Economic Changes Of The Mediev Essay, Research Paper

Until fairly recently, the middle ages have been recognized as a period of social and economic stagnation. The humanists of the renaissance, whose ideal was inspired by the antique civilization, considered the medieval world as a period of darkness and influenced greatly the biased perception of future generations. Even though it is true that the middle ages were characterized by political and social instability, the institutions which emerged in Western Europe, were to be the foundations of the greatest social and economic revolution mankind has ever encountered. Indeed, the industrial revolution which followed the so called dark ages, affected society in such a way that in a lifetime, a man could have seen more changes than all his ancestors combined.

Throughout this essay, I will analyze the changes that began to change the medieval world into an early modern one. As I describe these changes, I will comment on their effect on future societies and whether, on balance, futures societies have gained or lost from these transformations.

The economy of the medieval world was to a great extent agricultural. Even though the urban population grew steadily, especially in Italy and the Nederland, it is the rural institutions which shaped the social, political, and economic landscape of the medieval world.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, many barbarian tribes tried to established kingdoms in Europe but very few succeeded. The Francs did established somewhat of a comprehensive kingdom in France and later in other parts of Europe but lacked effective administrative organisation or financial means, and was only a pale reflect of the old Roman Empire . It is therefore in a context where no strong political power was able to dominate the majority of Europe that the seigniorial system emerged as the major social institution of the medieval world. In its simplest form, the seigniorial system had three very distinctive social classes: the nobles to protect the population and impose justice, the peasants to labour the land and breed animals, and the clergy for the salvation of souls. The peasants worked the lands of the Lord in return for its protection. The manor was to a great extend self sufficient, the peasants laboured enough food for their population, the majority of manor had their own watermill where they could grind wheat and had necessary facilities to produces weapons for military purposes. Local trade did exist between manors especially in times of food shortage. Even though the nobles represented only about 5 % of the population, it is they that accounted for the vast majority of oversea trade, which consisted mostly of luxury goods.

The most important economic inventions of the early Middle Ages were all concerned with the improvement of agricultural methods. The peasants gradually switch to a three-field system which allowed a field to rotate from an intensive culture to a less intensive culture to a period of rest and so on, leading to greater productivity of the soil. There was also the invention of the heavy wheeled plow, which was more suitable for heavy soil.

No real economic expansion can be possible without improvements in the agricultural techniques. A starving population does not think about improving its means of production, it only thinks about getting food. Agricultural innovations are unarguably a positive change that allowed future generations to meet their most basic needs. Although it is true that still today a considerable proportion of the population dies because of the lack of food, it is due to the disparities in the world food distribution and not because of a shortage of it. The present total food production could easily feed every mouth around the globe but because of economic interests, sometimes food is simply thrown away. But the improvement in agricultural techniques has made food available to a much larger part of the population compared to earlier civilization. Therefore, these improvements during the medieval time allowed the standards of living of these populations to be greatly enhanced.

The period from roughly 1250 to the arrival of the Black Death in Europe in 1348 was one of urban development and intensified trade . Cities became centres of economic activities where many of today s institutions can find their roots. As instruments of trade became more sophisticated and demand for goods produced in cities increased, prosperous urban centres rebelled against the control of local lords and bishops, favouring a self-government independent from the monarch of Europe.

To defend and promote their interest, the merchants and masters artisans formed associations known as guilds. Within these very selective organisations, guilds assured the quality of goods they produced and sold, and also maintained a monopoly over the craft, trade, and pricing of these products .

The growth of trade and manufacturing increased the need for financial institutions especially since every monarchy, independent city, or bishops minted their own coins, many specialist were needed to verify the metal content of each coin. But more sophisticated financial instruments were developed during these years. By the late 1300 s book transfer had become common place, which was essentially a transfer of founds from one account to another. At first they were only given orally but by 1400, they were commonly written and can be considered as the direct ancestor of the modern check . Loans and grants are a major instrument of economic growth in a society but in medieval times, the church strongly condoned the gain of money from money itself. The church only encouraged the making of money from honest work such as handwork from peasants and artisans. The Christians merchants found ways to disguised their profit making on loans. The most widely used was the bill of exchange which was essentially a loan but which was to be repaid to the creditor in an higher valued currency at a certain time and place; usually during commercial fairs such as Champagne. Therefore the profit was technically not from making the loan but from the exchange of two currencies.

