Professor John Munro passed away on December 23, 2013. This site is maintained and kept online as an archive. For more infomation please visit the Centre for Medieval Studies

Professor John Munro
Department of Economics
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/

ECONOMICS 301Y1

The Economic History of Later Medieval and Early Modern Europe

(European Economic History, 1250 - 1750)

LECTURE NOTES: SCHEDULE FOR 2013 - 2014

Updated on 25 September 2013

NOTICE: THE ONLINE LECTURE NOTES SHOULD BE USED ONLY AS SUPPLEMENTS TO THE ACTUAL ORAL LECTURES GIVEN IN CLASS: NOT AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THEM

Please read with care the web notice on this issue of online lectures: if you wish to pass the final examination. You are unlikely to do so if you skip the lectures and try to rely on just the online lectures notes -- especially if you leave this task to the end of the term.

The following table provides a list of the lecture notes published online, on my Home Page, as indicated above, in both: Portable Document Format [PDF], which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader software, and in Micro-Soft Word. Each version is indicated in the date column, on the left, with pdf and MS-Word highlighted.

The previous set of ECO 301Y lectures (given in 2011-2012) have now been deleted from the Economics server and will be replaced by the revised versions only after they have been delivered in class (and further revised, if necessary); and only after being given in their complete form -- i.e., sometimes only after two weeks. If you click on the URL for a lecture not yet given, you will receive a 404 Error message, stating that the file cannot be found: 'The link you are looking for is either no longer valid or has moved'.

The various files containing graphs, maps, drawings, etc., posted in MS-Word, PDF, or html formts, have been retained online (permanently); and in that same column.

Please understand that I revise each lecture before I give it, and often after I present it, in the light of classroom questions or discussion (yes, even after 47 years of university teaching, 1964 to the present). After the revised lecture has been delivered -- that evening or the next day -- the revised lecture, with the new (and correct) date will be posted. If the lecture notes are subsequently revised and reposted, the letter (R), in parentheses, will appear after the date or after the already highlighted MS-Word. You will, however, have to use the html version of this document, i.e., with the table below, to access those lectures, by so clicking on the highlighted titles. Such access is, of course, not available in pdf documents.

Most of the lectures sets pertain to just one weekly lecture, but a few of these numbered sets will cover two lecture dates. As noted in the course website, four lectures in each term will be for 2.5 hours rather than the standard two hours, in order to make up for the four lecture hours eliminated by the radical change in our semester system. The dates below are those on which the actual lecture(s) was/were delivered. As noted above, the lecture notes for that specific date will be posted (revised) usually within a day (or so) of the lecture. You will also find, on this site, separate Word files containing the relevant graphs, maps, illustrations, for each of the lectures (similarly highlighted). Those that were previously posted remain posted on this site.

The lecture topics given below are taken from the Outline of the Lectures in ECO 301Y.

FIRST SEMESTER: SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER 2013

No.
 
Date of Lecture: Week no.
 
Title of Lecture/Lecture Topics covered
 

1

11 September 2013: week 1

pdf format

MS-Word

Maps

INTRODUCTION:

Course Organization: No PDF or Word file online (Power Point only).

Why study economic history? In a pdf file, which is also available as an MS-Word file.

Was Medieval Europe Unique? Online lecture: chiefly for reading only.

I. General Survey of the Later Medieval Economy, ca. 1000 - 1500: Economic Growth and Decline during the 'Commercial Revolution' and 'Great Depression' eras :

2 11, 18, and 25 September 2013: weeks 1, 2, 3

pdf format

MS-Word

The Lindert Population Real Wage graph

Colour Graphs on Medieval Populations

Prices and Wages set A

Prices and Wages set B

B&W Graphs

Maps/Graphs

II. MACRO- AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY, 1300 - 1520

A. Population: Demographic Changes Before and After the Black Death, 1290-1500

1. Some European Population Statistics, 1000 - 1500

2. Economics of Demography: Ricardo and Malthus

3. Medieval Death and Birth Rates: in the Black Death era

4. The European Marriage Pattern and changes in fertility

5. Population Changes and Aggregate Demand

6. Major Demographic Changes in Western Europe: 1000 - 1500

3 25 September and 2 October 2013: weeks 3, 4

Lecture: in pdf format

Lecture: in MS-WORD

Appendix: in pdf format

maps & drawings

mint outputs & prices: 1

mint outputs & prices: 2

II. MACRO- AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY, 1300 - 1520

B. Money and Monetary Changes in Western Europe, c.1290 - 1520

4 2 and 9 October 2013: weeks 4, 5

Lecture: in pdf format

MS-WORD

EH.Net Review of Fischer's The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History (1996).

