The Cambridge Economic History of Europe

690 Pages·1965·44.646 MB·English

by  M. M. POSTAN

THE
CAMBRIDGE
ECONOMIC HISTORY
GENERAL EDITORS : M. M. POSTAN, Professor of Economic History
in the University of Cambridge, and H. j. HABAKKUK, Chichele
Professor of Economic History in the University of Oxford
VOLUME HI
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
THE
CAMBRIDGE
ECONOMIC HISTORY
OF EUROPE
VOLUME HI
ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION AND
POLICIES IN THE MIDDLE AGES
EDITED BY
M. M. POSTAN
Professor of Economic History in the
University of Cambridge
E. E. RICH
Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval
History in the University of Cambridge
AND
EDWARD MILLER
Lecturer in History in the University of Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1965
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PUBLISHED BY
THE SYNDICS OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London, N.W.I
American Branch: 32 East 57th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022
West African Office: P.O. Box 33, Ibadan, Nigeria
First Edition 1963
Reprinted 1965
Printed in Great Britain by The Broadwater Press Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
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PREFACE
The plans for this volume laid down by the initiators of the series—Sir
John Clapham and Eileen Power—were given their final shape some
eight years ago; the contributors were chosen and their contracts signed
in the following year; but, despite the considerable interval, the present
volume has had to go to press without three of the chapters originally
scheduled.
Ofthe missing chapters, that on the economic policies of east European
states fell victim to the difficulties of academic communication with
Russian scholars in the early and middle fifties; that ofthe organization
I of transport had to be given up owing to the resignation of another author
I for health reasons. But the most important gap is caused by the with-
I drawal ofthe writer designated for the chapter on money and currency.
\ This was a chapter which the editors hoped to make into one of the
\ cornerstones of the volume, and which in their view was well worth
I waiting for. Unfortunately the field of monetary history is thinly held,
I and the hour was so late when the original contributor withdrew that the
I editors had to renounce all hope of recommissioning the chapter. All
they were able to do was to provide a short appendix listing the coins and
currencies mentioned in the volume and giving, where possible, their
rates of exchange.
\ According to Sir John Clapham's and Eileen Power's plans the third
| medieval volume was intended to deal with the aspects of medieval
I economic history purposely left out of the first two volumes, and in
\ the first place with economic policies and policy-making institutions.
I What suggested this division of matter was that, in the past, economic
[ policies unduly dominated the story of economic history. The develop-
ment of industry, trade and agriculture, and that of population and land
usage, were not only discussed in close relation to corresponding policies
and regulations, but were often seen through the eyes of regulating and
policy-making authorities. Thus viewed, the history of agriculture tend-
ed to be wholly absorbed into that ofthe manor, and the history of trade
and industry into that of towns and gilds. To correct this bias the plan-
ners of the series decided in the first place to devote the agricultural
volume to the various economic and social processes in the countryside
and correspondingly to reduce the space occupied by the institutional
problems ofthe manor, and, secondly, so to divide the story of industry
and trade as to make it possible for the contributors to the second volume
to devote themselves wholly to trade as an economic activity. This meant
postponing to the third volume the discussions of economic policies, of
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
vi PREFACE
policy-making institutions, and of the related problems of commercial
and industrial organization and economic theory.
This plan has in fact been consummated in this volume. The readers
will find in it two main groups of chapters: one dealing with the develop­
ment of commercial organization and of the institutions from which
economic policies issued, i.e. towns, gilds, markets, fairs and commer­
cial firms; the other concerned with the economic policies of muni­
cipalities, gilds and state governments, with taxation and with state and
municipal finance. The chapter on economic doctrines provides a sum­
mary of the ideas which dominated economic thought and to some
extent provided the policy-makers with guiding objects and criteria. In
this grouping of chapters, some naturally occupy focal positions. Thus
Mr Hibbert's subject—that of the economic policies of medieval town
governments—naturally places his chapter in the very centre of the sec­
tion concerned with urban institutions and policies. Similarly Mr Miller's
contribution to the subject of state policies—and more especially his
introductory observations—have been designed to give unity to the
various contributions to this topic. In the preparation of this section Mr
Miller has been assigned the role which Marc Bloch played in Volume I
