Medieval Studies

Course Highlights
This course features an extensive list of readings and assignments. A list of useful Web sites is also available in the related resources section. This course also features archived syllabi from various semesters.
Course Description
This course will survey the conditions of material life and the changing social and economic relations in medieval Europe with reference to the comparative context of contemporary Islamic, Chinese, and central Asian experiences. The subject covers the emergence and decline of feudal institutions, the transformation of peasant agriculture, living standards and the course of epidemic disease, and the ebb and flow of long-distance trade across the Eurasian system. Particular emphasis will be placed on the study of those factors, both institutional and technological, which have contributed to the emergence of capitalist organization and economic growth in Western Europe in contrast to the trajectories followed by the other major medieval economies.

Textbooks
Hawthorn, Geoffrey, ed. The Standard of Living: Tanner Lectures. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780521368407.

Lopez, Robert. The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 950-1350. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976. ISBN: 9780521290463.

McCloskey, Deirdre. Economical Writing. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 1999. ISBN: 9781577660637.

Pomeranz, Kenneth, and Steven Topik, eds. The World That Trade Created: Culture, Society and the World Economy, 1400 to the Present. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000. ISBN: 9780765602503.

Hodges, Richard. Towns and Trade in the Age of Charlemagne. London, England: Duckworth, 2000. ISBN: 9780715629659.

Additional Readings
Bailey, Mark. "Demographic Decline in Late Medieval England." Economic History Review 49, no. 1 (February 1996): 1-19.

Braudel, Fernand. The Wheels of Commerce. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1982, pp. 231-249.

Brenner, Robert. "Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe." Past and Present, no. 70 (February 1976): 30-74; Reprinted in Aston, T., and C. Philpin, eds. The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985, pp. 10-63.

Campbell, Bruce. "Economic rent and the intensification of English agriculture, 1086-1350." In Medieval Farming and Technology: The Impact of Agricultural Change in Northwest Europe. Edited by G. Astill and J. Langdon. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1997, pp. 225-50.

Columbus, Christopher, et al. The Diario of Christopher Columbus's first voyage to America, 1492-1493. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. Selections: 3 August-21 October 1492.

De Joinville, Jean. "The Book of the Holy Words and Good Deeds of Our King, Saint Louis (1309)." In The Medieval Record: Sources of Medieval History. Selected by Alfred J. Andrea. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1997, pp. 367-370.

Domar, Evessy. "The causes of slavery or serfdom: A hypothesis." Journal of Economic History 30, no. 1 (March 1970): 18-32.

Mauricio, Drelichman. "All that Glitters: Precious metals, rent seeking and the decline of Spain." European Review of Economic History, (December 2005): 313-36.

Duby, Georges. Early Growth of the European Economy. New York, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974, pp. 162-180.

Ekrem, Inger, and Mortensen. Lars Boje. Historia Norwegie. Copenhagen, Denmark: Museum Tusculanum.

Epstein, S. R. "Regional Fairs, Institutional Innovation, and Economic Growth in Late Medieval Europe." The Economic History Review (August 1994): 459-482.

Fogel, Robert. "Second thoughts on the European escape from hunger: famines, chronic malnutrition, and mortality rates." In Nutrition and Poverty. Edited by S. R. Osmani. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1992, pp. 243-286.

Fossier, Robert. Peasant Life in the Medieval West. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1988, chapter 2.

Genicot, Leopold. Rural Communities in the Medieval West. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990, chapter 1.

Harvey, Barbara. "Introduction: the crisis of the early fourteenth century." In Before the Black Death: Studies in 'Crisis' of the Early Fourteenth Century. Edited by Bruce Campbell. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1991, pp. 1-24.

King, Gregory, Charles Davenant, and W. Couling. "Tables of Estimates." Table 2: "A Scheme of the Income and Expense of the several Families of England, calculated for the year 1688."

Knighton, Henry. "Chronicle (1348)." In The Medieval Record: Sources of Medieval History. Selected by Alfred J. Andrea. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1997, pp. 385-388.

Kremer, Michael. "Population growth and technological change: One Million B.C. to 1990." Quarterly Journal of Economics 108, no. 3 (August 1993): 681-716.

Lopez, Robert, ed. and tr. Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1990/1955. Documentary selections on "The Jewish Role in World Trade," "Milan in 1288," and "Reports from the Fairs of Champagne."

McCants, Anne. "Exotic Goods, Popular Consumption, and the Standard of Living: Thinking About Globalization in the Early Modern World." Submitted to Journal of World History, March 2006.

Mokyr, Joel. "Dear Labor, Cheap Labor, and the Industrial Revolution." In Favorites of Fortune: Technology, Growth, and Economic Development Since the Industrial Revolution. Edited by Patrice Higonnet, David S. Landes and Henry Rosovsky. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991, pp. 177-200.

Monk, Robert the. "A Jerusalem History, c. 1110." In Urban and the Crusaders. Edited by Dana C. Munro. Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History. Revised ed. Vol. 1, no. 2. New York, NY: AMS Press, 1971/1897, pp. 5-8.

Pegolotti, Francesco di Balduccio. "Traveling to China." In Cathay and the Way Thither, II. Edited by H. Yule. Chestnut Hill, MA: Adamant Media, 2006.

