Transcript Agricultural Economy

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.