Discussion question: What were the economic problems facing Europeans in the Middle Ages? Did they adapt to those problems efficiently? Student1: The economic problems in the Dark Ages of Europe attribute to feudalism, war, and disease. European feudal lords and Christian bishops joined forces, and some of them combine religion and politics. In order to plunder the land for production, feudal lords often start wars. While, the serfs were bound to work hard on the land but could hardly keep themselves fed, the knight attached to the feudal Lord and fought everywhere(Asceticism made the knight live in war and sexual repression.) Inspired by the Pope, Europe carried out a long period of Crusade to protect religion, burning and looting along the way, and the Crusaders suffered heavy casualties. Especially in the late middle ages, bubonic plague "Black Death" spread across the continent, killing more than half of Europe's population. However, the mass decrease of the population destroyed the economy--the collapse of which caused backward institutions to fall like dominoes, leading to weak governance and a revolution in social education patterns. To begin with, the turmoil of the Later Middle Ages, which had weakened the Church and Nobles, was largely subsiding by 1450. This led to the emergence of strong monarchies in Western Europe that could safeguard peace and promote trade and commerce. On top of that, the nobles, ruined by inflation and the collapsed urban grain market triggered by the Black Death, had sold most of their serfs their freedom by 1450. Finally, the peasants who had survived the Black Death and inherited the property of those who died had attained a higher standard of living. The fact that most peasants were now free and that many owned their land provided the incentive to work harder that led to better agricultural production. One good indication that this was taking place was the fact that Europe's population rose from an estimated 50 million in 1450 to 70 million by 1500. Student2: At the beginning of the Middle Ages, Europeans faced the changeable systems due to heavy taxation and urban institutions. The Frankish kings created feudalism to control military and politics--that was (subinfeudation) divided troops into several classes with different income. Based on feudalism, the manorialism emerged in the late Roman Empire, and took warriors into the ruling class which ensured military service (Cameron and Neal, 55). Then, with the agricultural innovation improved and wide use of iron, the economy of Europe in Medieval Ages expanded until the Crusades grew. The economic problem in Middle Ages is built on the redistribution of land and continuous wars, which increased the financial burden in long period. What was worse, these landlords kept their hunting hobbies which forced peasants to cut down woods and graze in the forest, which occurred violence and riots (Cameron and Neal, 84). The frequent disputes caused less supplication of livestock, which is the main problem in manorial economy. In addition to wars, here is another dangerous crisis people faced was the Black Death, which spread from China in 1348 (Cameron and Neal, 84). It caused one-third population died in Europe and temporarily broke the economic route to East. On one hand, the government should put more money to support wars like France, Italy and England; on the other hand, the plague increased the financial crisis and lead to the lack of employees, lots of people were not willing to work outside during that time. So the government had to control the higher wages, which finally caused revolts and revolutions in Europe. Taking France, England and Italy for examples, many revolutions broke out in 13th century which labors fought against the lords and the government. Again, most landlords rent their lands to peasants, when the population grew rapidly, the wages of labors were declined. The lower wages discouraged peasants enthusiasm to plant crops. So the cultivation in western and eastern Europe didn’t improve due to heavy taxation and riots during the Great Famine ( Cameron and Neal, 85). These revolts helped labors achieve their purpose. Labors from western Europe got freedom, and higher wages, like labors in England in 15th century ( Cameron and Neal, 86). The freedom and higher wages for labors stimulated them to plant crops actively. Till 15th century, the economic growth began to come back after the plague. The 15th century is a period of recovery such as population, business trade and food production; Till the 16th century, the emergence of Guild organization showed the improvement on institutions, and new method of management in companies, which increased the industrial competition. Overall, the economic problems are related to famine, plague and wars in the 14th century, which strongly hit the economic development of Europe. Till the beginning of 15th century, the economic development grew slowly till in stable development in the 16th century. The Europeans deal with economic problems effectively. Work Cited Neal. Larry and Cameron Rondo. A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present (4th edition). New York. Oxford university Press. 1993. Student(Actually professor)3 : Some good discussion here. A lot of people are focusing on the "problems" in the sense of dangers and threats like wars and disease. What I had in mind a bit more was economic problems: what were the economic issues they faced in making a living and how did they solve these? Anqi asked a question in he Ask the Professor board that really should have been asked here. (The other board is for technical questions about the mechanics of the course.) Let me reprint it here and respond. Hi, Professor Langlois, I have a question about feudalism and manorialism. In the textbook, I know the manorialism is built on the basis of feudalism, and both of them are related to lands, peasants and ruling classes. What is difference between two systems? Do the peasants have freedom in manorialism? And what is the different economic influences about the two systems? I am confused about these questions. Thanks for your help. Anqi Feudalism was the POLITICAL system of the Middle Ages, though it wasn't always used in its pure form. Feudalism was about the relationships between lords and vassals -- the legal system in many senses. Manorialism was the ECONOMIC or agricultural system (almost all of the medieval economy was agriculture) -- the organization of the manors and the division of tasks surplus between lords and peasants. Student4: COLLAPSE The social economy in the middle ages of Europe was characterized by the emergence of feudal manors and the rise of cities. Manors were the basic economic organization in the middle ages. With the rise of the city, the manor gradually declined. From feudal hierarchy to the hierarchical monarchy. The trend is the crown has gradually strengthened. Christianity dominated Europe in the middle ages and was an important pillar of the feudal system in Europe. The rule of Christianity in the middle ages had a profound influence on Europe in the middle ages, which played a decisive role in Europe's social life, economic life and even cultural life. Christianity advocates thrift and useful craft, and hard work is an important morality in the eyes of early Christians. Christianity took great pains to promote agriculture. The first is to reclaim the wasteland. The Christian church also teaches and introduces knowledge about agriculture. They have done many experiments and are willing to teach these experiences and knowledge to those who like to learn about agriculture. Unwittingly, medieval monks transformed nomadic savages into civilized peasants. This promoted the development of the agricultural economy in the middle ages in Europe. Student 5: For Professor’s problem, in middle age, one of the social problems is Black Death which led to the rapid decrease of labors as an economic problem. Labor is a major economic factor during this period, and the decrease of labor means that there were no people doing farming. Because farming and agriculture were influenced negatively, the economy in Middle Age faced the problems. Meanwhile, the Black Death was spread through the trade route, and the almost European countries suffered this disease (Neal & Cameron, 2015, 74). Thus, the trade was also influenced, and many traders lose money and could not make a living. As the economic structure in Middle Age, manorial system also met some problems. According to manorial system, the lord held the right of land and peasants, and peasants can only work for landlord. However, the deforestation forced by landlord led to the land loss, and peasants could not develop farming and arable. Thus, the profits of farming decreased, which was a major problem for agriculture as the major economy in medieval. On the other hand, the wars and diseases caused the decrease of labor and agricultural productivity. Wars also increased the taxation heavy and activity of peasants. In this case, the Middle Age met these economic problems, and the economy recovered until 15th century. Reference Neal, L., & Cameron, R. (2015). A Concise Economic History of the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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