1.6M: Agriculture and European Social Organization

team (2)

AP Theme

Social Interactions and Organization

Learning Objective 1M

Explain the effects of agriculture on social organization in Europe from c. 1200 to c. 1450.

Historical Development 1

Europe was largely an agricultural society dependent on free and coerced labor, including serfdom.

Historical Development 2

A commercial revolution moved Europe toward an economy based on trade and commerce, not manorialism and agriculture. 

Before the 14th century, Europe was a rural and agricultural society. People lived within a “manorial” economic system that defined their social role and status. 

The European Commercial Revolution began the process of transforming Europe from a society dominated by agriculture to a society based on trade and commerce. This changed the European social structure and class system as merchants and business people gained wealth, status, and influence. 

Contents

Europe In The Middle Ages Was Primarily an Agrarian Society

Main idea

Before the 14th century, Europe was a rural and agricultural society. People lived within a “manorial” economic system that defined their social role and status. 

During the middle ages, most economic activity in Western Europe was agriculture which used free peasant labor and coerced serf labor. While Western Europe had some urban centers, before the 14th century, they were usually smaller and less populated when compared to urban centers in other regions. Thirteenth century China, for example, had multiple cities will populations over 1 million. By 1300, the largest cities in Europe were the Italian cities of Venice, Milan, and Florence, each with 100,000 residents. Major Northern European cities of Paris numbered fewer than 50,000 residents.

Notable exceptions: A notable exception to low European urbanization was in Muslim-controlled Cordoba in Southern Spain, which had an urban population of over 400,000 in the 10th century. The capital of the Byzantine Empire in Eastern Europe had a population of over 800,000 from the 8th to the 10th century. Better economic conditions from trade connections allowed these cities to flourish.

Manorialism was the dominant economic system in many parts of Europe

Manorialism was a part of the feudal system. Manors were self-sustaining economies that produced most of what those who lived on the manors needed for survival. Because manors made most of what they needed, there was little need for commerce in European areas with manorial economies.

How manors functioned

The lord of the manor was the most powerful person on the manor. Everything revolved around the lord and his family.

  • Living on the manor meant that you were subject to the rules and will of the lord.
  • Manor residents supported the lord by working for him directly, turning over some of their production to the lord, and paying rent or taxes.
  • Manor residents also supported the manor’s church by giving a portion of their yearly production to the church.
  • Most people on the manors did not use money but bartered with others on the manor for what they needed and could not produce themselves.
  • The manor lord was responsible for using his power to protect residents’ legal rights and physical safety.

Types of land on medieval European manors

Manors had several kinds of land used for different purposes. 

Demesne land

The lord directly controlled this land and used it for the benefit of his family. The lord’s house was on this land, and peasants and serfs worked the land to produce agriculture for the lord’s family.

Dependent land

Those that lived on dependent land had to give the manor lord labor or a percentage of goods produced on their dependent land.

Free land

Those living on free land had the most rights and fewest restrictions on the manor. They did not have to work for the lord directly or provide him with any of their production. However, they did have rental contracts with their lord that required them to pay rent and taxes to the lord.

Economic impacts of manorialism

Manors produced most of what they needed, which limited commerce and economic growth.

  • Europe did not have a significant presence of major global trading networks like the Trans-Saharan network, the Silk Roads, and the Indian Ocean commercial network.
  • Low economic growth limited the development of European math and sciences.

The social structure of manors

Each manor resident had a clear place in the manor’s labor and social systems. The groups are listed in order of social status from the highest to the lowest.

1. The lord of the manor

Lords of the manor ran the estate and lived in the large manor house. The manor lord and his family often held noble titles like a duke or an earl. Most of the manor's production and wealth went to support the lord and his family.

2. Members of the clergy

Every manor had one or more churches. Some manors were themselves the property of and run by church officials. The priests and monks that ran the churches did not perform labor for the lord of the manor. All manor residents provided for the church by giving the church tithe—turning over a portion of their production to support the church.

3. Artisans and craftspeople

Artisans and craftspeople produced nonagricultural items on the manor. Manors often had cobblers who made shoes or tailors that made clothes.

4. Peasants and serfs

Free peasant labor and coerced serf labor grew and harvested the manor's crops and managed the domesticated animals. Both groups were economically dependent upon the manor lord. Peasants were free people with different responsibilities to the estate and the lord—either working for the lord directly for a required period or giving a required portion of personal production from lands some peasants rented from the lord or owned on the estate. Serfs' situations were more complicated. Unlike peasants, serfs were not free people. They could not leave the manor without the permission of the manor lord. They also generally had to provide more work to the manor lord than peasants.

The end of manorialism

Manorialism ended at different times in different regions of Europe. The first significant decline in manorial manors began in the 11th century in parts of Northern and Western Europe. By the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, most of Europe had commercialized, and only a few manors remained. Russian Czar Alexander II ended the last remaining manor relationships when he abolished Russian serfdom in 1861

The European Commercial Revolution

Main idea

The European Commercial Revolution began the process of transforming Europe from a society dominated by agriculture to a society based on trade and commerce. This changed the European social structure and class system as merchants and business people gained wealth, status, and influence. 

The European Commercial Revolution was the creation of a European economy based on trade and commerce, not manorialism. The re-commercialization of Europe began as early as the 13th century and continued for centuries. By the start of the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the 18th century, Europe had become the world’s most commercialized region.

