty and intellectual humility in my approach to the complex issue of pre-industrial sleep. To extend Ekirch's metaphor, if the jigsaw puzzle that both he and I are trying to assemble can take the form of a cat or a dog, it is possible that its true form is neither animal. The extent to which people woke in the night in pre-industrial Europe, the duration of such awakening, and the predominant cultural attitude towards this-concern, acceptance, or indifference-are topics about which it would seem wise to avoid sweeping statements and generalisations, given the relatively long period covered and the social, cultural, and individual diversity that must be taken into consideration. I can only repeat that I think amassing more brief references, and selectively citing relatively small physiological studies and anthropological evidence from global settings, is unlikely to provide much clarity, let alone definitive answers. I welcome Professor Ekirch's contribution to this discussion as an indication that the question of segmented sleep in early modern Europe is by no means settled but is a matter of ongoing debate.

A Methodological Puzzle: The Representativeness of After-death Inventories without Monetary Valuations. The Case of Vic (1400-1460)

The present article aims to analyze the social representativeness of post mortem inventories as a valuable source for studying consumer behavior and standards of living in pre-industrial Europe. Specifically, this article examines the possibilities that Catalan after-death inventories have to offer considering their lack of monetary valuations. With the aim to understand the nature and limits of this source, this paper will use the town of Vic and its rich archives as its case study. For this purpose, this article starts by examining the institutional framework that regulated the elaboration of after-death inventories in late medieval Catalonia. This theoretical approach will be complemented with a cross-analysis of the after-death inventories of Vic, alongside the burial records and the tallas or direct taxation on wealth of this same town, in order to determine the ‘actual’ coverage of late medieval Catalan after-death inventories. Finally, the study will assess the possibilities that alternative wealth indicators may offer to socially classify after-death inventories without monetary valuations in order to establish a solid methodological foundation essential for conducting a rigorous historical analysis of pre-industrial consumption patterns in Catalonia and, by extension, all the Crown of Aragon.

The Political Economy of Status Competition: Sumptuary Laws in Preindustrial Europe

Sumptuary laws that regulated clothing based on social status were an important part of the political economy of premodern states. We introduce a model that captures the notion that consumption by ordinary citizens poses a status threat to ruling elites. Our model predicts a non-monotonic effect of income—sumptuary legislation initially increases with income, but then falls as income increases further. The initial rise is more likely for states with less extractive institutions, whose ruling elites face a greater status threat from the rising commercial class. We test these predictions using a new dataset of country and city-level sumptuary laws.It is unfortunately an established fact that both men and womenfolk have, in utterly irresponsible manner, driven extravagance in dress and new styles to such shameful and wanton extremes that the different classes are barely to be known apart. —Nuremberg Ordnance of 1657, Quoted in Hunt (1996)

Lives versus livelihoods in the middle ages: The impact of the plague on trade over 400 years

To what extent did outbreaks of bubonic plague disrupt trade? We estimate the impact of epidemics on trade between regional wheat markets over four centuries — from the Black Death in the 14th century, until the medieval form of the plague became extinct in the 17th century. Using a gravity model, we find that outbreaks had a statistically significant, but relatively modest, impact on local variations in wheat prices. The results provide quantitative evidence on the extent to which epidemics disrupted markets and trade in pre-industrial Europe.

Spinning Circle at the Mill

Spinning Circle at the Mill

Separate the Tithe: Economic Issues in the Holy Scriptures

The paper starts with the hypothesis that Adam, having been commanded to eat in the sweat of his brow, had no leisure time in the modern sense, and his leisure was limited by the sleeping time. The verification of this hypothesis needs both statistical and analytical data. Field studies of sleeping habits in hunting-and-gathering tribes from Africa and Southern America discovered statistically reliable data of 5.7-7.1 hours of sleeping time, amounts near the low end of those industrial societies. This result supports the historical analysis of sleeping habits in the preindustrial Europe. The model of economic equilibrium in a hunting-and-gathering society uncovers the perfect allocation of time produced by the golden ratio, also known as the divine proportion. The mathematics of economic equilibrium results in 6.63 hours of sleep. The application of this result to the tangibles-intangibles trade-off in the preindustrial Hebrew economy reveals the perfect share of giving to the church and the needy. It is equal to two tithes commanded to Hebrews by the Old Testament.

