Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Chapter I The Settlement and Colonization of Europe
- Chapter II Agriculture and Rural Life in the Later Roman Empire
- Chapter III The Evolution of Agricultural Technique
- Chapter IV Agrarian Institutions of the Germanic Kingdoms from the fifth to the ninth century
- Chapter V Agrarian conditions in the Byzantine Empire in the Middle Ages
- Chapter VI The Rise of Dependent Cultivation and Seignorial Institutions
- Chapter VII Medieval Agrarian Society in its Prime
- Chapter VIII Crisis: From the Middle Ages to Modern Times
- BIBLIOGRAPHIES
- Plate Section
- The Roman frontier and the Teutonic Tribes in the first and fourth centuries A.D.
- The Empire of Charles the Great
- Germany in the thirteenth century
- References
Chapter III - The Evolution of Agricultural Technique
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Chapter I The Settlement and Colonization of Europe
- Chapter II Agriculture and Rural Life in the Later Roman Empire
- Chapter III The Evolution of Agricultural Technique
- Chapter IV Agrarian Institutions of the Germanic Kingdoms from the fifth to the ninth century
- Chapter V Agrarian conditions in the Byzantine Empire in the Middle Ages
- Chapter VI The Rise of Dependent Cultivation and Seignorial Institutions
- Chapter VII Medieval Agrarian Society in its Prime
- Chapter VIII Crisis: From the Middle Ages to Modern Times
- BIBLIOGRAPHIES
- Plate Section
- The Roman frontier and the Teutonic Tribes in the first and fourth centuries A.D.
- The Empire of Charles the Great
- Germany in the thirteenth century
- References
Summary
Between the great agricultural enterprises of antiquity based on slavery, which survived in a modified form as the great manorial estates of the Carolingian era, and the great capitalist estates of modern times, lie the small farming units characteristic of the feudal period. After the charges due to the lord had been paid, these small tenant farmers aimed first and foremost at providing subsistence for their families. But at the same time their energy and the productivity of their holdings were sufficient to sustain the great movement of reclamation which reached its peak in the twelfth century. The evolution of agricultural technique in the Middle Ages which made these changes possible can be divided into three main phases:
(1) From the fifth to the tenth centuries the introduction of a series of technical innovations, some large and some small, and the diffusion of others inherited from Roman antiquity, but not hitherto widely adopted, increased productivity on the small units to an extent which gave them an economic advantage over the larger estates worked by forced labour. Among such innovations were the wheeled plough, modern harness, the flail, the water-mill, improved ways of harrowing fields, made possible by the use of the horse as a draught animal, the extension of more easily grown crops such as rye and oats, the first attempts at a three-year rotation. Such simple tools as the hoe and the flail brought great advantages to those who used them; and acquired an immense economic significance because they came to be used in enormous numbers and because they could be used for long periods during the working year. Polish ethnographers have calculated that in their country the use of improved flails increased productivity by about ioo per cent.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1966
References
, De observatione ciborum, epistula ad Theudericum regem Francorum, ed. , Lipsiae, 1877.
Geschichte des Weinbaues. Frankfurt-am-Main, 1907.
‘Der Ackerbau und seine Produkte in Ungarn im xiv. Jahrhundert’, in Acta Ethnogr. Ac. Sc. Hung., VI, 1957.Google Scholar
‘La culture permanente et l'évolution du système biennal et triennal en Hongrie médiévale’, in Ergon, vol. II, 1960.Google Scholar
‘The rotation of crops at Westerham, 1297–1350’, in Economic History Review. 2nd ser., 9, 1958–9.Google Scholar
. Le bon berger ou le vray régime et gouvernement des bergers et bergèes. Ed. . Paris, 1879. [This treatise, which was written in 1379 by order of Charles V. is known to us only in an abridged version printed in the first half of the sixteenth century.]
Il lessico agricolo latino e le sue continuazioni romanze, Instituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, Milan, 1958.
Apporti dalle glosse alla conoscenza del lessico agricolo latino, Inst. Lomb. di Sc. e Let., Milan, 1959.
