Medieval Economy

Maria Paola ZANOBONI, Donne al lavoro nell’Italia e nell’Europa medievali (secc.XIII-XV), Milano, Jouvence, 2016
VINCITORE DEL PREMIO ITALIAMEDIEVALE 2017:
http://www.italiamedievale.org/portale/premio-italia-medievale/
http://premioitaliamedievale.blogspot.it/
Prendendo in considerazione la svariata casistica italiana ed europea tra il secolo XIII e la fine del XV, questo libro intende sfatare i molteplici luoghi comuni sul lavoro femminile medievale che lo consideravano limitato soltanto ad alcune attività del comparto tessile ed alimentare, sottopagato, in costante dipendenza o correlazione con l’attività del consorte, esterno alle corporazioni per volontà delle corporazioni stesse. Un po’ dovunque, in Italia e in Europa, nel secolo XIII come nel XV, la realtà era invece un’altra: donne che lavoravano in tutti i possibili settori, compresa l’edilizia, le miniere e le saline; imprenditrici che si autofinanziavano con propri capitali ottenuti dalla vendita di abiti e gioielli; retribuzioni commisurate “alle reali capacità” e quindi non dipendenti dal genere; donne che col proprio lavoro riuscivano a mantenere sé stesse e familiari in difficoltà, o a saldare i debiti dei mariti; nobildonne impegnate nelle attività più varie: dall’organizzazione di laboratori per il ricamo, alla gestione di miniere, alla direzione di opere di bonifica, all’impianto di caseifici, alla gestione di alberghi.
Dotate di notevolissime capacità organizzative nella flessibilità estrema dei loro ruoli, erano le donne stesse a tenersi fuori dalle associazioni professionali, che, per parte loro, in genere ne tolleravano il “lavoro nero”, senza escluderle , ma cercando al contrario di obbligarle ad iscriversi quando avevano necessità di tenerle sotto controllo.
L’apprendistato femminile esisteva, spesso in modo informale, e tendeva ad emergere in casi particolari, quando erano le lavoratrici stesse ad aver bisogno di un attestato che dimostrasse le loro capacità (ad esempio nella lavorazione di materie prime preziose). Talvolta erano invece le corporazioni ad imporre alle donne la stipulazione scritta del contratto di apprendistato, soprattutto in settori importanti per la salute della collettività (come la confezione del pane).

Maria Paola ZANOBONI, Donne al lavoro nell’Italia e nell’Europa medievali (secc.XIII-XV), Milano, Jouvence, 2016
The traditional opinion considered female labour in medieval age low paid worrk restricted to textile and feeding fields only and generally dependent on husband’s work, outside of guilds.
On the contrary, a considerable body of evidence resulting from researches on Italian and European documents of XIII century up to the end of XV century, shows that during XIII, XIV and XV centuries in several European countries female work was employed in almost all fields of activity, including buildings, mines, salt processing. Women’s wages were proportional to their real capacity and were not conditioned by gender.
In many cases women succeeded in supporting the whole family (or discharging their husband’s debts) by their own work. Moreover some women sold their dresses and jewels to obtain capitals in order to establish a firm. Noblewomen were involved in very different jobs as embroidery workshops organization, mines and reclamation management, dairy establishment, hotel management.
Women showed a remarkable ability in work organization in spite of the enormous variety of their tasks and they preferred to be outside of guilds; on the other hand guilds tolerated this type of black work but tried to compel women to be registered when a special control was needed.
Female apprenticeship was often informal but in particular cases it was displaied when workers needed to demonstrate their ability in some jobs such as precious raw materials manufacture. In other cases guilds obliged women to stipulate a written apprenticeship contract, particularly in public health fields, for example to knead