Thermodynamic Assessment of the Impact of Pregnancy and Lactation on the Longevity of Women

Effects of the pregnancy and the following lactation periods on the lifespan entropy of the women has been evaluated. In the case of singleton pregnancy, a wealthy woman may generate 1.5% and in the case of twin pregnancy 2.1% of the total lifespan entropy of a non-pregnant wealthy women. In the case of a poor woman the singleton pregnancy, may generate 1.8% and in case of the twin pregnancy 2.1% of the total lifespan entropy generated by the non-pregnant wealthy woman. Results of the diet-based thermodynamic calculations for the poor women are compared with the demographic data collected across pre-industrial Europe and a good agreement was found.

Early Modern Echo Chambers. Material Improvement, Social Inequality, and the Restricted Circulation of Knowledge in Pre-Industrial Bavaria

Drawing on the concept of chambered knowledge, this article focuses on the problem of non-circulation of knowledge across social groups in pre-industrial Europe. By following one of the few peasant practitioners whose knowledge transcended the barriers of peasant society, this article not only sheds light on the worldview of an especially loud and proud individual, but also seeks to analyze the conditions that prevented or allowed knowledge to jump from his native knowledge chamber to those of the local elites and the wider literary public. As the mystery of Michael Irlbeck can be partly revealed by examining the economic and socio-political pre-conditions of his agency, this article makes a more general claim for the relevance of social structures and categories in the history of knowledge.

Mothers with higher twinning propensity had lower fertility in pre-industrial Europe

Historically, mothers producing twins gave birth, on average, more often than non-twinners. This observation has been interpreted as twinners having higher intrinsic fertility – a tendency to conceive easily irrespective of age and other factors – which has shaped both hypotheses about why twinning persists and varies across populations, and the design of medical studies on female fertility. Here we show in >20k pre-industrial European mothers that this interpretation results from an ecological fallacy: twinners had more births not due to higher intrinsic fertility, but because mothers that gave birth more accumulated more opportunities to produce twins. Controlling for variation in the exposure to the risk of twinning reveals that mothers with higher twinning propensity – a physiological predisposition to producing twins – had fewer births, and when twin mortality was high, fewer offspring reaching adulthood. Twinning rates may thus be driven by variation in its mortality costs, rather than variation in intrinsic fertility.

Saving the best for last? Old age retirement among the Urban middle classes in Leiden and Regensburg (c. 1650- c. 1800)

ABSTRACT In pre-industrial Europe, many thousands of ‘middle-class’ individuals retired by purchasing a corrody: a contract allowing them life-long food and lodging, usually by spending their remaining years in a hospital. Given that people usually struggle to prepare for the later stages of life, this article asks whether corrodies were priced in line with the market. We study institutions that specialized in commercial retirement in two distinct areas: the Dutch Republic, where middle-class living standards were high in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and Bavaria, where purchasing power was lower. In the Bavarian city of Regensburg, the local hospital sold subsidized corrodies, probably to accommodate social middling groups with limited scope for saving but with a strong desire to continue to set themselves apart during old age from groups with a lower social status. In Leiden, in the Dutch Republic, it was more expensive to maintain that distinction because even lower social groups had the opportunity to save. As a result, here corrody prices were higher and more in line with the market price.

