Expansion of Arable Land
- Territorial expansion, innovations in agriculture, and the development of cities and trade brought rapid economic change
- Changes in the availability and consumption of material goods and in population distribution altered European social relations and political organization.
- Population pressure by the late tenth century
- Serfs and monks began to clear forests and swamps
- Lords encouraged such efforts for high taxes
The Three Estates
- "Those who pray"--clergy of Roman Catholic church, the spiritual estate
- "Those who fight"--feudal nobles, the military estate
- "Those who work"--mostly peasants and serfs
- Everyone had a place and knew it.
- One’s identity was linked to kinship, class, and faith
Improved Agricultural Techniques & Tools
Chivalry
- Crop rotation methods
- Cultivation of beans increased and enriched the land
- More domestic animals also enriched the land
- Books and treatises on household economy and agricultural methods
- Extensive use of watermills and heavy plows
- Use of horseshoe and horse collar increased land under cultivation
Economic and Social Changes during the High Middle Ages
- The medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code
- Seen as a person's ethics or behavior
- Linked to Christianity's faith and piety
New Crops
Troubadours
- Before 1000, European diet was mostly grains
- After 1000, more meat, dairy products, fish, vegetables, legumes
- Spain, Italy, Mediterranean got new foods through Islamic world
- Europeans began eating better; they lived longer and grew in number. An improved diet with iron-rich foods increased women’s life span and helped them survive childbearing.
- Aristocratic women promoted chivalric values by patronizing troubadours
- Troubadours drew inspiration from the love poetry of Muslim Spain
Population Growth
QOTD: What are some economic and social changes we see occur in the High Middle Ages?
Eleanor of Aquitaine
- Europe's population almost doubled between 1000 and 1350; in some regions, it tripled.
- Surplus food and population meant that more people could live longer.
- 29 million to 79 million between 800 C.E. and 1300 C.E
Social
Economic
- lived from 1122-1204
- encouraged the Troubadours and received them at the English court.
- The tradition and arts of the Troubadours soon became part of the English culture
- Code of chivalry and romantic poetry softened manners of rough warriors
Urbanization
- urbanization- increasing number of people that live in urban areas
- peasants and serfs flocked to cities and towns for work
- Towns and townspeople became independent of the landholding aristocracy and were able to regulate their own businesses through charters granted by kings.
- Coins became a convenient medium of exchange, and a money-based economy, complete with banking, investing, and lending activities, emerged
Independent Cities
Overview; The High Middle Ages was a period of change that shaped European development, caused by the interactions with other cultures in Eurasia and the Mediterranean. Many of the basic social and political patterns,most known with European history were formed during this era. The social and economic change emerged in the British Isles, France, Germany, Italy, eastern Europe, Iberia, and Scandinavia. Between 1000 and 1300, a chain reaction of developments in economy, society, and political life contributed to new trends in religion, learning, literature, and other arts---trends that shaped European culture to the present day.
- expansion of urban working population leads to the development of towns and cities
- urban populations increasingly resisted demands of feudal nobles
Textile Production
- textile production was a main factor in the economy of the High Middle Ages
Mediterranean Trade
- Italian merchants dominated and established colonies
Guilds
The Hanseatic League
- a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power
- Regulated production and sale of goods
- Established standards of quality for manufactured goods
- Determined prices and regulated entry of new workers
- Social significance: friendship, mutual support, built halls
- create an idea that is still used today ex. unions
- commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns that dominated trade
- Major European rivers linked Hansa to the Mediterranean
Improved Business Techniques
Urban Women
- Bankers issued letters of credit to merchants
- Commercial partnerships for limiting risks of commercial investment
- during this time women began to take work in fields that no woman had done before
- most guilds admitted women, and women also had own guilds
Economic and Social Changes During High Middle Ages
Bibliography;
Websites:
- "Social Changes in the High Middle Ages." Medieval Times RSS2. N.p., n.d. Web. 00 July 2014.
- "Economic Changes in the High Middle Ages." Medieval Times RSS2. N.p., n.d. Web. 00 July 2014.
Books:
- Bentley, Jerry H., Herbert F. Ziegler, and Heather E. Streets. "Chapter 20 - An Age of Cross Cultural Interaction." Traditions and Encounters. a Brief Global History. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2008. N. pag. Print.
Video links
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/guilds-in-western-culture-and-economies-in-the-high-middle-ages.html#lesson