Early Trade Fairs

1. Fairs of Champagne. In the 11th and 12th centuries, these developed as major centers of long-distance trade and exchange. As cities concentrate trade in space, the fairs concentrated a more limited volume of trade in time, maximizing the prospect that merchants would find customers offering goods in exchange. The fairs declined as cities developed, and with the emergence of the sea route from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.

2. Three-field system of agriculture. This was the basis of medieval crop rotation, with fields alternating between crops that severely depleted soil nutrients, crops that produced less stress, and lying fallow for replenishment. The overall effect of the three-field system was to allow higher productivity, supporting a larger population, without exhausting the soil.

3. Serfdom. This was a legal status in which peasants were bound to the soil, and required to provide labor service or in-kind dues to the lord of the land. Though a form of bondage, it differed from slavery in that the serf could not be arbhtrarily turned nff the land, a matter of great importance to peasants.

4. Scattered strips. This was a distribution of individual holdings to allow for more efficient plowing. Where we find scattered strips or long fields, we have an indication of developed manorial agriculture.

5. Population increase and economic growth.

According to Malthus' theory, population tends to increase geometrically, while resources to support

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nts he can directly utilize, i.e., maximizing tax receipts. Thus, economic life benefits from strong states, capable of defining and defending property rights. Farmers can work the land without fear of raids, merchants can travel with their goods without having to hire a private army for protection, eating up any possible profits. On the other hand, economic life can be harmed if states are too strong � so that that rulers can freely trounce on the property rights of their subjects, or favor particular groups of subjects that are of special interest to the rulers, but not necessarily productive. Moreover, groups of subjects may themselves be regarded as economic players, with varying motives. Merchants are in the business of creating wealth, courtiers of displaying it. Both want to be rich, but the efforts of merchants tend to increase economic activity, while the efforts of courtiers do so only incidentally. What is the use of wealth if you cannot display it at Court? In England and the Netherlands, merchants came relatively early to be important groups of subjects, both economically (for the taxes they could pay) and politically, for the support they could give to the ruler � or the threat they might pose to a rul

Category: History - E