Epidemics in pre-industrial Europe: Impacts of climate change, economic well-being, and population

Academic attention is increasing to examine historical epidemics from the perspective of human ecology. Studies are still inadequate, however, from a macro-scale perspective (quantitative studies in particular) focusing on long-term dynamics of epidemics in pre-industrial Europe. In this study, two pathways in Europe during AD1350–1850, namely, “climate plus economy on epidemics” and “climate plus population on epidemics”, were empirically investigated via correlation, multivariate regression analysis, and autoregressive exogenous (ARX) analysis under the framework of human ecology. The statistical findings show that climate change, particularly cooling, affected epidemics significantly. Economic well-being was the important factor that influenced the dynamics of epidemics alongside climate change. Furthermore, if considering climatic impacts, population was also significant, but its effects had limited importance on epidemics compared with economic well-being. This study not only supplements current understanding of epidemic mechanisms within the context of human ecology, but also examines the economy–epidemic link from a pre-industrial perspective to consider the role of economy in epidemic outbreaks in the modern time. Lessons from macro-history will provide historical references to current societies when facing to unprecedented pandemic globally. • Climate change, particularly cooling, significantly affected the epidemics. • Economic well-being was the influential to the epidemics alongside climate change. • Population is less significant to epidemics if compared with economic well-being. • The climate–economy–epidemic link was reviewed from a pre-industrial perspective.

Regional Patterns of Late Medieval and Early Modern European Building Activity Revealed by Felling Dates

Although variations in building activity are a useful indicator of societal well-being and demographic development, historical datasets for larger regions and longer periods are still rare. Here, we present 54,045 annually precise dendrochronological felling dates from historical construction timber from across most of Europe between 1250 and 1699 CE to infer variations in building activity. We use geostatistical techniques to compare spatiotemporal dynamics in past European building activity against independent demographic, economic, social and climatic data. We show that the felling dates capture major geographical patterns of demographic trends, especially in regions with dense data coverage. A particularly strong negative association is found between grain prices and the number of felling dates. In addition, a significant positive association is found between the number of felling dates and mining activity. These strong associations, with well-known macro-economic indicators from pre-industrial Europe, corroborate the use of felling dates as an independent source for exploring large-scale fluctuations of societal well-being and demographic development. Three prominent examples are the building boom in the Hanseatic League region of northeastern Germany during the 13th century, the onset of the Late Medieval Crisis in much of Europec. 1300, and the cessation of building activity in large parts of central Europe during armed conflicts such as the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648 CE). Despite new insights gained from our European-wide felling date inventory, further studies are needed to investigate changes in construction activity of high versus low status buildings, and of urban versus rural buildings, and to compare those results with a variety of historical documentary sources and natural proxy archives.

Droughts, Conflict, and the Importance of Democratic Legitimacy: Evidence from Pre-Industrial Europe

Droughts, Conflict, and the Importance of Democratic Legitimacy: Evidence from Pre-Industrial Europe

Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial Europe ed. by Elise M. Dermineur

Reviewed by: Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial Europe ed. by Elise M. Dermineur Judy Bailey Dermineur, Elise M., ed., Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial Europe (Early European Research, 12), Turnhout, Brepols, 2018; hardback; pp. xi, 364; R.R.P. €100.00; ISBN 9782503570525. Elise Dermineur makes a strong case for a new work on the participation of women in credit exchanges and networks. She asserts that very little research has been undertaken in any European country or era, particularly between 1400 and 1800, which is the time span of this book. She makes the case that this period witnessed the transformation of the moral economy from one of solidarity and cooperation to one based on a more individualistic form of exchange. Scholarly research on the role of women in this transitional period is crucial. Thirteen contributors draw on a variety of sources. These include notarial records, various court records that examine debt litigation, probate inventories, and private account books. There are even pawnbroker books that are exploited in Chapter 5 by Maria Agren, who examines the role of Swedish women in early modern credit networks, and in Chapter 12, where eighteen-century Barcelonan women are the central focus of Montserrat Carbonell-Esteller. It is energizing to read a range of authors who document women’s credit and debit exchanges in a patriarchal society where there were often legal and customary constraints for women engaging in business activities. Richard Goddard examines the debts of English women in the records of the Staple courts from 1353 to 1532. He discovers evidence that although they are few in number (3 per cent of the total for these years), there are examples of women who extended credit to merchants, or members of the gentry. They were also quick to use the courts to settle debts. In 1517, one litigant, Beatrice Lavender, sued two wholesale merchants for not repaying their loans, only two months after they had failed to pay. Apart from Goddard’s chapter, there are five other chapters that document the English experience. These range from the examination of credit markets, and the use of attorneys in the fifteenth century, to debt cases involving women in the London Court of the Exchequer in eighteenth century England. The other seven chapters focus on late medieval and early modern European women. A recurrent theme in all chapters is the tension between legal frameworks and social customs. Despite constraints on their activities, women often worked around these restrictions, sometimes with the tacit approval of their communities. This edited book brings a whole range of issues to the surface and provides a good basis for further research on the role of women in the networks of trade that flourished in late medieval and early modern Europe. [End Page 280] Judy Bailey Barmera, South Australia Copyright © 2022 Judy Bailey

