Middle Ages

Economic domain

By 1300 Britain had an integrated rural economy with about 1500 market towns, 10 million sheep and an annual production of about 40,000 sacks of wool (p. 37) The Black Death produced a shortage of labour and therefore a rise in wages an general standard of living although somewhat eroded by the war with France. This new empowerment of the peasants was tackled by legislation in 1349 and 1351 to kep wages down and prevent labour moving to the highest bidder. In 1363 sumptuary laws attempted to maintain class distinctions through the enforcement of dress codes, one of many factors leading to the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 which involved various sectors of society hampered by perceived unnecessary regulation but triggered by a Poll Tax.

Food

In general it is likely the diet, like the standard of living in general, was an improvement of that in Roman times. In 1066 the staples were bread made from wheat, or from rye in wetter regions while barley was used in brewing.

Periods of meat fasting encouraged fishing and the construction of weirs. The cinq ports sent out herring fleets.

Environmental domain

Climate

A Middle Age warm period from 900-1200, the Medieval Warm Period, resulted in vibrant agricultural sector and the growing of grapes in the south, this being followed by the Little Ice Age which lasted from approximately 1300 to 1850 and, combined with famine and disease ended a Middle Age period of prosperity.

Urbanization

Population

The population of England in 1050 was about 2.5 million (p. 21) increasing to about 2.7 million in 1041 and 6 million in 1300 just before the Black Death. By far the majority of people (c. 90%) still lived on the land. In 1066 London was by far the largest town in the country with a population of about 15,000, the nearest second-tier towns numbering 5,000-10,000.

1100 c.1.5-2 million expanding to 5.4 to 7.2 million in 1300, then with the Black Death and economic decline reducing to about 3.5 to 4 million by the late 1300s.^[10]

Land & landscape

In general villages were part of the manorial estate and consisted of a church and housing surrounded by strip farms beyond which was common land used for grazing and woodland. Population increase prior to te Great Plague in 1348 and its demand for increased land use led to the draining of marsh and fen. Mounds, humps and furrows across the English landscape are th eremains of ancient deserted medieval village (DMV), the crofts and tofts, many of which date to the period of the Plague.

Forestry, agriculture, horticulture

Through the period 600-800 cereal farming increased but production remained the same until its rapid resurgence in the period 1500-1750. Farms averaged about 30 acres but by 1500 this had grown to about 300 acres. Poor harvests in 1314 were followed by we t weather and years of cattle and sheep disease from 1319-1321 leading to widespread starvation and genera ldeath rate of about 15% in the years leading up to the Great Plague of 1348.

Animals & plants

Water, energy, materials, food, biodiversity & ecology

Ecosystem services

Social domain

Life expectancy was about 35 years for men and 25 for women, many dying in childbirth.

Social organization

From 800-1000 the hierarchical organization of society included a slave class amounting to about 10% of the population as victims of war. The Doomesday Book records that between 1066 and 1086 4,500 Anglo-Saxon aristocrats were replaced by about 180 Norman barons. Below thee in the social heurarchy were about 1400 landowners, mostly, Norman and below these about 6,000, mainly Anglo-Saxon, sub-tenants.

The keeping of records improved greatly through the 12-13th centuries giving a picture of the role of crafts and industries mostly as employees of the Lord of the Manor and including smiths, carpenters, tilers, masons. From 1280-1340 there is the more general addition of surnames based on trade, to the former single-word name,, partly in response to the need for distinguishing people in record systems.

Country life centred around the manorial estate which had its own law courts.

Law
1160-1216 royal Common Law arose.

Education & learning
Literature
Medicinal literature included Bald’s Leechbok (c. 900-925) and Lacnunga (c. 1010) written in Old English and containing a mix of charms and herbal remedies, also translations of Dioscorides’s Materia Medica dating from c. 1000.

science & technology
Wages

Property

In Britain women could own and deal in property.

Finance & taxation
Coinage
Labour
Commerce & trade
Major resources

Mining & manufacture
Some iron and coal mining.

Engineering & construction
Motte and bailey and ringwork castles were eventually replaced as, from the 12th century, society became more integrated and stone buildings became much more common. Norman architecture remained evident in the magnificent churches and cathedrals.

Transport & communication

Renaissance

The Renaissance was not only period of intellectual re-birth it was also a time of economic development as, from 1460-1550 an underground mining boom was needed to provide for the needs of the age: iron for military and farming equipment, silver and gold for coins. Based in Central Europe smelting and refining techniques were improved along with the machinery of mining – its pumps, water-wheels, and crushers. However the initial surge in activity in Europe stalled with the discovery and importation of metals from the New World.

Key points
COMMENTARY & Sustainability Analysis