Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Part I Methodology
- Part II Comparative study of trends
- 5 The end of the Middle Ages: the work of Guy Bois and Hugues Neveux
- 6 The recovery of the sixteenth century
- 7 The seventeenth century: general crisis or stabilization?
- 8 The eighteenth century: economic take-off?
- Notes
- References
- Title in the series
- Industrialization before Industrialization Rural Industry in the Genesis of Capitalism
6 - The recovery of the sixteenth century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Part I Methodology
- Part II Comparative study of trends
- 5 The end of the Middle Ages: the work of Guy Bois and Hugues Neveux
- 6 The recovery of the sixteenth century
- 7 The seventeenth century: general crisis or stabilization?
- 8 The eighteenth century: economic take-off?
- Notes
- References
- Title in the series
- Industrialization before Industrialization Rural Industry in the Genesis of Capitalism
Summary
In the sixteenth century, in sharp contrast with the previous period, there is a remarkable consistency amongst those countries for which we have tithe data. There was expansion and growth almost everywhere, at least in the period 1500 to 1560 or 1570. This is not, of course, a new discovery. Historians have spoken of the ‘splendid’ sixteenth century as a time of significant economic and demographic expansion. Despite this general trend, however, there was considerable poverty at an individual level because the increase in food production did not keep pace with the increase in population. The uniformity of agricultural expansion from Poland to Spain was very striking; it was not to be repeated during the second period of growth which began in the eighteenth century.
Needless to say, to refer to the sixteenth century as ‘splendid’ is to use superficial, metaphorical language. In fact the population increased more rapidly than production, which led to impoverishment, at least so far as real wages and the per capita income of the peasants were concerned. These phenomena were not particularly ‘splendid’, but rather were ‘harsh’.
I shall begin with central Europe; my first chapter was essentially concerned with France, as I did not have enough data for other countries in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but I can now widen my scope.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Tithe and Agrarian History from the Fourteenth to the Nineteenth CenturyAn Essay in Comparative History, pp. 93 - 119Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982