Late medieval agricultural crisis

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The term of the late medieval agricultural crisis is generally understood to mean the depression of agriculture that prevailed in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries . The associated agrarian crisis theory is largely based on the considerations of the German economic historian Wilhelm Abel and his publications in the 1930s. Abel defines the late medieval agricultural crisis as an accumulation of rural and agricultural emergencies. According to Abel, these manifest themselves in the form of abandoned farms and houses, declining grain cultivation , declining basic rents and the long-term disproportion between revenue and cost prices of agriculture. The core of this theory is still valid today. However, critical objections raised during the academic discussion of Abel's work should not be ignored.

causes

Before the onset of the so-called late medieval agricultural crisis, one can speak of an expansion phase, during which the population roughly doubled between the 10th and 14th centuries. The economic upswing in Europe, which took place mainly in the 12th and 13th centuries, allowed the agricultural sector in particular to grow. Because of its importance, changes in the agricultural sector have had a serious impact on the economy as a whole. Substantial technical advances resulted in the manorial fronhof system falling and an escape into the city began. Hans Mottek referred to the accompanying release of the peasants from the plaice ( glebae adscripti ) as the "dissolution of the first serfdom". This process was reversed from the 14th century and lasted until the 19th century. The number of landlords increased again and also the size of the areas, which Uwe Wesel calls "second serfdom" because the old rights were acquired back over even more farmers. According to Abel's theory, the rapid population growth led to increased demand for grain. Due to the increased demand, the grain prices rose, which in turn made the development of low-yield arable land profitable. Around 1300, therefore, inferior soils were also cultivated, which only yielded sufficient yields in normal or good harvest years and were partly exhausted after a few years .

In the years 1315 to 1317 there were several bad harvests, which resulted in famine , followed by a sharp decline in population, rural exodus and the formation of desertions . The population decline was exacerbated by the plague that broke out across Europe in the mid-14th century. Overall, the population fell by a good third at that time. Due to the population decline, the demand for grain collapsed drastically. Since the less productive soils were given up first, the supply did not fall to the same extent and the price of grain fell. At the same time, the population decline resulted in a labor shortage that caused real wages to rise. This created an imbalance between grain prices and wages, which, according to Abel, made agriculture less profitable.

While Abel did not see weather conditions as a major influencing factor, later authors such as the British economic historians Michael M. Postan or Bruce M. S. Campbell regarded weather and climate fluctuations in parts of Europe as contributing factors to the crises of the time. For the English area, British historians pointed to connections between the desertification of villages, an expansion of sheep farming at the expense of grain cultivation and changed climatic conditions, similar to Scandinavian research. The German historian Werner Rösener describes it as a shortcoming that Abel's model and German research did not consider aspects of climate history, or did so too little. Some authors, such as the British climatologist Hubert Lamb , locate the weather fluctuations and crisis phenomena in a climatic transition period from the end of a European medieval warm period to a gradually beginning small ice age , which they therefore set in relatively early.

Social and economic impact

As a result of the agricultural crisis, other branches of the economy developed. Comparatively low cost of living made it possible to purchase other goods. This increased the demand for handicraft products of all kinds, the supply of which remained manageable due to the labor shortage. Although the wages of the remaining workers rose due to the increased demand, at the same time the incomes of the farmers fell so sharply that among them there was an increased exodus from the countryside to the cities. In the course of this rural exodus, entire stretches of land were depopulated and numerous desertions arose. The increased demand and rising wages caused increasing inflation . Agriculture had to adapt to the changed demand, so that it partly had to switch its production to other goods. For example, livestock farming spread in areas with less productive soils. However, the agricultural crisis had little impact within the medieval cities. There, the decline in population could be compensated by the rural exodus, the cost of living was comparatively low and the wage surplus ensured a high demand for luxury goods and handicraft products.