The paper examines the connections between late medieval urban development in Hungary,
the handicraft industry and the name giving practices of the lower and middle classes of medieval
society. It has long been accepted through research into Hungarian local history that the state of
urban development and the proportion of handicraftsmen (and other people not involved in agricultural activities) among the population of a settlement were interdependent. Highly developed settlements
would have more inhabitants engaged in industrial activities and services, than their poorer
counterparts. Hungarian economic history traditionally considers the bearers of personal names
derived from occupational names as handicraftsmen. In general, the proportion of these people
among the inhabitants of the distinct settlement types was different, thus in market towns more
people supported themselves with handicrafts than in villages, but the highest number of
handicraftsmen lived in cities. Naturally, the more important a settlement was, the more crafts were
present there. Based on a corpus of approximately 12,000 late medieval personal names, the author
examines the proportion of handicraftsmen among the inhabitants, and the specialization of the
handicraft industry in the seven types of settlements identified in the so-called “centrality score
system”. The system devised by András Kubinyi aims to describe the different levels of development
in medieval settlements. The results of the present analysis reinforce and numerically justify
Kubinyi’s statements.

Abstract;
The aim of this article is to analyze the relationships and the hierarchy of the port-towns of Atlantic Northern Spain between the 13th and 15th centuries. The port-towns operated in an intermediate level, both regional and international, of the European trade structure. The half a hundred port-towns on the Cantabrian coast played a vital role in the urban connectivity of the international maritime traffic between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. This phenomenon, despite lacking an
homogeneity, was a success because it was based on some key factors, such as geographical features,
port infrastructures, royal support and very dynamic societies. Besides, politics and governance adopted common and distinct characteristics in these peripheral towns to respond to local needs and conditions, very infl uenced by their character as a maritime border of the kingdom of Castile.

Resumen

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las relaciones y la jerarquía de las villas portuarias del Atlántico norte de España entre los siglos XIII y XV. Los puertos del norte peninsular operaban en un nivel intermedio, regional e internacional, de la estructura comercial europea. Las cincuenta villas portuarias de la costa cantábrica desempeñaron un papel vital en la conectividad urbana del tráfico marítimo internacional entre el Mediterráneo y el Atlántico. El fenómeno portuario del Cantábrico,
a pesar de su falta de homogeneidad, fue un éxito porque se basó en algunos factores claves, como
las características geográfi cas, las infraestructuras portuarias, el apoyo regio y unas sociedades muy
dinámicas; además, la política y la gobernanza adoptaron unas características comunes y distintas en
estas villas periféricas para responder a las necesidades y condiciones locales, muy influidas por su carácter de frontera marítima de la Corona de Castilla.

https://doi.org/10.3989/aem.2018.48.1.05

Perrier, E., « L’usure, injuste aujourd’hui comme hier », Revue thomiste 121 (2021), 113-60.

Peu étudiée pour elle-même, souvent confondue avec d’autres propositions qui sont ses contemporaines, la doctrine de saint Thomas d’Aquin sur l’usure mérite pourtant d’être comprise. Comprise d’abord dans ce qu’elle affirme vraiment (l’usure est injuste de soi car elle vend ce qui n’existe pas) et comprise par rapport à ce qu’elle n’affirme pas. Comprise ensuite dans son actualité, car elle rend compte de l’épuisement du monde, du risque d’implosion du système financier et, pour partie, de l’érosion de l’amitié politique. Tout cela parce que l’usure fait de la consommation d’argent une activité rentable.

Abstract. — Aquinas’ teaching on usury is rarely studied for itself with the necessary attention it requires to be correctly understood, and as a result it is often conflated with its medieval counterparts. It needs first to be understood in what it states (usury is unjust in itself for it sells what doesn’t exist) and in what it doesn’t state (usury’s unfairness would rest on something else than itself). Second, it is just as topical as ever in our financially-driven times, in that it accounts for the draining of our world, for the financial system risk of implosion, and, partly, for weakening our political bonds of friendship. All of this because usury makes money consumption a profitable act.

Table des matières
1. Pourquoi l’usure dans les prêts d’argent est-elle injuste ?
a) Le juste, le juste naturel et le juste de soi
b) Les biens consomptibles
c) Les biens non consomptibles
d) La situation du prêt d’argent

2. L’usure dans l’ordre économique
a) Ce que signifie : l’usure est injuste de soi
b) Le domaine de l’usure
c) La variation du niveau général des prix
d) La vente du risque : entre usure et instrument financier
- Le risque de non-restitution
- La vente du risque en tant qu’usure
- La vente du risque en tant qu’instrument financier
e) L’économie de la dette et l’injustice de l’usure
- L’usure épuise le monde
- L’usure rend insoutenable le danger financier

3. La justice face à l’usure
a) L’usure et la vertu de justice
b) De l’usure, vous en aurez toujours

This paper focuses on some important features of the economy of Brescia in the Late Middle Ages. Particular attention will be paid to agricultural trades and to some important local productions, but also to the active role played by Tuscans, local merchants and aristocracies in shaping the economic activity of the city and its contado.

