Patterns and Structure of Demand 1000-1500 [antikvár]

Patterns and Structure of Demand 1000-1500* Our understanding of the economic history of medieval Europe has been greatly enhanced during the past fifty years or so. Of course, this achievement isn't the product exclusively of the last half-century. Much was accomplished in the nineteenth as well as in the twentieth century, particularly in terms of making source materials available, and interpreting and synthesising them. Yet one might reasonably maintain that it is with Bloch, Dopsch and Pirenne that interpretation and synthesis really come into their own; their names seem to mark a transition in economic history from description and narration to a new technique and medium of inquiry and explanation. Many individual scholars have contributed to the construction of the picture which we now possess of western Europe's economy in the medieval period. It is not necessary here to review the details of these many components. What I would like to call attention to is a characteristic which I think is common to most of them, i.e. the fact that their orientation is almost invariably towards the supply side of economic relationships. Thus, for example, agrarian studies normally deal with the production or output of agricultural commodities. Activities of merchants are examined to determine (a) the origins of members of this class (that is, the supply of a certain type of skilled labour and of entre-preneurship), (b) the goods in which these agents dealt, or (c) the supply channels of transportation and distribution. Urban historians focus upon the goods and services supplied by town-dwellers, and the organisation of production as influenced by judicial customs and by the growth and development of guilds. * The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness and gratitude to the Institute of International Studies, for financial support; to Edward F. Lucas, for research assistance; and above all to Carlo M. Cipolla, for guidance and inspiration at every step. P.S.D.—A2