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REVIVAL OF TRADE & TOWNSBy: Dannah Mena Tharsha ThasanPeriod 7
What role did agriculture play in Medieval Life?
An Agricultural Revolution
It began in the countryside, were peasants produced new farming technologies that made their field more productive
This resulted in an agricultural revolution that transformed Europe
Agricultural Advances
By the 800’s, peasants were using advanced tools and techniques to work the fields
Peasants had gone from using wooden plows to more advanced plows
In order to have land plowed faster, horses were used instead of oxen
Production and Population Grow Lords who wanted to boost the incomes
of their land had peasants clear forests, drain swamps, and reclaim wasteland
With all this land available, peasants introduced a new way of agriculture
New Way of Agriculture
Peasants introduced three-field system for rotating crops One field with grain Second field with legumes, such as peas
and beans Third field left unplanted
The Revival of Trade and Travel In the 1100’s, foreign invasions and
feudal warfare declined Crusaders bought luxury goods back
from Europe from the Middle East
Trade Routes Expand
Enterprising traders formed merchant companies that traveled in armed caravans
Along these routes, merchants exchanged local goods for those from remote markets in the Middle East and farther east into Asia
Trade Routes Expand Cont.
In Constantinople, merchants bought: Chinese silks Byzantine gold
jewelry Asian spices
These goods were later shipped over sea to Venice where other traders bought the goods and sent them to England and lands along the Baltic Sea
Trade Routes Expand Cont.
In the 1200’s, German towns along the Baltic Sea formed the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League: an association to protect their trading interests, which dominated trade in Northern Europe for more than 150 years
The league took action against robbers and pirates, built townhouses, and trained ships’ pilots
The Growth of Towns and Cities Slowly, centers of trade and handicraft
became the first medieval cities Europe had not seen big towns since the
Roman times Richest cities emerged in northern Italy
and Flanders
The Growth of Towns and Cities Cont. To protect their interests, merchants
asked the local lord, or the king himself for a charter
Charter: written document set out the rights and privileges of the town
In return, merchants paid the lords large sums of money
As Europe’s population grew, manors became overcrowded
A Commercial Revolution
As trade revived, the use of money increased
In time, the need for capitals, or money for investment, provoked the growth of banking houses
Merchants also extended credit to one another
The Beginnings of Modern Business Groups of merchants joined together in
partnerships (merchants who joined together to finance a large scale venture that would have been to costly for any individual trader)
This practice made capital more easily available
Later merchants developed a system of insurance to help reduce business risks
For a small fee, an underwriter insured the merchant’s shipment
The Beginnings of Modern Business Cont.
Europeans followed some practices from the Muslim with whom they traded
These traders had established methods of using credit rather then cash in their business
European versions included letters of credit and bills of exchange
Society Begins to Change
These business practices were part of a commercial revolution that changed the medieval economy
By the 1300’s, most peasants in Western Europe were either tenant farmers or hired laborers
Society Begins to Change Cont. During the Middle Ages, the Church
excluded Christians to lend money at interest
Because of this, many Jews who were barred became moneylenders
Although moneylenders played a huge role in the growing medieval economy, their success led to the resentment and a rise in anti-Jewish prejudice
DBQ Questions
It helped make the High Middle Ages possible and had long been in preparation; 4 factors prepared ground for it: the end of the wave of raids that swept Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries; the clearing and cultivation of new land and the spread of the three-field rotation system; technological innovations like the heavy plow and the horse collar.
(http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/Tres_Riches_Heures_March1410.jpg)
How did agriculture help in the revival of trade & towns?
DBQ Questions
What did the Hanseatic League protect?
http://www.hanseatic- league.com/forum/styles/prosilver/imageset/site_logo.gif)
Works Cited
Ellis, Elisabth Gaynor. World History. Boston Massachusetts: Pearson Education Inc.,, 2009. Print.
Hanseatic League. Pearson Education, 2000. Web. 22 Feb. 2009. <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/
history/A0822651.html>. "Medieval Towns and Cities." The Revival of
Trade and Towns. Scholastic Inc., 2010. Web. 22 Feb.
2010. <http://expertspace.grolier.com/>.