This book offers new and innovative perspectives on long-distance trade between Europe, the Mediterranean area, the Middle East, Africa, India and China during the Early Medieval period. The archaeological data and historical insights presented in this volume are always of great interest, often exciting, and more than once outright astonishing. The goods which travelled between the continents in the timespan under discussion (ca. 6th to 12th centuries) include pottery in all shapes and forms, textiles, coins, metal, lava millstones, glass, marble columns, rock-crystal beads, and also plants used for incense.  The scope of the contributions includes the wide-ranging  economic contacts of a Viking community, the changing patterns of long-distance trade in the Byzantine Empire over the centuries, the spread of Chinese pottery to Africa, the Near East and Europe, the invaluable information on trade and maritime routes provided by shipwrecks in the Java Sea, the reconstruction on the basis of botanical data of a incense trade network, and the production and distribution of textiles as well as stone objects in the Middle East and beyond. The varied approaches in this volume underline that the movement of objects in Early Medieval times over vast distances not only reflect mechanisms of exchange, but also imply social networks and the transfer of ideas. Thus, Riches Beyond the Horizon sheds compelling light on a world which was much more complex and much more interconnected than has often been assumed, which makes it essential reading for scholars and a larger audience alike.
See more at: http://www.brepols.net/pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503599816-1

"La cathédrale Saint-Lambert de Liège est une des institutions les plus considérables de la Basse-Lotharingie, et même un des chapitres cathédraux les plus importants de l’Empire. Acteur religieux et politique de premier plan, elle possédait aussi un temporel d’envergure. Ce travail vise à dresser le tableau de son patrimoine foncier, en accordant une attention particulière aux modalités de gestion de celui-ci et aux besoins auxquels il répondait. Ce livre n’est donc pas une monographie d’histoire économique stricto sensu ; il cherche avant tout à mettre en relation le contexte institutionnel liégeois avec les ressorts de la prospérité et des difficultés matérielles de la cathédrale. Cette dernière sera continuellement appelée à redéfinir les contours et la gestion de son domaine, en fonction des évolutions politiques, sociales et économiques qui l’affecteront tout au long de son histoire.

Alexis Wilkin est actuellement chercheur qualifié du Fonds national de la Recherche scientifique (FNRS-FRS), à l’Université libre de Bruxelles (Histoire du Moyen Age). Lauréat du concours annuel de l’Académie (2007), il avait auparavant travaillé aux universités de Liège (où il a fait sa thèse de doctorat (2006), jusqu’en octobre 2009), de Harvard et de Gand. Il s’intéresse à l’histoire économique et institutionnelle du Haut Moyen Age et du Moyen Age classique."

A longstanding debate in the history of the Hundred Years War has been whether the war had a negative or positive impact on the English economy during the fourteenth and fifteenth century. For a number of years many historians of late medieval England have leaned towards a negative view of the impact of the war, particularly because of the growing burden of taxation and purveyance throughout the war. Few scholars have examined the impact of the Hundred Years War from a more holistic perspective encompassing issues such as taxation and purveyance, along with wages, ransoms, spoils of war, and the investment in industry as a result of increased English wealth. This thesis attempts to demonstrate that the impact of the Hundred Years War is more positive on the English economy than previously held, or at least is far more complex than the current scholarship indicates.