by assembling and editing the chapters and sub-chapters concerned with
European agrarian economy at its prime.
Whether this division and arrangement of the matter is preferable to
the conventional method of presentation in which economic policies and
institutions dominate the story of trade and industry, is for readers and
critics to judge. It has undoubtedly added to the difficulties of editors and
contributors in that it prevented them from drawing on ready-made and
easily accessible versions of medieval economic history. It has not made
it any easier to place proper emphasis on some of the really 'basic' prob­
lems of economic history, such as population, prices, or formation of
capital. On the other hand it enabled the contributors to the second
volume to place the problems of commercial development in their pro­
per economic and social setting, and the writers of the third to discuss
policy and organization in relation to political and constitutional deve­
lopments which do not commonly enter into the ken of economic
history. Moreover, separate treatment of the 'basic' topics is not incom­
patible with the Clapham-Po wer plan, and the editors hope to deal with
them when the second edition of these volumes is called for.
It will be noticed that, in enforcing their general plan, the editors did
nothing to enforce a common attitude to certain fundamental problems
of medieval development. If the preceding volume, the second, happens
to exhibit, with a few inconspicuous exceptions, a common attitude to
the chronology and phasing of medieval development, this is wholly due
to the unplanned and unsolicited community of views among the con-
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PREFACE vii
tributors. In the present volume the great majority of the contributors
also share common assumptions about the direction and the rhythm of
medieval economic development. In one important instance, however,
that ofProfessor Cipolla's sub-chapter, these assumptions are questioned,
and a disagreementwith Professor Lopez's views in the second volume is
implied. The editors have done nothing to conceal or even to reconcile
this conflict and have left it to the readers to judge the case by the cogency
of the argument and the evidence cited in its support. The editors have
also refrained from interference in several less fundamental matters.
Thus the authors have been given freedom to decide the internal
arrangements—i.e. frequency and the hierarchy of sections and sub-
sections—within each chapter. The editors have also refused to interfere
drastically with the manner in which the authors have presented their
bibliographies. The subjects of individual chapters are disparate; some
cover the whole of western Europe, others are regional; some deal with
well-worn topics abundandy served by books and articles, others tread
new ground hardly traversed by earlier writers. The bibliographies
therefore differ in both length and arrangement. But, every care has been
taken to make the references to books and articles uniform in accordance
with scholarly practice prevailing in this country.
M. M. P.
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Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
CONTENTS
PREFACE page v
PART I. ORGANIZATION
CHAPTER I. The Rise of the Towns
By H. VAN WEHVEKE, Professor in the University of Ghent
I Introduction 3
II Roman Survivals 5
[ HI The New Fortifications 8
! IV The Merchant Class before the Urban Renaissance io
V The Permanent Establishment of the Merchants in
the Towns n
VI The Contour of the First Towns 14
VII The Origins of Capital 15
VIII The Status of Individuals within the Town 17
DC The Status of Town Land 19
X Types of Towns other than Trading Towns 22
XI The Town Constitutions 24
XII The Urban Patriciate 30
Xin The Democratic Revolution 34
XIV Town Populations 37
XV Conclusion 40
CHAPTER II. The Organization of Trade
By R. DB ROOVER, Professor in Brooklyn College
I A General Picture 42
II The Travelling Trade before 1300 46
DI Italian Hegemony in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Centuries 70
IV The Organization of the Hanseatic and English Trade 105
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: CONTENTS
CHAPTER III. Markets and Fairs
By C. VBRLINDEN, Professor in the University of Ghent
and Director of the Belgian Academy in Rome
I Early Fairs and Markets page 119
II The Fairs of Champagne and Flanders 126
III The Fairs of Chalon, Geneva and Lyons 137
IV Fairs of Germany, Scandinavia and Brabant 142
V The Smaller Fairs and the End of the Middle Ages 150
PART II. POLICIES
CHAPTER IV. The Economic Policies of Towns
By A. B. HIBBERT, Lecturer in the University of Cambridge
I Introductory 157
II The Permanent Elements 158
1 The Defence of Trading Interests 161
2 The Defence of the Consumer 172
III The Elements of Variety and Change 179
1 The Early Period:'Freedom'and Fiscal Policies 181
2 The Thirteenth Century: Saturation and Exploitation 198
3 The Late Middle Ages: Crisis and Response 206
CHAPTER V. The Gilds
By SYLVIA L. THRUPP, Associate Professor in the University of Chicago
I The Problems of Gild History 230
II The Development of Gild Organization 232
m Gild Economic Power in Local Trade and Industry 246
IV Gild Influence in Export Industry 265
V Gild Influence on Investment and Innovation 271
VI Conclusions 279
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