6. Agricultural Economy AP Euro

CAUTION! Taking notes in class is in NO WAY a substitute for reading. On the tests, you will be responsible for whatever I assign you to read and for what I tell you in class. The devil is in the details. Know the details!

Today vs. Late Medieval Europe Today we have a mostly service oriented economy (health care, retail, etc.,). There is a small amount of manufacturing and agriculture. In the late Middle Ages, the economy was PREDOMINANTLY agricultural.

Feudal dues The lord of the land received both the income of the land and the jurisdiction over all of its inhabitants. Feudalism was highly contractual. For example, the lord of a manor granted a plot of land to each of his serf families in exchange for the service in the form of unpaid labor on the lord’s lands. Land was traded for service.

Peasants Also Owed Part of the harvest had to be paid to the lord because he in fact owned the land and was a lord. These payments to lords are known as feudal dues. A tithe of 10% of their revenue had to be given to the Church. This was obligatory.

Growth of Agriculture Economic life was not stagnant in the late middle ages. New sources of power arose such as the windmill and water-mill. Also, there were the iron plough and horsepower along with crop rotation. The food supply increased so there was a resulting rise in population. Free peasants also produced more food than a serf.

Woolen Industry Sheep were also raised. You had manufacturing when the wool was taken from the sheep and used in the production of textiles (clothing). Northern Italy , northern France, Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands. The city of Antwerp was Europe’s first center of trade.

Guilds vs. Domestic Industry Production of clothing was controlled by guilds (unions). They existed only within the walls of towns and cities. Guilds controlled the amount, quality of goods, and even the price of goods that they made. So as to increase profit for themselves, some middle class merchants took raw, unspun wool outside of the town walls to the homes of peasants. There, in the cottages of the peasants, it would be spun. This is called cottage industry or domestic industry. Women often did the spinning and weaving.

Subsistence Economy The term expresses the dire nature of life for peasants. They owed part of their crops to their lord and to the church. They also owed the lord a number of days to work the lord’s land. Peasants also owed fees for the right to mill grain, brew beer, or bake bread.

Remember the inventions Iron plow Horse collar Three field system of crop rotation

Peasant Plots The three field system required large landholdings since one third of the land had to lie fallow. Peasants had much smaller plots to farm so they did not use the three field system. They used hand “swing” plows. No animals used.

Common Land Poor landless peasants could and did use the land held in common by the village. These were known as common lands. The entire village owned it. NOTE: this practice was often wasteful since it was not used as part of the more efficient three-field system.

Serfs to Peasants Serfs are agricultural workers who are tied to the land they work. They are not slaves, but they cannot legally leave the land. Peasants have the right to leave the land and to own it. In the 1200s, there was a shortage of labor, so lords had to grant favorable terms to their workers so as to keep them working. In this way, many serfs in Western Europe purchased their freedom. Peasants still owed feudal dues to their lords

Where serfdom still existed Central Europe; that is land east of France including eastern Europe (Russia)

Slow Growth of Money Economy Many peasants transformed their feudal obligations from that of crops to that of money. This, along with changes in banking practices, assisted in the growth of a money economy. The changing economy was evident in the rise of cash crops, crops grown for a monetary profit. Grain was the typical cash crop.

Investing Agricultural surpluses could be invested in commerce (buying and selling of goods) and manufacturing.

Migration Migrations are TEMPORARY movements of people. When a move is permanent then it is an immigration. Some work appeared only a seasonal basis so you would see workers moving from different regions.