Economics history questions
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Lect6f17WEurope.pptxLect6 Western Europe
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Western Europe 1000 CE
Background: Roman Empire maintained control over a large area by collecting land taxes to support a large army; the elite lived in cities; trade was facilitated by order and by Roman roads and Mediterranean shipping (grain to Rome); all this broke down from Germanic invasions
Reversion to autarky; towns deserted; bandits and raiders; elites lived on estates
W. Europe
Political order had to be established at the local level; monasteries were one form; this bottom-up creation of order lies at the heart of European political pluralism
In 800-900 period, WE suffered from external raids coming from Vikings, Saracens (Arabs), and Magyars (Hungarian tribe)
W. Europe
French king controlled an area around Paris; his descendants eventually became kings of France, but that was a long way off
German king set up a dynasty in area east of the Rhine; he called himself the Holy Roman Emperor, but he had to negotiate with hundreds of German princes
W. Europe
England had Anglo-Saxon king, who paid tribute to Danish (Viking) overlord
French king invited the Viking Rollo to settle in Normandy (northwestern France); Rollo’s descendents became the feared Normans, ferocious warriors and overlords
In 1066 William, descendent of Rollo invaded England, established Norman rule over it
W. Europe
The Normans established a uniform rule over England; common law applied to the whole; conflict between native Anglo-Saxons and French-speaking Normans, but that division disappeared and England became the most unified of these kingdoms
W. Europe
France; French king built up territory from area around Paris; English kings claimed large territories in France until they were driven out around 1440s
Spain and Portugal were reconquered by Christian knights; most of it by 1300; Granada finally conquered in 1492
W. Europe
Italian city states: Venice, Genoa; achieved independence from German emperor in 1200s
Merchant oligarchies ran trading networks; these were the richest areas of Europe until 1500, trading with Muslim world, bringing the luxuries to northern Europe
Armed Trading in Mediterranean: Marks 61-62 Venice and Genoa sought monopolies
Feudal system; manorial system
Feudal system; king has vassals, vassals have lands and knights and sub-vassals; personal oath of allegiance; king can call on vassals to engage in military campaign; knights are loyal to immediate superior
Manorial system: most peasants are serfs, bound to the soil; they owe payments and labor services to the lord; they seek safety in castle
Manorial system
Communal agriculture; heavy soils plowed by strong horses in long strips; peasant animals graze on the commons
Armored knights on large horses are the tanks of medieval warfare; knights of NW Europe used muscle to expand into Spain, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe; and then crusades to Holy Land
Military technology
950-1350 in Western Europe: 3 components
1. Armor for knights and (large) horses; cavalry charge
2. bows and arrows: short bow, longbow, and crossbow
3. castles: first wooden, later stone
Frankish knights expanded into England, Spain, eastern Europe, Holy Land
Feudal-manorial system
Frankish knights spread their social-economic-military system from the heartland in northern France; highly aristocratic structure of society
Incentives for knights to undertake campaigns and acquire fiefs; even peasants were given incentives to migrate to new areas
Military technology also acquired through emulation by local elites (Scandinavia, EE)
Parliaments
Kings had to negotiate with barons (magnates, large landowners), some of whom had substantial forces of knights and infantry
Magna Carta in England in 1215
Similar assemblies spread over Western Europe by 1500
Model of roving bandit
Roving bandit (or raider) preys on settled farmers, taking their food and valuables
He leaves devastation, and moves on
If he can establish order in a new territory (keeping out other roving bandits), he can provide property rights for peasants, giving them some incentive to produce; he collects taxes rather than plunder
Model of stationary bandit
The roving bandit becomes a stationary bandit, or king; win-win for peasants and king
Peasants and merchants have incentive to invest, even though they pay heavy taxes
King has incentive to build infrastructure (roads, irrigation, defensive walls)
Viking raiders in England
Eastern Europe: Germans vs Slavs
