The last two sections will address this issue by dividing the material into two periods preceding and following the great epidemic. The interpretation that will be provided is heavily indebted to Brenner.
Technological Change in Medieval England: A Critique of the Neo-Malthusian Argument
October 13, 2012 By
Explaining Viking Expansion
October 4, 2012 By
This thesis studies and explains employment opportunities, political motives, and societal norms as separate, individual motives that perpetuated Scandinavian migration, conquest, and adventure from the eighth through the eleventh centuries AD.
Sometimes a Codpiece Is Just a Codpiece: The Meanings of Medieval Clothes
September 26, 2012 By
I am going to take you on a small tour of clothing production and of the many roles that clothing played in medieval life.
Post-Conquest Medieval
September 25, 2012 By
Unlike the preceding millennium, which had seen the upheavals of the Roman conquest and then growing Anglo-Saxon influence, and the related socioeconomic transformations reflected, for example, in the emergence, virtual desertion and then revival of an urban hierarchy, the post-Conquest Medieval period was one of relative social, political and economic continuity.
The Gallic Aristocracy and the Roman Imperial government in the fifth century A.D.
September 23, 2012 By
The recovery, however, proved to be too superficial for the continuing prosperity of either Gaul or the Western Roman Empire. The problems of the imperial government continued with little relief. The government still had to drive out and keep out the barbarians…
Social Aggravations during the Period of Medieval Wars in Europe
September 14, 2012 By
This article makes and attempt to disclose the dynamics of development of social interactions in an aggravated environment in relation to the distinctive features of religious wars and their negative impact to the society. Crisis situations that took place in all spheres of social life are described, on the grounds of which the author comes to specific conclusions.
Agricultural wage labour in fifteenth-century England
August 22, 2012 By
In the period when agriculture dominated almost every aspect of daily life, the lords and wealthy peasants relied on paid labourers for farming business, yardlanders hired labourers to work with them, whilst moderate and landless villagers worked for hire. Agrarian wage labour is a window on the economy as well as on agricultural society.
A Tale of “Benevolent” Governments: Private Credit Markets, Public Finance, and the Role of Jewish Lenders in Medieval and Renaissance Italy
August 13, 2012 By
In Tuscan private credit markets, Jewish lending helped households to smooth consumption, buy working capital, and provide dowries for daughters.
Greed wasn’t good in the Middle Ages – historian looks at medieval business ethics
August 4, 2012 By
Self-serving behavior deemed necessary on Wall Street today might have been despised in medieval Europe. One might even have been murdered for using wealth as a justification for circumventing societal norms.
The road to the Industrial Revolution: hypotheses and conjectures about the medieval origins of the ‘European Miracle’
August 2, 2012 By
One of the big questions of economic history, and perhaps of the social sciences in general, is why Western Europe developed into an industrial society and generated a process of ‘modern economic growth’ continuing until today.
‘Imaginary’ or ‘Real’ Moneys of Account in Medieval Europe? An Econometric Analysis of the Basle Pound, 1365–1429
July 29, 2012 By
‘Imaginary’ or ‘Real’ Moneys of Account in Medieval Europe? An Econometric Analysis of the Basle Pound, 1365–1429 By Ernst Juerg Weber Explorations in Economic History, Vol.33 (1996) Abstract: During the Middle Ages, the medium of exchange function of money was separate from the unit of account function. This has given rise to the misconception that the […]
Economy of Ragusa, 1300 – 1800: The Tiger of Mediaeval Mediterranean
July 24, 2012 By
An economist is indeed tempted to think of Ragusa as the “Adriatic Tiger “ of yesteryear, an early example of a small open economy with strong fundamentals, and to hypothesize further that, in analogy to the current consensus about what it takes to minimize the impact of external crises, these strengths also allowed Ragusa to mitigate the effects of the many external shocks and financial crises in Medieval Europe.
Iceland’s external affairs in the Middle Ages: The shelter of Norwegian sea power
July 21, 2012 By
The main aim of this paper is to test the case of Iceland within the framework of small- state theory and answer its key consideration by examining whether Iceland, as a small entity/country, had external shelter or stood on its own during the Middle Ages.
Religious Orders and Growth through Cultural Change in Pre-Industrial England
July 17, 2012 By
The central hypothesis advanced in the present study is that the cultural virtues emphasized by Weber had a pre-Reformation origin in the religious Order of the Cistercians, a Catholic order which spread across Europe as of the 11th century, and that this monastic order served to stimulate growth during the second millennium by encouraging cultural change in local populations.
The acts of the Earls of Dunbar relating to Scotland c.1124-c.1289 : a study of Lordship in Scotland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
July 3, 2012 By
The thesis seeks to analyse the nature of the Dunbar lordship, uncovering its particular and essential features, yet placing and assessing it in the context of twelfth and thirteenth-century Scottish aristocratic society.
From Monasteries to Multinationals (and Back): A Historical Review of the Beer Economy
June 27, 2012 By
With the spread of his Holy Roman Empire around 800 AD, Charlemagne built many monasteries across Europe, many of which became centres of brewing.
The Cluniac Priories of Galicia and Portugal: Their Acquisition and Administration 1075-ca.1230
June 17, 2012 By
It goes without saying that two topics are central to progress on all the rest, and it is to these that the present paper will address itself. First, the problem of acquisition…Secondly, the problem of administration…
The Medieval Origins of Capitalism in the Netherlands
June 12, 2012 By
One of the fiercest and most productive historical debates – and one of the most ideology-laden – has been that on the transition from feudalism to capitalism.1 Although interest in this specific debate and its ideological implications seems to be waning now, the importance of reconstructing and explaining long-term changes in economy and society is still clear.
The Significance of Feudal Law in Thirteenth-Century Law Codes
May 31, 2012 By
In this thesis, I demonstrate the significance of feudal law to European populations and how it functions as a source of maintenance of peace and stability of land tenure.
Women in the later medieval English economy: past perspectives, new directions
May 28, 2012 By
The scholarly exploration of women in the later medieval English economy is at least a century old.
The Economic and Monetary Policy of the Byzantine Empire under Alexios I Komnenos
May 27, 2012 By
Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118) has long been regarded as both the saviour of the Byzantine Empire, bringing it back from the brink of destruction, and as the orchestrator of its final decline.
Shaping Medieval Markets: The Organisation of Commodity Markets in Holland, c. 1200 – c. 1450
May 24, 2012 By
The late Middle Ages witnessed the transformation of the county of Holland from a peripheral agrarian region to a highly commercialised and urbanised one. This book examines how the organisation of commodity markets contributed to this remarkable development
The economic decline of the church in medieval England
May 24, 2012 By
The early medieval Church was a ubiquitous presence which wielded considerable economic power. R.H. Tawney describes it as “the greatest of political institutions”.
‘The inordinate excess in apparel’: Sumptuary Legislation in Tudor England
April 29, 2012 By
Sumptuary legislation can be defined as a set of regulations, passed down by legislators through statutory law and parliamentary proclamations, that sought to regulate society by dictating what contemporaries could own or wear based on their position within society.
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