B & W graphs

colour graphs

mint outputs & prices: 1

mint outputs & prices: 2

II. MACRO- AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY, 1300 - 1520

C. The Course of Prices and General Economic Trends, 1290 - 1520

D. Slump and Recovery in the 14th & 15th Centuries: the Late-Medieval 'Great Depression' Debate

5 9 October 2013: week 5

pdf format

MS-Word

Maps

III. BARRIERS TO ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE MEDIEVAL ECONOMY:

A. West European Feudalism: As a Military, Political, and Economic Institution

6 16 October 2013: week 6

pdf format

MS-Word

Maps & Graphs

Medieval Agrarian Technology

III. BARRIERS TO GROWTH IN THE MEDIEVAL ECONOMY

B. West European Manorialism and Peasant Serfdom:

C. Agricultural Field Systems North and South:

1. Mediterranean 'Dry Farming': the Two-Field System

2. The Northern Three-Field and 'Open' or 'Common' Field Systems

D. Feudalism, Manorialism, Open Fields, and Serfdom as Barriers to Economic Development

7:1 23 October 2013: week 7

pdf format

MS-WORD

Landlords & Peasants, c.1310: tables and maps (England)

other maps

colour graphs

IV. LATE-MEDIEVAL AGRICULTURE: Changes in Later Medieval Agrarian European Society, from c. 1300 - c. 1520



A. Late-Medieval Peasant Serfdom: Its Decline in the West and Rise in the East

7:2 23 October 2013: week 7

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps: Italy,Spain, LC

Florence: Prices & Wages to 1500

IV. LATE-MEDIEVAL AGRICULTURE: Changes in Later Medieval Agrarian European Society, from c. 1300 - c. 1520

B. Mediterranean Agriculture: the Agrarian Responses to the Late-Medieval Crises in Italy, Southern France and Spain

C. Northern Agriculture: Agrarian Changes in the Late-Medieval Low Countries and Northern France (Artois and Picardy): lecture not given orally: for reading only.

7:3 30 October 2013: week 8

pdf format

MS-WORD

Tudor Open Fields

maps

Decline of Manorialism: graphs

B&W graphs

textile graphs

IV. LATE-MEDIEVAL AGRICULTURE: Changes in Later Medieval Agrarian Society, c. 1300 - c. 1520

D. England: Changes in Arable and Livestock Farming, 1300 - 1460; Wool Production and the Early Enclosures as Responses to Agrarian Crises and the Growth of the Cloth Trade.

8 6 November 2013: week 9

pdf format

MS-WORD

Statistical Tables I: Textiles: Production (in pdf)

Statistical Tables II: Italian textiles (to 1730)

Statistical Tables III: Medieval Cloth Prices

John Munro's publications in textile history

maps

textile drawingsA

textiledrawingsB

textile graphs

V. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES: LATE-MEDIEVAL EUROPE



A. The Wool Textile Industries: Woollens and Worsteds

9 13 November 2013: week 10

pdf format

MS-WORD

The Bill of Exchange: pdf

graphs

VI. BANKING, CREDIT, AND FINANCE IN LATE MEDIEVAL EUROPE, 1280 - 1520

A. The Medieval Church, Loans, and the Usury Question

B. Credit in the Late-Medieval Economy: the Loan Contracts

C. Investment Contracts in the Medieval Economy: Non-Loan Contracts

D. The Usury Doctrine and Medieval-Early-Modern Public Finance

E. The Italian Contributions to Late-Medieval Banking Institutions: Deposit Banking and Bills of Exchange

10 20 November 2013: week 11

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps

drawings/graph

VII. INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE: Changing Patterns of International Trade in Late Medieval Europe, 1280 - 1520

A. The Role of Commerce and International Trade in European Economic Development

B. Warfare, Transaction Costs, and the International 'Depression', 1280 - c. 1400: Decline of the Champagne Fairs

C. Italy and the Mediterranean World: in Late-Medieval International Commerce

11 20 November 2013: week 11

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps: Baltic/Hanse

maps & graphs: Dutch

VII. INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE: Changing Patterns of International Trade in Late Medieval Europe, 1280 - 1520

D. Northern Commerce: The Baltic, the German Hanseatic League, and the Rise of the Dutch, c.1290 to 1400

12 27 November 2013: week 12

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps

graphs

VII. INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE: Changing Patterns of International Trade in Late Medieval Europe, ca. 1280 - ca. 1520

E. Northern Commerce: England, the Baltic, the South Germans, and the Rise of the Antwerp Market, 1340 - 1520

13 27 November 2013: week 12

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps

ships

VII. INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE: Changing Patterns of International Trade in Late Medieval Europe, ca. 1280 - ca. 1520

F. Portugal and the Beginnings of Overseas Explorations and Colonization: Africa and Asia (1415 - 1560)

II.