Solow, Robert. "Economics: Is Something Missing?" In Economic History and the Modern Economist. Edited by William N. Parker. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1986, pp. 21-29.

Wallerstein, Immanuel. "Three Paths of National Development in 16th Century Europe." In The Capitalist World Economy: Essays by Immanuel Wallerstein. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

Wrigley, E. A., and Roger Schofield. The Population History of England, 1541-1871: A Reconstruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981. Tables from pp. 468 and 474.

Readings by Session


Course readings. WEEK # TOPICS READINGS
1 Introduction - Why Economic Growth and the Methodology of Economic History Solow, Robert. "Economics: Is Something Missing?" and McCloskey, Deirdre. Economical Writing.
2 Late Roman Antiquity and Barbarian Europe Lopez, Robert. The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, pp. 1-26; and make substantial headway into Hodges, Richard. Towns and Trade in the Age of Charlemagne.
3 The Structure of Medieval Life: Manorialism and Feudalism Duby. Early Growth of the European Economy, pp. 162-180; Fossier, Robert. Chapter 2 of Peasant Life in the Medieval West; and Genicot, Leopold. Chapter 1 of Rural Communities in the Medieval West. Please also consult two primary source documents: The Plan of St. Gall, and articles from "The Capitulary on the Maintenance of the Royal Estates."
4 Medieval Agriculture and Commercialization: A Revised Story Lopez. Commercial Revolution, pp. 27-55; Clark, Gregory. "The Economics of Exhaustion..." In Journal of Economic History, (March 1992): 61-84; and Campbell, Bruce. "Economic rent and the intensification of English agriculture, 1086 -1350," In Medieval Farming and Technology.
5 Rise of the Commune and Revival of Trade: Counterpoint to Autarkic Agriculture Documentary selections from Lopez, Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World, on "The Jewish Role in World Trade," "Milan in 1288," and "Reports from the Fairs of Champagne." And Lopez. Commercial Revolution, pp. 56 -147.

Recommended: Chorley, Patrick. "The Cloth Trade of Flanders and Northern France during the 13th c." Economic History Review, no. 3 (1987): 349-79.
6 The Wider Medieval World: Vikings, Mongols, and Scaracens Selections from Monk, Robert the, "A Jerusalem History, c.1110"; selections from Joinville, Jean de, "The Book of the Holy Words and Good Deeds of Our King, Saint Louis, 1309." The instructions for "Traveling to China," and a selection from the Historia Norwegie.
7 The Plague and its Consequences Harvey, Barbara. "Introduction: the crisis of the early fourteenth century." Selections from Henry Knighton, Chronicle, 1348. Domar, Evessy. "The causes of slavery or serfdom." Journal of Economic History, (March 1970): 18-32; and Bailey, Mark. "Demographic Decline in Late Medieval England." Economic History Review, no. 1 (1996): 1-19.
8 Methodology and Theories of Historical Demography Wrigley and Schofield. Population History of England, tables from pp. 468 and 474. Fogel, Robert. "Second thoughts on the European escape from hunger: famines, chronic malnutrition, and mortality rates."

Optional: Kremer, "Population growth and technological change."
9 Overseas Expansion of Europe Pomeranz, Kenneth, and Steven Topik. The World that Trade Created, chapters 1 and 2, pp. 3-76, and one additional chapter from either chapters 3, 4, or 5. Columbus, selections from the Diario.
10 Grand Theories about Medieval Development: Malthusians, Marxists and The Classical Economists Wallerstein, Immanuel. "Three Paths of National Development in 16th Century Europe." In The Capitalist World Economy; and Epstein, S. R. "Regional Fairs, Institutional Innovation, and Economic Growth in Late Medieval Europe." The Economic History Review (August 1994): 459-482; and Drelichman, Mauricio. "All that Glitters: Precious metals, rent seeking and the decline of Spain." European Review of Economic History (December 2005): 313-36.

Recommended reading: Brenner. "Agrarian class structure and economic development." Past and Present (February 1976).
11 Capitalist Organization of Economic Life: The Globalization of Trade and The Rise of Consumer Culture Braudel. The Wheels of Commerce, pp. 231-249. Gregory King's "Social Table." One page table; and McCants, Anne. "Exotic Goods, Popular Consumption, and the Standard of Living: Thinking About Globalization in the Early Modern World." Unpublished manuscript.
12 Measuring Welfare Sen, Amartya. The Standard of Living. pp. 1-38, and comment by Keith Hart, pp. 70-93.
13 The Rise of North-Western Europe: Improvements in the Standard of Living Mokyr, Joel. "Dear Labor, cheap Labor, and the Industrial Revolution." From Favorites of Fortune. Edited by Paul Bairoch. Harvard University Press, 1991; and de Vries, Jan. "Economic Growth before and after the Industrial Revolution: a Modest Proposal." In Prak, Early Modern Capitalism.

Recommended: Horrell, Sara, Jane Humphries and Hans-Joachim Voth, "Destined for Deprivation: Human Capital Formation and Intergenerational Poverty in Nineteenth-Century England." Explorations in Economic History, no. 3 (2001): 339-365.