‘Histoire et amélioration des pommiers et spécialement des pommiers à cidre’, in Revue de Botanique appliquée, 1921.Google Scholar
‘La noria marocaine et les machines hydrauliques dans le monde arabe’, in Hespéris, XIV, 1932.Google Scholar
Devis sur la vigne, vin et vendanges. Paris, 1550.
Plough and Pasture. London, 1946.
, Sources minérals, themes gallo-romains et occupation du sol aux Fontaines Salées (Paris, 1944.)
‘La vie de la forêt française au xvie siècle’, Les hommes et la terre, VI, 2 vols. Paris, 1961.Google Scholar
Histoire de la vigne et du vin en France des origines au XIXe siècle. Paris, 1959.
Ancient Oil Mills and Presses, Copenhagen, 1932.
‘Techniques et rendements agricoles dans les Alpes du Sud en 1338’, in Annales du Midi, 1958.Google Scholar
Praedium rusticum. Lutetiae, 1554.
L'agriculture et la Maison Rustique. Paris, 1564.
Fleta. Ed. . 1647. [Of little original value.] (). Archaeologia, LIV, 1895.
Studies in ancient technology. Leyde, 6 vols., 1955-8.
‘La vie pastorale au Moyen Age dans les Monts Dore’, in Mélanges Philippe Arbos, Clermont-Ferrand, 1953.Google Scholar
, ‘Observations sur la localisation du “Capitulare de Villis”’, in Le Moyen-Age, 1949.Google Scholar
Geoponica, sive Cassiani Bassi scholastici De re rustica eclogae. Ed. . Lipsiae, 1895. [First half of tenth century.]
Histoire des légumes. Paris, 1912.
and L'agriculture au Moyen Age de la fin de l'Empire romain au XVIe siècle. Paris, 1950.
, ‘Explication du capitulaire “de Villis”’, in Acad. des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Mémoires, xxi, 1857.Google Scholar
and L'homme et la charrue. Paris, 1955.
and L'homme et les plantes cultivèes, Paris, 1943.
. Rei rusticae libri quatuor, universam rusticam disciplinam complectentes. Cologne, 1571.
Un haras royal en Normandie (1338). Paris, 1927.
. Le livre de l'agriculture (Kitab al Felahah, XIIe; siècle). Traduit de l'arabe par . Paris, 1864–7.
‘Schafhaltung und Schäfer in Zentraleuropa bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts’, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für deutsche Volkskunde, Bd. 25, Berlin, 1961.Google Scholar
The Wheats of classical Antiquity, Johns Hopkins University Studies in historical and political Science, Baltimore, 1944.
Sixteenth century: , The Boke of Husbandrye, 1523. Ed. . (English Dialect Soc. 1882.)
, , , and ‘Structures agraires et paysages ruraux. Un quart de siècle de recherches françaises’, Annales de l'Est, publiées par la Faculté des Lettres de l'Université de Nancy, Mémoire no. 17, 1957.Google Scholar
‘Z problematyki rozwoju rolnictwa w Galii rzymskiej’, in Przegląd Historyczny, t. 51, translated with abridged footnotes: ‘Techniques rurales. La moissonneuse antique en Gaule romaine’, in Annales E.S.C. 1960).Google Scholar
Geschichte der deutschen Landwirtschaft. 2 Auf., 1951.
Le Ménagier de Paris. Traité de Morale et d'Economie Domestique, composé vers 1393 par un Bourgeois Parisien. Ed. . (Soc. des Bibliophiles français. Paris, 1846.) English translation (abridged, with introd. and notes) by , The Goodman of Paris, London, 1928.Google Scholar
‘Les occupations des mois dans l'iconographie du Moyen-Age’, in Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, XXXV, 1924.Google Scholar
Harvests and Harvesting through the ages. Cambridge, 1959.
‘The composition of demesme plough-teams in xiith century England’, in English Historical Review. 1959.Google Scholar
Geschiedenis van de landbow in België. Antwerp, 1952.
Agricultural Writers from Sir Walter Henley to A. Young, 1200–1800, London, 1908, and , ‘On the need for a new edition of Walter of Henley’, in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 4th series, XVII, 1934.Google Scholar
English Illuminated Manuscripts of the Twelfth to Thirteenth Centuries, Paris, 1926, and English Illuminated Manuscripts of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, Paris, 1928.