Until the beginning of the great river regulations in the mid-1840s, most of the lowland areas were temporarily or permanently covered by water due to the expansive water network of the Carpathian Basin. This natural environment served as the basis of floodplain farming or ‘fok’ agriculture from the age of the Hungarian conquest, which also determined the settlement and economic structure in the Central Tisza region. The present study analyses from the perspective of research history the conditions and role of this multifaceted farming method in the Central Tisza region that can be considered as a floodplain farming area, taking into account the most significant research results to date. Interdisciplinarity is strongly emphasized in the research of the topic: In addition to written sources, topographical, geographic, hydrographic, environmental, legal and local history studies, ethnographic and archaeological studies of the region are also indispensable to answer issues related to floodplain farming.

Az 1840-es évek közepén elkezdődött nagy folyamszabályozásokig a Kárpát-medence kiterjedt vízhálózata miatt a síkvidéki területek nagy részét időszakosan vagy állandóan víz borította. E természeti környezetre épült a honfoglalás korától az ártéri- vagy fokgazdálkodás, mely a közép-tiszai régióban is meghatározta a települési és gazdasági struktúrát. Jelen tanulmány kutatástörténeti szempontból elemzi e sokrétű gazdálkodási mód feltételeit és szerepét az ártéri gazdálkodás mintaterületének is tekinthető Közép-Tisza-vidéken, számba véve az eddigi legjelentősebb vizsgálati eredményeket. A téma kutatásában nagy hangsúlyt kap az interdiszciplinaritás: az írott források, a topográfiai, földrajzi-vízrajzi, környezet-, jog- és helytörténeti munkák mellett a régióra vonatkozó etnográfiai és archeológiai tanulmányok is nélkülözhetetlenek az ártéri gazdálkodást érintő kérdések megválaszolásához.

Basandosi sulla documentazione notarile, il saggio analizza il trend della manifattura laniera milanese del secondo '400. Ne emerge un incremento globale della produzione-in particolare per gli articoli di lusso (saie e berretti) confezionati con lana inglese-negli ultimi tre decenni del secolo e all'inizio del successivo, dopo alcuni anni di difficoltà. La ripresa scaturì da diversi fattori concomitanti: la politica sforzesca volta a sostenere le produzioni di lusso; l'incremento della domanda di tessuti di lusso milanesi da parte della corte pontificia; il ruolo strategico della colonia di mercanti inglesi a Milano, importatori di materia prima ed esportatori di berretti a maglia tinti in grana. Tali mercanti erano collegati a uomini d'affari fiorentini e genovesi, e avevano interessi commerciali anche a Firenze.
parole chiave: Manifattura laniera, Ducato di Milano, mercanti inglesi, manifattura tessile, prodotti di lusso

Analyzing the notary documentation, this paper shows the trend of wool industry in Milan in the second half of the 15th century. The result is a global increase in production particularly for luxury items (saies and caps) packaged with English wool in the last three decades of the century and at the beginning of the next, after some years of difficulties. The recovery arose from several concomitant factors: the policy of the Sforza to support luxury production; the increase in papal court demand for Milanese luxury goods; the strategic role of the group of English merchants in Milan, importers of raw material and exporters of knitted caps dyed with cochineal, linked in turn to Florentine and Genoese businessmen, and with business interests in Florence as well. Wool industry, Milan under Visconti and Sforza,

English merchant, textile industry, luxury goods | Previous | Storia economica XXII (2019) 1

The paper discusses finds of silver cupellation and assaying waste from Sigtuna and Gotland, in minting contexts as well as in jewellery workshop contexts, and the processes' links to the measuring of value and means of payment in the pre- and early monetary Scandinavian economies of the 10th to 12th centuries AD. It also discusses cold testing methods like pecking and bending, silver standards and the use of symbols borrowed from the monetary sphere in order to lend credibility to Gotlandic currency arm rings.

From the banquets of kings and nobles to the daily struggle for the subsistence of the poor, food was already much more than a biological necessity in the Middle Ages: it was a social phenomenon full of meaning. In this book all the implications and meanings that food had on the Iberian Peninsula between the 13th and the 15th centuries are analyzed. Historial assessment of the region is particularly rewarding because of the quantity and variety of historical sources, and because of the coexistence in Medieval Iberia of the three great monotheistic religions:  Christianity, Judaism and Islam.  Takign both, economic and sociological perspectives, every aspect of food is analyzed, from the commercialization of food to its consumption, and form the evolution of culinary techniques to table manners.