FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600)

1. FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Capitalism: Economic system using large sums of money in large scale trade, manufacture,or agriculture & characterized by: New business techniques to handle larger trade volume: Joint stock companies People w/ moderate $ can also invest More money invested & circulating rather than being hoarded More trade More jobs Stimulates increased production Private ownership of means of prod. Unlike guilds’ strict control Deposit banks & credit  Safer to invest Law of supply & demand, not guild regulations, determines prices Insurance companies  Safer to invest Large scale of manuf.  Growing gap b/w workers & owners Agric., popul., towns & trade revive by 1450 New mkts w/more people w/modest amounts of $ Look for new markets & goods outside Europe Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: Profit motive (vs. Church view of profit as sin) Incentive & innovations Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Age of Explor.  New mkts & sources of $ (FC.81) Merchants undercut guilds w/cottage indust’s (FC.65) Ger. mining boom More $ in circulation Adoption of Arabic numerals & accounting Money to finance Ital. Renaissance (FC.76) Money to finance nat’l monarchies (FC.79)

2. The Black Death radically altered Europe’s political & social structure, hurting Church & nobles with the new money econ., while helping peasants who could buy their freedom, middle Class who could buy noble titles and offices, & esp. kings whom everyone looked to safeguard the public peace. -> Econ as merchants set up cottage indust’s& the age of exploration ->mktsoutside Eur. -> New business tech’s (banks, credit, insurance, & joint stock comp’s), which along with a mining boom & Arabic numerals & accounting -> Cycle of increasing investment, trade, production, and employment. -> Capitalism an econ. system using large sums of money in large scale trade, manufacture, or agriculture & characterized by private ownership of the means of prod., the law of supply & demand determining prices, profit motive, &a growing gap b/w owners & workers as the scale of prod. increased. -> $ to finance the Renaissance & rising nation states.

3. Social change FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Turmoil of the Later Middle Ages especially hurt what classes? Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71)

4. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’milit. & econ. (inflation) decline FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Nobles’ new jobs or positions?

5. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71)

6. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71)

7. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) What did many Middle Class (MC) do?

8. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom Why?

9. Because for some reason, they thought this looked cool

10. THE WOULD BE GENTLEMAN: HOW TO BECOME A NOBLE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE Qualifications for nobilitywere different from one country to the next. For example, in England, it was purely through heredity, so there was a fairly small class of nobles (known as the peers or peerage). However, there was no specific legal status or class known as the gentry, who have popularly been seen as the lower nobility.

11. In France, there were three ways to become a noble: inheriting the status from your father if he had permanent noble status; by a special letter from the king; or buying the status. By the 1700s, there were 4,000 offices that could be bought and confer nobility. To buy noble status, one must buy an office that conferred nobility. Some offices (e.g., judges in the Paris Parlement and the hundreds of “royal secretaries”) immediately conferred permanent nobility on the first generation holding that office. Others (e.g., mayors and tax collectors) typically did not receive permanent status until after the third generationof a family holding that office.

12. Keep in mind that buying an office (and noble status) was like buying a car or house today. It was the personal property of the person who bought it and could be handed down to succeeding generations. By the same token, one could sell an office, thus depriving one’s descendants of that office and noble status, unless he sold it after attaining permanent noble status, which he could then hand down to his heirs without the office being attached.

13. Military offices were one category of positions that commoners could not buy. While this kept a lot of rich people with no military talent from infecting the army with their incompetence, it also kept out a lot of potential new talent, often to France’s detriment in its many wars all the way down to the revolution in 1789.

14. Noble status was just the first step in social climbing among the elite. There were four main factors determining your position within the noble hierarchy: • how long your family been noble, three generations being a major threshold; • what other families you had married into; • what offices and titles you & your family members had achieved; and • what notable actions they had performed

15. One critical step was finding a suitable marriage into a family with power, prestige, and wealth, especially the latter, because an aspiring noble needed a sizable dowry to climb the ladder of success. However, you had to be careful not to set your sights too high, because trying to win a bride from an extremely prestigious and powerful family would likely meet with rejection and damage your still fragile status.