SECOND SEMESTER: January to April 2014


14 8 January 2014 : week 1 (13)

pdf format

MS-WORD

MS-WORD: Tables

population graphs

Prices & Wages: BW graphs

Prices: colour graphs

Real wages: colour graphs

Maps

Columbus and the Origins of Syphilis?

VIII. MACRO- AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY, 1520 - 1750

A. Population: Demographic Movements, c. 1500 - c.1750

15 15 January 2014: week 2 (14)

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps

silver mining

mint outputs

VIII. MACRO- AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY, 1520 - 1750

B. Money and Monetary Movements in Early-Modern Europe: c. 1500 - c. 1750

16 22 January 2014: week 3 (15)

pdf format

MS-WORD

B & W graphs

price graphs

wage graphs

EH.Net Review of Fischer's The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History (1996).

EH.Net Classic Review of Hamilton's American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain (1934).

VIII. MACRO- AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY, 1520 - 1750

C. Price Movements in Early-Modern Europe: during the eras of the 'Price Revolution' (1520-1640) and 'General Crisis' (1640 - 1740)

17 29 January 2014: week 4 (16)

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps

graphs

IX. AGRARIAN CHANGES IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE:

A. The Low Countries: Agricultural Precocity and Growth in Flanders and Holland: online lecture notes only

>B. England: The Enclosure Movement in the Tudor - Stuart era, c. 1520 - 1640

18 29 January and 5 February 2012: weeks 4 (16) & 5 (17)

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps & graphs

IX. AGRARIAN CHANGES IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE:



C. English Agriculture: Changes in Agrarian Technology and Land-holding, c.1520 - c.1740: Convertible Husbandy (the New Husbandry) and the Origins of the Agricultural Revolution.

19 5 February 2014: week 5 (17)

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps

graphs

IX. AGRARIAN CHANGES IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE:

D. France: Agriculture in Early-Modern France: 15th to 18th Centuries

20 12 February 2014: week 6 (18)

pdf format

MS-WORD

graphs

maps 1

maps 2

ships

X. COMMERCE: CHANGING PATTERNS OF REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE, c. 1520 - 1750

A. The Dutch Commercial Empire: Apogee, and Hegemony, and Decline, 1520 - 1760

B. Dutch Shipbuilding and Commercial Supremacy: the Industrial Link

19 February 20142 Reading Week:

no lectures this week (18 - 21 February 2014)

21 26 February 2014: week 7 (19)

& 5 March 2014: week 8 (20)

pdf format

MS-WORD

graphs

maps 1

maps 2

X. COMMERCE: CHANGING PATTERNS OF REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE, c. 1520 - 1750

C. Foreign Trade: the English Overseas Commercial Empires, c. 1520 - c. 1750

22 5 March 2014: week 8 (20)

pdf format

MS-WORD

graphs

X. COMMERCE: CHANGING PATTERNS OF REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE, c. 1520 - 1750

D. Mercantilism, Money, and the State in Foreign Trade, 16th to 18th Centuries

23 12 March 2014: week 9 (21)

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps & graphs

XI. BANKING, FINANCE, AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATION, 1520 - 1750

A. The 16th-century Financial Revolution: Innovations in England and the Low Countries: in Private and Public Finance

24 12 March 2014: week 9 (21)

pdf format

MS-WORD

maps & graphs

XI. BANKING, FINANCE, AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATION, 1520 - 1750

B. Dutch Banking and Finance in the 17th and 18th Centuries.

25 19 March 2014: week 10 (22)

pdf format

MS-WORD

graphs

Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis

XI. BANKING, FINANCE, AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATION, 1520 - 1750

C. England: Business Organization and Joint Stock Companies, 1550 - 1720

26 19 March 2014: week 10 (22)

pdf format

MS-WORD

graphs & maps

XI. BANKING, FINANCE, AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATION, 1520 - 1750

D. England: Banking and Financial Institutions, 1500 - 1797

27 26 March 2014: week 11 (23)

pdf format

MS-WORD

graphs

maps

drawings

Textile Bibliography

XII. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES: INDUSTRIAL CHANGE IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE, 1520 - 1750

A. Early-Modern England: Industrial Changes in Textiles: the Old and New Draperies, with the Origins of the Cotton (Fustian) Industry: 1520 - 1750

28 2 April 2014: week 12 (24)

pdf format

MS-WORD

graph of fuel prices

graphs of iron outputs

maps

drawings

Coal & Iron Bibliography

XII. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES: INDUSTRIAL CHANGE IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE, 1520 -1750

B. Industrial Change in Early-Modern England: Coal and the New Coal-Burning Industries (the Nef Thesis)

C. The Birth of the Modern English Iron Industry: Industrial Capitalism, Growth, and Stagnation, c. 1500 - c.1740

D. British and Continental European Industries on the Eve of the Modern 'Industrial Revolution'