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Economic Life - Class dictated culture more than country or geography - Nobles from across Europe had more in common with each other than with peasants on their own manors
- Trends: - Increase in agricultural production - more land brought into cultivation and cleared - Increase in population - Increase in commodity prices
Rural Life in the 16th Century: - 90% of the people lived on farms and small villages - Social organization revolved around three factors: Manor, Parish and rural administration - Cost peasants up to 50% of their income - Bad harvests presented a constant threat - Household: family unit (home) - Life centered on the hearth - Few possessions: wooden chest, few clothes, straw bed, table + chairs (luxury) - Rarely traveled outside village - Agriculture: - Northern Europe: 3 field system - winter wheat / rye, spring barley, peas, beans - Mediterranean World: 2 field rotation, olives and grapes supplemented income - Mountains: Animal husbandry - sheep (mountains), pigs (woodlands), cattle (farms) - Impact: agriculture was the main profession, land was the principle resource - Lords owned land - rented it - Western Europe peasants owned a greater percentage of land - Feudal contracts dominated social / econ. Relationship - Fields were planted / harvested communally - Town Life - Guilds dominated social / econ. Life - set standards for training, labor conditions, wages and quality standards - Towns were interdependent upon one another and the countryside - 25% poverty rate, general welfare better than the countryside - Larger the town the greater the specialization of labor
- Economic Change: - Population explosion between 1550 and 1650 - At first an increase in agricultural production (increased land in production) - Cycle of growth resulted in surplus labor and commodities for urban growth - Eventually population outgrew production (new farm land tended to be less productive) - Population increases caused problems in cities - Increased poverty, crime, lower wages
Price Revolution: - Between 1500 and 1650 cereal prices increased 5 to 6 times, manufactured goods 2 to 3 times - Causes: 1. Population increase 2. Increase in precocious metals (new world) 3. War and increased state deficits led to debasement of currency 4. Highly susceptible to inflationary problems - long term rents (99 years), rights to purchase products at fixed prices Result: "social dislocation" - Towns: manufactured goods inflated slower - loss of purchasing power - Landowners: income tied to rent, fixed rent meant a loss of purchasing power - Payment in kind rents, became wealthier - Peasants: largely insulated, rarely participated in economic exchange - Greater incentive to produce surplus crops - greater specialization - increased unequal distribution of wealth among the peasantry - Urban workers: hardest hit, many became migrant laborers IMPACT: new understanding of wealth: - People used to see land / tenants as wealth (asset), shift to liquid assets as a sign of wealth
Social Life: - Basic assumption: inequality, hierarchy and stratification - The group was the basic pattern of organization rather than the individual - Hierarchy was the basic organizational form of society: - Wealth was a poor indicator of position (rise of the new rich) - STATUS was the key: conferred privileges and responsibilities, reflected everywhere as publicly as possible - The Great Chain of Being: universe was a chain, everything has its place from God all the way down to rocks (implied hierarchy and interdependence, precluded social mobility) - All life connected and interdependent
- Body Politic: Metaphor that saw the state as a body (implied hierarchy and interdependence, precluded social mobility) - Head = rulers - Arms = protectors - Stomach = nourished - Feet = labor - Soul = church - Hands = crafts
Social Classes - Nobles: legal rank that carried privileges and obligations - Prince, duke, earl, count, baron - Political order: held govt. positions - Economic order: exempted from most taxation - Obligations: ran local areas
- Town elite / Gentry - As wealth increased so to did power - devised their own system of status - Wealthy farmers who acquired their own tenants, began to act as if they were nobles - Rise of the Gentry created a rift in society b/w old money and new money - Nobility of the Robe: conferred status - Nobility of the sword: hereditary status
- New Rich: expanding wealth and population created a demand for an increased ruling class (result of the Price Revolution)
- New Poor: more of them and greater dislocation of the poor (result of the Price Revolution) - Traditional poor: "deserving poor" were cared for by the community in which they lived (church primary actor) - Problem: more poor than could be supported, led to migrant labor - As destitute migrated they lost their rights to alms - Crime rate increased with poverty, dislocated poor were blamed and targeted for retribution - Society became increasingly reactionary
- Peasant Revolts: - Organized petitions in response to perceived changes in their rights / obligations - Met tremendous opposition - Agrarian changes led to the revolts - Expansion of agricultural practices - Enclosures: fenced off sections, removed decision making from communal agriculture - Gave greater freedom to wealthy landowners - Hurt the small farmer - Seen as an "effect not a cause" - Ket's Rebellion (England) was in response to enclosures - Similar uprisings occurred across Europe - German Peasants' War - a series of uprisings - Agrarian and religious in their motivation - Twelve Articles of the Peasants of Swabia (1525) - List of demands: Marriage, freedom of movement, elimination of death taxes, stable rents, limit on labor service - Crushed by the German nobility
Private Life Life was in a state of change: new worlds, centralization of state, war and religious reform
The Family: - Primary kin group - Nuclear: married couple w/ children - Extended family more common in Eastern Europe (taxes based on household) - Linage determined one's status - Provided stability and predictability to society - Social organization provided discipline / hierarchy that society was based on
Gender roles - Women experienced as many pregnancies as possible, often dictated gender roles - Dominated work in the household - Roles changed over lifetime - Work was conducted within the household - private life - Men worked in public and were seen as the leadership within the household - Work often focused on heavy labor
Local Communities: - Guided by lords (acted as administrators of justice) and priests (conduits of communication)
Weddings: - Public events which served as a rite of passage into the adult community - Property was exchanged and status was conferred (maintained a stable society)
Popular beliefs: - Preliterate society, very superstitious - Magical practices were still accepted - Magicians: herbs & plants focused on diseases - Alchemists: rocks, minerals - precursor to experimental science - Astrologers: studied the stars to predict the future - Witches: animals
Social Disorders: - Skimmingtons / Charivari: shaming ritual to ensure traditional gender roles - Aimed at women who challenged traditional gender hierarchy - Became increasingly common as economic pressure increased - Witchcraft craze - Witchcraft = use of magic for evil - 1550-1650 30,000 victims (80% women) - Why single women? - Fringes of society - Often sold herbs as a means of income - No male protector - Traditional bias (religion)
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