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Revival of Trade & Towns. By: Dannah Mena Tharsha Thasan Period 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
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Revival of Trade & Towns By: Dannah Mena Tharsha Thasan Period 7
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/>.