Inequality in Pre‐Industrial Europe (1260–1850): New Evidence From the Labor Share

The dynamics of economic inequality and its relationship with economic growth in the preindustrial world is increasingly attracting the attention of both economists and economic historians. In this paper, we tackle this theme by introducing new estimates of the labor share in five major European countries (England, France, Holland, Spain, and Portugal) for the period 1250–1850. Our estimates are constructed using an innovative method based on the conversion of real wages in 2011 PPP $. Overall, we find a complex pattern of evolution of the labor share with major fluctuations. Furthermore, using the inequality possibility frontier (IPF) framework, our results suggest that preindustrial Europe was characterized by a negative relationship between the extraction ratio and GDP.

Conservation’s Roots: Managing for Sustainability in Preindustrial Europe, 1100–1800. Edited by Abigail P. Dowling and Richard Keyser.

Conservation’s Roots: Managing for Sustainability in Preindustrial Europe, 1100–1800. Edited by Abigail P. Dowling and Richard Keyser.

ARTISAN MOBILITY IN PREINDUSTRIAL EUROPE AND MOBILITY WITHIN THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA

This research work performs a comparative study between the artisan mobility in the preindustrial Europe and the mobility within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), emphasizing key aspects of the EHEA associated with mobility such as employability, technological transfer, social cohesion and receptiveness to new ideas. It can be concluded that, indeed, artisan mobility in preindustrial Europe was as a precedent for mobility within the EHEA, in the context of engineering education, from the detailed study of (a) movements of skilled artisan institutionally organized by states and political authorities, (b) tramping system, whose institutional backbone shows a clear parallelism with the organizational framework that supports the mobility within the EHEA, and that also contributed to overcome problems of information asymmetry in the labour market between local employers and itinerant workers, and consequently to solve problems of journeyman unemployment, (c) journeyman mobility as a teaching program integrated into the craft guild framework, which could restrain the information asymmetry in the commodity market by giving traceability and additional validation to the artisan instruction, and (d) minority migrations, which acted as a spur for the mobility within the EHEA because they allowed Europe to be aware of the importance of tolerance and receptiveness to new ideas. Keywords: Technology transfer; Employability; Labour mobility; EHEA; Preindustrial Europe

THE APPRENTICESHIP IN CRAFT GUILDS IN PREINDUSTRIAL EUROPE: A MODEL FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA

This work aims to carry out a comparative study between the apprenticeship system in the craft guilds in preindustrial Europe and the educational methods used in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), with the aim of highlighting the role, within the field of engineering education in the EHEA, of the practice-driven approach (learning by doing), which yielded excellent results during centuries to craft guilds, since their institutionalized apprenticeship system was one of the reasons for their long-term survival. The transmission of technical skills and associated innovation were effectively supported by craft guilds but not as a main objective and even, sometimes, as a cause of undesired effects (formation of future competitors, revelation of secrets or shift of control over the production process from the owners of skills to the owners of capital. It has been demonstrated that both the organizational modalities or scenarios and the educational methods of the EHEA (except the binomial scenario-method formed by the theoretical class and the master lecture) used in engineering education, have a clear precedent in the preindustrial craft guilds, which emphasize the learning process instead of the teaching process and established, several centuries in advance and without intending to, a model for the EHEA. Keywords: Craft guilds; Apprenticeship; Learning by doing; Engineering education; EEES

Book Review: Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial Europe

Book Review: <i>Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial Europe</i>

New Books across the Disciplines

New Books across the Disciplines