The landed gentry, on the other hand, suffered enormous damage from the agricultural crisis, as the low grain prices and the rural exodus of the peasants undermined the economic base of the nobility. According to Abel, the worst hit was the knighthood, which still lived quite directly on its goods and experienced a large drop in its income. In order to compensate for the loss of income, the knighthood partially increased the tax burden, which led to the aggravation of the crisis and increased willingness to conflict on the part of the farmers. Many members of the equestrian order were forced to look for other sources of income. In addition to the military service and the livelihood as officials of the rulers, the spread to feuds strong. In addition, many knights turned to robbery knights .

A connection with the agricultural crisis can also be assumed with regard to the decline of the medieval German East Settlement . A definitive proof of this connection is still pending.

Critique of agrarian crisis theory

Abel's agrarian crisis theory is a theory that is partially still valid today. Nevertheless, some of Abel's observations have been critically questioned within the scientific discourse. In particular, the connection between the plague and abandonment established by Abel was sharply criticized. The historian Josef Dolle says that this connection has neither been proven in terms of time nor cause. Furthermore, there is still a lack of reliable data regarding the spatial spread of the epidemics and the associated number of victims in the 14th century. The selection of the data given by Abel also seems more arbitrary than systematic. Accordingly, it cannot be assessed to what extent rural areas were affected by these epidemics. In addition, Dolle noted that the situation of the nobility at this time was much more differentiated than Abel portrayed, and that accordingly there can be no talk of a nobility crisis. It was also criticized that Abel had paid too little attention to the regional differences in economic development.

literature

  • Wilhelm Abel : Agricultural crises and the agricultural economy. A history of the agriculture and food industry in Central Europe since the High Middle Ages . 3rd edition, Parey, Hamburg 1978, ISBN 3-490-30415-2 .
  • Wilhelm Abel: Agricultural Crisis , Col. 218–220. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages. Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01742-7 .
  • Werner Rösener : Agriculture, Agrarian Constitution and Rural Society in the Middle Ages ( Encyclopedia of German History , Volume 13), Oldenbourg, Munich 1992, ISBN 978-3-486-55024-5 .
  • František Graus : Plague - Geissler - Murder of Jews. The 14th century as a time of crisis . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1987, ISBN 3-525-35622-6 .
  • Ferdinand Seibt et al. (Ed.): Europe 1400 . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-608-91210-X .
  • Otto Sigg : Late medieval «agricultural crisis». Aspects of Zurich history in the area of ​​tension between the Sempach War and the Old Zurich War . In: Swiss History Journal . Volume 31, 1981, pp. 121-143.
  • Harald Müller : Middle Ages , Academy, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-05-004366-1 .
  • Josef Dolle: On the theory of a "late medieval agricultural crisis". A critical investigation using the example of the old district of Göttingen . In: Göttinger Jahrbuch, Volume 42, 1994.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald Müller: Middle Ages. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2008, p. 55.
  2. ↑ Josef Dolle: On the theory of a "late medieval agricultural crisis". A critical investigation using the example of the old district of Göttingen. In: Göttinger Jahrbuch. Vol. 42, 1994, p. 55.
  3. ↑ In the historiography of the 19th century often described as "city air makes you free".
  4. ↑ a b Uwe Wesel : History of the law. From the early forms to the present . 3rd revised and expanded edition, Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-47543-4 . Marg. 212.
  5. ↑ Josef Dolle: On the theory of a 'late medieval agricultural crisis'. A critical investigation using the example of the old district of Göttingen. In: Göttinger Jahrbuch. Vol. 42, 1994, p. 55.
  6. ↑ a b Werner Rösener: The crisis of the late Middle Ages in a new perspective . In: VSWG: Quarterly journal for social and economic history . tape 99 , no. 2 , 2012, p. 196-207 .
  7. ^ Hubert Lamb: Climate, History and the Modern World . 2nd Edition. Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0-415-12734-3 , pp. 264 .
  8. ↑ Josef Dolle: On the theory of a "late medieval agricultural crisis". A critical investigation using the example of the old district of Göttingen. In: Göttinger Jahrbuch. Vol. 42, 1994, p. 57.
  9. ^ Werner Rösener: Agriculture, the agricultural constitution and rural society in the Middle Ages. In: Encyclopedia of German History. Vol. 13, Oldenbourg, Munich 1992, p. 102.