Manorialism, feudalism, Serfdom & Economic Growth

Three institutions manorialism, feudalism, and serfdom dominated Western Europe until the 14th century. In what ways did these institutions encourage economic growth? In what ways did they discourage economic growth? What evidence can you give to support your answer)

The manorial system refers mainly to the connection between nobles and the serfs bound to a given noble's land, while the feudal system refers mainly to the connections between and among nobles of higher and lesser social status. Within social classes, whether among the clergy or the laity, and including the peasantry, there were hierarchical social divisions, but the peasant/serfs were at the bottom of the scale with little hope for social mobility (Cameron, 197, pp. 48-49). The principal way in which manorialism, feudalism, and serfdom encouraged economic growth in Western Europe was the fact that these systems which varied in details from country to country were indeed systems, mechanisms of social organization and order that facilitated the project of seeing to the basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing for the majority of people. The alternative to this admittedly hierarchical form of social organization might have been complete anarchy. North cites the social disarray following the decline of the Roman Empire and the gradual affiliation of masses of people with military overlords who could protect them (1981, p. 127) and thereby set the stage for increased economic activity (p. 132).

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le of the aftermath of the Hundred Years War in France, where the French crown was faced with a massive infrastructure-rebuilding process and where the French territory of Burgundy at the time was still held by England, which taxed at a lower rate than the French crown. But, as North explains, France's Charles VII asked for emergency taxes for rebuilding and "used his fiscal revenues effectively, making an advantageous peace with the Burgundians, pushing the English back, an clearing the countryside of outlaws" (North, 1981, pp. 148-9). This was consistent with the state's economy-building function of fostering social stability; the Estates General (French legislature at the time), desirous of social stability in France, agreed to these levies and significantly to the crown's right to tax without legislative approval or debate. The result was that the crown could trade its own or others' property rights for tax revenue or appropriate and redistribute property rights in exchange for tax payments (or nonpayment). The result was an increase in tax revenue, as the crown granted monopolistic property rights to guilds and apparently estates that agreed to guarantee the crown revenue based on holding those rights. But it was "a short-run

Category: Economics - M