16. Having children was another important decision for building a powerful family. Having too many sons could dissipate your wealth, but having none to succeed you would be the end of the line. Of course, the fly in the ointment was the high rate of infant and child mortality, probably 50% by age twenty. But child mortality varied widely from family to family, so you never know how many, if any, children will survive you. If you were blessed with several healthy sons, you could limit the size of your family by finding “romance” with a mistress or various peasant girls. (Unfortunately for your wife, she doesn’t have such options, since any children born would be of suspect legitimacy.) If all your legitimate sons die, you could have any bastard sons declared legitimate noble heirs by a letter from the king.

17. Money is important to a noble, not as goal in itself, but as a means to social prestige. Thus you need to make astute investments within the legal restrictions of your class. Practicing certain ignoble occupations, such as retail commerce or manual crafts, would cost you your noble status. Other trades, such as medicine, glass blowing, exploitation on mines and maritime and wholesale commerce are tolerated. So is tilling the soil, as long as it is your own land and not someone else’s. And especially forbidden was…

18. ….gambling on giraffe fights

19. Three types of investments are in tax farms, textiles (wholesale) and land. Tax farms are the most lucrative, but also disreputable, so getting involved in that might lose status in the eyes of your peers. Textiles are also lucrative, but also riskier, while land is the safest, but least dynamic long-term investment.

20. A noble with Land also has two main options on how to manage it. You could collect fixed monetary rents, which were stable, but also more subject to inflation. Or you could let your peasants sharecrop and take a percentage of their grain as rent. You could then either sell the grain in town or store it and wait for a year when grain production is down and then sell it for a greater profit. One danger here, however, is that rats and spoilage will reduce your grain stores each year.

21. An aspiring noble also wants to get a title, such as duke or count. In the middle ages, these were titles held by noble families that had fought their way up in society as members of the warrior class and established as much power and independence from the king as they could. However, over the centuries, the monarchy has gradually regained control of these titles through such things as marriage and the extinction of family lines, whereby the titles reverted to the king by a custom known as escheat. By 1600, the king controlled these titles and could grant them at will to those gaining his favor. The hierarchy of titles is: 1) Duc (duke) 2) Marquis (marquis) 3) Comte (earl) 4) Viscomte (viscount) 5) Baron (baron)

22. Of course, a lowly first generation noble like you can’t expect to get a title on your own. Much like medieval homage, you need help from a patron, so you should vie for the patronage of a powerful noble who can work in higher circles of power for your benefit and protect you from enemies who would try to subject you to fines, confiscations, and the humiliation of scandal. Thus a lower noble’s fortunes are tied to those of his patron, and if that patron fell from favor, so did his clients.

23. And no self-respecting noble is going to be taken seriously if he doesn’t have his own castle in the country, or what we now refer to as a chateaux. Many or most castles fell into disrepair, but a number of them, in particular along the Loire River close to Paris, were renovated as country estates. Except now they were built more for comfort, and less for defensive purposes. Below: Chateau De La Hulpe(left) and Beloeil castle, both in Belgium.

24. Modave Chateaux Jehaye Chateaux

25. Chambord Chateaux

26. Chateau de Blois, an example of what happened to the luckier medieval castles during the Renaissance

27. Another French chateau. Notice the simulated giants in the upper left. The last real giant was executed during the Reign of Terror in 1794 for trying to sell “magic beans” to a peasant woman. Contrary to popular belief, giants rarely attained a height of more than 10 meters. Those who did were considered freaks by their fellow giants.

28. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

29. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom What eventually happens to the MC who do this?

30. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

31. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • - Old nobility called nobles of • the sword Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

32. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

33. Now the new nobles (of the robe) could go hunting, trampling over peasants’ crops and children just like the older established nobles of the sword got to do.

34. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: Big winners politically? FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

35. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom What gave kings an edge over nobles?

36. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Only kings (w/MC help) can buy • armies (esp. Guns) & bur’s Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

37. Fairy tales, or more properly folk tales, give us one of the few insights into how common people felt about medieval society. Take, for instance, the villains, who typically are evil ministers or women, often with diabolical magical powers that allow them to control events. Since the king’s ministers and advisors typically came from the noble classes, their portrayal as evil largely reflects the commoners’ views of nobles as the enemy and source of their troubles.

38. Women also feature prominently among villains, because of the belief that it was an inversion of the natural order for women to be in power. Therefore, such women must be evil. This also means that real women in power, such as Marie de Medici and Marie Antoinette of France, were typically seen as evil and scheming (maybe even witches) and had a hard time getting fair treatment from historians of the time (almost all of them men). Only recently have historians been reassessing these women’s lives & giving them more balanced treatment ……..sometimes.

39. By contrast, kings are seen as good, because they were the natural allies and protectors of peasants and townsmen against their common enemy: the nobles. Therefore, if things are going badly in the kingdom, it’s not because the kings are bad, but because they are under the influence (or spell) of evil ministers or queens. Once the spell is broken, the king or his son the prince (AKA Prince Charming, right) can again rule and bring the kingdom prosperity.

40. Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & do what with it? Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) • Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Only kings (w/MC help) can buy • armies (esp. Guns) & bur’s Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

41. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Only kings (w/MC help) can buy • armies (esp. Guns) & bur’s • - Free peasants Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: Impact on productivity & why? FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

42. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Only kings (w/MC help) can buy • armies (esp. Guns) & bur’s • - Free peasants • -> Incentive to work • -> Productivity rises Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: Impact on towns & trade? FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom

43. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Only kings (w/MC help) can buy • armies (esp. Guns) & bur’s • - Free peasants • -> Incentive to work • -> Productivity rises Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom Agric., popul., towns & trade revive by 1450

44. The Venetian ducat (above), which maintained a purity of 99.9% for 500 years, and the Florentine florin (below) especially symbolized the increasingly money based economy

45. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Only kings (w/MC help) can buy • armies (esp. Guns) & bur’s • - Free peasants • -> Incentive to work • -> Productivity rises Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: How did the markets change? FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom Agric., popul., towns & trade revive by 1450

46. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Only kings (w/MC help) can buy • armies (esp. Guns) & bur’s • - Free peasants • -> Incentive to work • -> Productivity rises Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom Agric., popul., towns & trade revive by 1450 New mkts w/more people w/modest amounts of $ How did merchants deal w/guilds’ restrictions?

47. Social change • BD & 100 Yrs War-> Nobles’ • milit. & econ. (inflation) decline • Some become courtiers & • officers in king’s army; • Some work-> lose noble • status in some countries • MC settle on Chateaus & • waste $ like other nobles • -> Constant turnover in ranks • Newer nobles called Nobility of • the robe • Old nobility called nobles of • the sword • Only kings (w/MC help) can buy • armies (esp. Guns) & bur’s • - Free peasants • -> Incentive to work • -> Productivity rises Radically alters W. Eur’s polit. & social structure: FC.75 THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EUROPE (c.1450-1600) Black Death especially hurts nobles (FC.71) Middle class replenishes noble ranks by buying titles & offices from king Revival of kings’ power to safeguard peace & order Surviving peasants inherit victims’ property & buy freedom from serfdom Agric., popul., towns & trade revive by 1450 New mkts w/more people w/modest amounts of $ Merchants undercut guilds w/cottage indust’s (FC.65)

48. The rise of cottage industries Once upon a time, there was a town where the local guild had total jurisdiction & the gates to lock out any competition Peasant cottages where guild has no jurisdiction

49. The rise of cottage industries Baa! $ Then one day a bright and enterprising young merchant came along with some wool to weave and sell. However, the evil guild masters locked the poor merchant out of the town & refused to let him do business there. Keep out! Stupid sheep Keep out! Keep out!

50. The rise of cottage industries Baa! $ But being bright and resourceful, the merchant had an idea. What’s that coming out of his head? I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Keep out!