Italy commercialized before the rest of Europe

The location of the Italian city-states in Southern Europe placed them between the rest of Europe and goods coming from the east. What goods Italian merchants could not sell in Italy, they brought to Northern Europe. Merchants sold their goods at trade fairs in large villages and urban areas. Merchants from other parts of Europe would buy and sell the goods back home.

Guilds

A guild is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. During the Commercial Revolution, guilds expanded throughout Europe. There were guilds for many different types of work—hatters (hat makers), carpenters (cut and shaped wood to make various large wooden objects like cabinets or window frames, weavers, and cobblers (shoemakers). Merchants also had guilds that managed commerce and trade within a town or region. You could not work in a particular field or engage in business in an area controlled by a guild unless you were a guild member.

  • Guilds became politically and economically powerful.
  • Guilds had monopolies over production and trade within their regions.
  • Guilds set quality standards for products produced by guilds.
  • Guilds also set prices for guild-produced goods.

The Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was a confederation (a group in an alliance) of towns and merchant guilds in Northern and Central Europe along the coast of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The League dominated commerce in the region between the 13th and 15th centuries. The League stretched from the coast of the Netherlands in the west to the Russian coast in the east. The goal of the League was to promote trade between League members.

  • The League promoted information sharing between members.
  • The League provided security by fighting pirates and bandits.
  • The League promoted new financial practices to make payments between merchants and cities easier.
  • The League developed a standard set of trade laws for cities in the League.
  • The League allowed merchants and cities in the League to trade their goods without import and export taxes.

The causes of the European Commercial Revolution

The commercial revolution resulted from various political, economic, and social changes that began as early as the 11th century and slowly led to higher amounts of business and commerce.

Cause 1: increased food production

Agricultural innovations resulted in increased production and food supply. The three-field system of rotating crops between three fields improved soil nutrients while allowing farmers to plant more land yearly. New plow technologies also made preparing fields for planting easier with less labor.

Cause 2: the growth of towns and cities

With less labor needed for agriculture, economic opportunities in rural areas decreased. Rural residents began to towns and cities for better economic opportunities.

Cause 3: revival of a money economy

Before the Commercial Revolution, most ordinary people did not have money. When you lived on a manor or grew enough for your family to eat, there was not much use for money. Most money existed only as gold coins with high values that only wealthy elites like manor owners could afford to keep. As commerce increased across Europe, bronze and copper coins began to be issued. These coins had values small enough to use for everyday economic transactions like buying food.

Cause 4: increased access to banking and financial services

Before the Commercial Revolution, most ordinary people did not have money. When you lived on a manor or grew enough for your family to eat, there was not much use for money. Most money existed only as gold coins with high values that only wealthy elites like manor owners could afford to keep. As commerce increased across Europe, bronze and copper coins began to be issued. These coins had values small enough to use for everyday economic transactions like buying food.

  • Banks: More money required the creation of banks to store money. The earliest banks began in the Italian city-states.
  • Bills of exchange: Banks and merchants began using pieces of paper called bills of exchange that had specific values and were exchangeable between merchants and banks. They functioned as a promise of future payment and allowed large transactions without physical money.
  • Insurance: Commerce was a risky business. Thieves could attack a merchant caravan, or pirates could raid merchant ships. Insurance helped safeguard merchants from the loss of their goods.

The effects of the European Commercial Revolution

The European Commercial Revolution’s impacts reshaped Europe and the world.

Effect 1: more sophisticated European economies

By the 13th century, Europe's economy had started to diversify as the production of nonagricultural goods increased. Over time, merchants gained social, economic, and political power as they combined into guilds (see above).

Effect 2: Europe reconnected to major global trade networks

By the 16th century, European business, commerce, and investing had reconnected the continent to international trade communities. These connections were the strongest since European trade decreased when the Roman Empire fell in the 4th century CE.

Effect 3: inspired European expansion

European elites and merchants' desire for cheaper and direct access to Asian trade goods led Europeans to invest in maritime exploration. This maritime exploration resulted in the European age of exploration and conquest.

Effect 4: Europe's violent conquest of the Americas

By the end of the 15th century, Spain had begun building its Spanish Empire. Spain's superior gunpowder technology, which American natives lacked, allowed them to overthrow native peoples' power and steal their lands and wealth. By 1521, the Spanish had defeated the Aztecs. The conquest of the Inca Empire took several decades, but by 1572, the Spanish controlled most formerly Inca lands.

Effect 6:the expansion of the African slave trade

Following their takeover of the Americas, the Portuguese and Spanish created cash crop economies in the region. Colonizers established plantations that produced sugar and other commodities. The Spanish also operated several large mines in Spanish America. Within a few decades, most forced labor in mines and on plantations became imports of enslaved Africans who slave catchers and merchants brutally forced from their homes in Africa. Tens of millions died due to more than 400 years of slavery in the Americas.

Effect 7: European powers established trading post empires in Africa and Asia

Europe established trading post empires in Africa and Asia, starting in the 16th century. Native rulers sometimes allowed Europeans to establish their bases. Other times Europeans forced their way into coastal areas to develop their trading hubs. Over the next several hundred years, European power grew across Africa and Asia as European countries expanded their empires. By the end of the 19th century, Europe directly controlled or influenced much of Africa and Asia.

Effect 6: The European Industrial Revolution

European wealth from the Commercial Revolution, new trade connections with Africa and Asia, and stolen wealth from the Americas were important components that helped create the conditions necessary to start the European Industrial Revolution. The modern globalized world would not have been possible without the industrial production, transportation, and communication technologies that have since developed.