Social and Economic History

Next to the local craftsmen and the non-agrarian activities that families undertook for their own use or local consumption, which had always existed in the countryside, in some places rural industries aimed at non-local markets developed as early as in the late 14th century. In some parts of the Low Countries, these early stages of rural industry gained a considerable importance during the late medieval period. In most regions in Western-Europe, however, there was hardly or no industrialization in the countryside at all during this period. In this respect, therefore, there were striking regional differences, sometimes even between regions situated close to each other.

This article focuses on these regional differences, by investigating and
comparing late medieval developments in two different parts of the Low
Countries where rural industries did blossom in the late medieval period, but
each with their own specific pattern: Inland Flanders and Holland. In order to explain these regional differences, the article links the proto-industrial development to the social and economic structures in the regions in question.

Population developments in the western European countryside not only show strong fluctuations during the later Middle Ages, but they also exhibit sharp regional differences. By investigating and comparing developments in three parts of the Low Countries this study tries to shed more light on the causes underlying these regional diversities. In this connection, particular attention will be paid to differences in the social distribution of landownership. Examination of the data at regional level
indicates that property structures were indeed an important factor in late-medieval population trends. Later sections of the article investigate the various factors which shaped the interrelationships between population growth, density and property structures, thus contributing to a clearer comprehension of the different demographic histories of the three regions and a better understanding of regional diversities in latemedieval population developments in general.

... Bergh-Hoogterp, LE van den, Goud-en zilversmeden te Utrecht in de late middeleeuwen ('s-Gravenhage/Maarssen, 1990). Bernet Kempers, AJ, Oliemolens (Arnhem, 1962). Biddick, K., The other economy. Pastoral husbandry on a medieval estate (Berkeley/London, 1989). ...

This paper provides an inventory of the published statistics from the Netherlands that offer more or less reliable figures on yields per hectare of sown land in the period before the mid-19th century. Each of these statistics is preceded by a brief commentory on the sources and the methods used by the author, as well as a commentary on the metrological aspects. In addition to this, each statistic is accompanied by an indication of the soil type of that region and the name of the agro-region from the late 19th century Agricultural Reports, which meant to facilitate a comparison between the figures from the late 19th and 20th century on the one hand and the figures from earlier periods on the other.

For a better understanding of medieval and early modern rural society, in which land was the principal source of income and investment, as well as a most prestigious object of possession and a solid base of power, historical questions on landholding and land transfers are highly relevant. This volume aims to clarify some long-standing issues concerning the large variety of land tenure and non-familial transfers of land in the North Sea area by treating them from a regional - if possible comparative - perspective and by linking them to such structural features of preindustrial rural society as shifts in land to labour ratio's; social property relations; commercialisation and the rise of land, leasehold, and credit markets; the growth of state intervention and the institutional innovation that followed in its wake; the sustained prevalence of local or regional customary law; and the effects of social and cultural values on the demand for land. From viewing the later medieval and early modern period as a whole, one has to conclude that the mobility of agricultural land markedly increased. This was due first and foremost to the establishment of clear-cut private property rights, to the expansion of land and credit markets, and to the spread of short-term leasing. Differences in the pace of capitalist development as well as of state formation were mainly responsible for outspoken regional differences.

The Low Countries - an area roughly embracing the present-day Netherlands and Belgium - formed a patchwork of varied economic and social development in the Middle Ages, with some regions displaying a remarkable dynamism. Manors and Markets charts the history of these vibrant economies and societies, and contrasts them with alternative paths of development, from the early medieval period to the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Providing a concise overview of social and economic changes over more than a thousand years, Bas van Bavel assesses the impact of the social and institutional organization that saw the Low Countries become the most urbanized and densely populated part of Europe by the end of the Middle Ages. By delving into the early and high medieval history of society, van Bavel uncovers the foundations of the flourishing of the medieval Flemish towns and the forces that propelled Holland towards its Golden Age.

Exploring the Low Countries at a regional level, van Bavel highlights the importance of localized structures for determining the nature of social transitions and economic growth. He assesses the role of manorial organization, the emergence of markets, the rise of towns, the quest for self-determination by ordinary people, and the sharp regional differences in development that can be observed in the very long run. In doing so, the book offers a significant contribution to the debate about the causes of economic and social change, both past and present.

See the attachment for a synoposis of the book and a debate about the book (special issue of the Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History)

Bas van Bavel opens up the four big rural revolts in the Low Countries in the century or more before the Black Death, which occurred in very different circumstances to later revolts, at a time of rising population. Here was a relatively free peasantry, in a world of weak manorialism, and with strong traditions of free and communal associations enhanced by a growing market; it ran into conflict with lords backed by the church, and support from a distance around. The conflicts were more regional in character, in contrast to the situation in the larger 14th-century revolts in England and France. (review by Dr John Hare)

Comparative analysis of the markets for land, labor, and capital in north-central Italy and the Low Countries in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period reveals that urbanization in itself was not the crucial variable in the quality and effect of developing factor markets. More important was the counterweight offered in this process by territorial lords and rural interests to the influence of urban elites. If this counterweight was missing, urban elites could exploit factor markets to their own ends.

Large parts of the Netherlands saw an early rise in market traffic during the late Middle Ages already. Exchange via the market became the dominant form not only for goods, but also for land, labour and capital, and this during the course of the sixteenth century already. This contribution investigates why it should be that the market form of exchange arose so early here specifically; how markets were organised as institutions and how they functioned. It will be demonstrated that the markets here had a favourable organisation, with low transaction costs, a high level of integration of the markets and a large degree of certainty for parties entering these markets. Nevertheless, the consequences of the rise of the market were not all positive. The rise of a market economy did not lead to any appreciable economic growth, while the social effects were largely negative. Social polarisation, pollution and the need to work ever harder depressed standards of living for most people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The rise of wage labour in the countryside forms a fundamental element in the transition to a modern, capitalist economy and society. Hard data on this development, however, are scarce. Here, the importance of wage labour around the middle of the sixteenth century is reconstructed for three regions in the Low Countries. This reconstruction shows not only a high importance of wage labour, between a quarter to almost 60 per cent of rural labour input, but also strong regional differences. These differences appear not to be connected to urbanization or to the rise of one or another sector in the rural economy, but to the regional social and institutional framework in which the economy developed.

Long-term series on land productivity in the Netherlands are rare. This paper aims to compile such long-term series for the central part of the Dutch river area and to place them in a wider context. The paper focuses on the late medieval and early modern period, during which time the rural economy went trough some radical changes, that also affected land productivity.

In the twelfth to sixteenth centuries, the exploitation of landownership underwent drastic changes in various parts of Northwestern Europe. In these changes, the emergence of the lease plays a pivotal role. At the end of the Middle Ages, in a number of areas within the North Sea area, the greater part of available land was held at lease for relatively short terms. The competitive and contractual nature of such leasing has caused many to associate it with the emergence of capitalism in the countryside, seeing its rise as a key element in the transformation of the rural economy and society in the last millennium. In view of this, it is surprising that the emergence of leasing has received little systematic attention, particularly where its roots, its early development, its exact arrangements and the social and economic context of its emergence are concerned, let alone the regional and chronological differences in these elements. This volume aims to make a first step in exploring these issues.