The use of accounting for commercial purposes can be traced back to the ancient world, but it was not until the late medieval times that it became common use. Bookkeeping allowed enterprises to keep track of their financial situations and therefore better economic management.

Insurance was another very important financial instrument that was developed during the medieval period. This risk-sharing agreement was mostly used in navigation expedition, which eliminated the risk of losing everything if the ship went down. This resulted in a growing number of expeditions, which contributed to the growth of trade and economic relations. To collect capital, a growing number of business associations and partnership were starting to take form, especially in Italian cities such as Venice. The earliest one consisted of an investor who gave money to a merchant in return for a share of its profit. The association lasted only for the length of the expedition. Some Italian cities during the medieval period saw the emergence of longer association known as Compagnia. These early form of modern corporation included persons who shared capital and know-how for a common interest, usually within the same family .

The emergence of universities and science in the late medieval times was undoubtly a major sparkle for economic growth. There were also many inventions in such field as in mining and metallurgy, which benefited from a series of invention that lowered the cost of metals and extended their use. Many innovations in the art of war took place during the middle ages. The invention of the firearms and canons is probably the most important and were first mentioned in 1328 . Another invention which has had a profound effect on society is the clock, mainly because it brought a new regularity to life. Before the invention of the clock, a person had to rely on the sun to tell the time of day and was therefore very imprecise. Whether the clock brought an improvement in the lives of people is a difficult question. The factory workers of early industrialization would probably not think so, because they had now lost the freedom of their time as they were treated much more like those new machines than as human beings. But without the clock, the standards of living that we enjoy today would be impossible; just try to spend an entire without looking at the time.

The invention of printing is another invention which had an enormous impact. Gutenberg was the first to produce a major work through printing in 1455. Its immediate impact was to cut the cost of book and multiply the number in circulation. It contributed largely to the widespread of knowledge and to the advance of technology and scholarship.

As many of these changes shaped modern society, it is difficult to refer to the medieval world as the dark ages . It should indeed be referred as a time of changes where the foundations of modern societies took shape.

We need to make a clear distinction between economic growth and economic development if we want to analyse the real effects of these changes on future societies. Economic growth refers to the increase in a countries production or income per capita and Economic Development refers to economic growth accompanied by changes in output distribution and economic structure . If we want to analyse the benefit of economic growth, we must therefore not solely look at economic growth but also at its effect on living standards of society as a whole. The changes of the medieval world unarguably led the way to economic growth of future western societies but in what way did it affect every days lives of its population is the real question.

We are often led to have a biased view of the actual living conditions of previous time.

We are led to forget the dominating misery of other times by the grace of literature, poetry, romance, and legend, which celebrate those who lived well and forget those who lived in the silence of poverty (Rosenberg, p. 3). The actual misery of the majority of the population of medieval times can be seen in the many famines, early deaths, diseases, and frequent rebellions. The lords and a few merchants were the only one who benefited from the relative prosperity of the middle ages. The line between slavery and peasants of the middle ages was a very narrow one since peasants usually did not owned the lands and were bounded to their lords for life. Moving up the hierarchical classes of the middle ages was something virtually impossible. If your father was a peasant, so would you. In that perspective, the economic changes of the medieval times, which led to the emergence of the modern world, allowed greater liberty of individual choices. The liberty to choose one s own path in life is probably the greatest index of economic development. Event though disparities between rich and poor individuals, and more so between countries, is still enormous, the ability for an individual to move up the ladder of hierarchy is easier than any previous societies. The myth of the self made man embodies perfectly the opportunities in today s society. Of course the odds are strongly against you if you are born in a poor family in a developing country but in developed countries, especially those like France where higher education is free, every human has almost an equal chance of reaching their goals.

The idea that one day every human will be equal is very utopian because there will always be losers and winners, as it is the nature of life itself to try to dominate its environment. Capitalist societies, which can find its early roots in medieval time, gave the ambitious the opportunity to express its need for domination through economic imperialism instead of blood and death.

Life in the middle ages was one of survival only. The economic growth allowed populations to move away from famine and hunger toward literacy, education, and greater possibilities. A modern society of course has its limits, as millions are still left behind. But the overall gain unarguable there, thanks to the billions of human beings before us who shaped modern society with their own blood and sweat.