The Expansion of Europe

The Expansion of Europe

Scope: In the ninth century, Europe was battered by Muslim, Magyar, and Viking attacks and invasions. By 1095, a confident, aggressive Europe struck out against its neighbors in a movement, the Crusades, tha 23523f52x t was sustained over two centuries. Political Europe expanded physically as new states emerged in the Celtic world, Scandinavia, and the Slavic lands. The European population grew as never before. The European economy achieved unprecedented levels of prosperity. New technologies were introduced. This lecture will focus on the material conditions of life between about 900 and 1300.

Outline

The period from 900 to 1300 was one of the longest eras of sustained

growth in world history.

A. Growth was evident in almost every aspect of life.

B. This growth is the crucial background to political and cultural achievements of the period.

II. The first fundamental fact is long-term rise in population.

A.

The increase began slowly in the Carolingian period, became most intense from 1050 to 1200, then slowed from 1200 to 1275, finally leveling off.

B. The evidence is qualitative, not quantitative, including larger families; people living longer; no plague or famine; warmer, drier climate; new land under cultivation; and better diet.

III. There was modest technological innovation and dissemination.

A. The Romans generally were not interested in technological gains.

B. Medieval people vastly expanded cereal production. How?

Production was expanded through greater use of horses as draft animals.

This necessitated better harnessing and virtually universalized the horseshoe.

C. The new heavy, wheeled plow, with an iron share, first introduced from the Slavic world in the Carolingian period, became more widely disseminated.

D. Water mills were widely used from the eleventh century.

Mills demanded engineering gains in gearing.

Mills were imperative because of the increased availability of grain; this made more flour available for bread, the staple food.

E. Land began to be more efficiently used. The three-field system, a Carolingian-era innovation, spread to much of Europe.

F. With more land under the plow and a greater variety of crops, there was insurance against a season of bad weather.

G. There was a growing tendency to agricultural specialization. People and regions combined to produce what they were best suited to produce.

H. Improved roads and transport vehicles made it possible for more goods to travel farther and faster.

I. Agricultural gains in the countryside served to promote far-flung urban markets.

J. Church and secular governments worked to protect trade and traders; agricultural specialization was also a major impetus to trade.

Trade was facilitated by fairs (as in the Champagne region); leagues of cities and ports; banking agencies; and contracts, partnerships, and insurance.

Several vast commercial networks emerged in addition to intense local exchange: North and Baltic Seas; Danube Basin; Rhone­Saone route; Italian cities and eastern Mediterranean; Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean via caravan routes.

K. There were greater efficiencies in surface mining.

This made available more iron and stone, which facilitated farming, warfare, and construction.

Transport was crucial in this realm, as well.

IV. These factors put more money into circulation, facilitated economic specialization, and promoted the growth of towns.

A. Early medieval towns were usually seats of government or bishops' sees.

B. In the Carolingian period, many towns had faux-burgs or sub-urbs, where peddlers and part-time merchants gathered.

C. After 1100, townspeople were increasingly permanent and engaged in trade or industry (artisanal more than "heavy," apart from cloth).

I). Townspeople needed different things than the rural elites who dominated society and politics: peace, security, order, supplies of food, and raw materials:

V. Changed economic circumstances spawned reflections on the economy.

A. The condition of the poor became more evident.

B. Legislation and preaching turned against usury, the lending of money at interest.

C. Theologians and lawyers defined the concept of the "just price."

VI. Europe in what we call the High Middle Ages was dynamic and prosperous. Such widespread prosperity had not been evident since the Pax Romana.

Essential Reading:

Bartlett, The Making of Europe.

Duby, The Early Growth of the European Economy.

Herlihy, Opera Muliebria: Women and Work in Medieval Europe.

Questions to Consider:

Consider the signs of economic growth discussed in this lecture and look for ways in which they are interrelated and interdependent.

Do the factors that generated urban growth in medieval Europe still sustain cities today?