, ‘Pietro dei Crescenzi: the founder of modern agronomy’, in Agricultural History Review, 1944.Google Scholar
‘Medieval Treatises on estate Management’, in Economic History Review. 2nd ser. VIII, 1956.Google Scholar
‘Vorindustrielle Pressen und Keltem und ihre Verbreitung in Westeuropa’, in Deutches Jahrbuch für Volkskunde, II, 1962.Google Scholar
‘Das Problem der tatsächlichen Verbreitung der technischen Fortschritte in der römischen Landwirtschaft’, in Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, 1960.Google Scholar
‘The British plough: some stages in its development’, in The agricultural History Review, 1957.Google Scholar
‘Origines et propagation de la charrue sur les territoires polonais’, in Ergon, vol. II, 1960.Google Scholar
and Fleta, vol. II, 1956. (Selden Society Publications, vol. 72).
‘Openfield Agriculture in Herefordshire in the Middle Ages’, in Trans. Woolhope Nat. Field Club, 33, 1949.Google Scholar
‘Rádlo’ et ‘pluh’ en pays tchécoslovaque. I. Les plus vieux outils (en tchèque). Prague, 1961.
De ontwikkeling van de Nederlandse tuinbouw (tot het jaar 1930). 1952.
, Contributo allo studio critico degli scrittori agrari italici: Pietro dei Crescenzi, Acireale, 1922.
Bauernwerk in Italien, der italienischen und rätoromanischen Schweiz, 2 vols., Zürich, 1943 and 1956.
‘Enstehung und Verbreitung der Mehrfeldwirtschaft in Nordöst Deutschland’, in Zeitschrift für Agrargeschichte und Agrarsoziologie. 1954.Google Scholar
‘Usages agraires dans les régions provençales avant le xviiie siècle. Les assolements’, in Revue de Géographie alpine, 1941.Google Scholar
‘Cultures en Haute Provence. Déboisements et pâturages au Moyen age’, Les hommes et la terre, IV, Paris, 1959.Google Scholar
Storia del paesaggio agrario italiano. Bari, 1961.
‘Sur l'économie rurale de l'Italie antique’ (en russe) in Vestnik Drevnej Istorii, 1953.Google Scholar
. Théâtre d'agriculture et Mesnage des Champs. Paris, 1600.
‘Les techniques rurales en pays toulousain aux xive et xve siècles d'apres les contrats de métayage’ in Annales du Midi, 1959.Google Scholar
‘The rise of intensive husbandry in the Low Countries, in Britain and in the Netherlands’, Papers delivered to the Oxford-Netherlands historical conference 1959, ed. by and , London, 1960.
De agrarische geschiedenis van West-Europa, (500–1850). 2nd ed. Utrecht, 1962.
‘The influence of economic conditions on the development of agricultural tools and machines in history’, in Studies, in industrial economics, vol. II: Mechanization in agriculture, 1960.Google Scholar
Ancient harvesting Implements. Copenhagen, 1943.
‘Poésies et représentations carolingiennes et byzantines des mois’, in Revue Archéologique, XLV, 1955.Google Scholar
‘Beiträge zur Geschichte der alpinen Schwaighöfe’, in Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte. 1932.Google Scholar
The Luttrell Psalter. With introduction by . 1932.
‘Zur Geschichte der Erntegeräte’, in Zeitschrift für Agrargeschichte und Agrarsoziologie. 1956.Google Scholar
A history of British livestock husbandry to 1700. London, 1957.
, Accounts and Diaries of Farmers before 1800 as sources for Agricultural History, 8 (Wageningen, 1962).
‘Middeleeuwse ploegen in de Nederlanden’, in Handelingen van het XXIVe Vlaams Filologencongres, LOUVAIN, 1961.Google Scholar
‘Bijdragen tot de studie van de agrarische structuur in het Vlaamse land. Het probleem van de verdwijning van de braak in de Vlaamse landbouw (xiie–xviie eeuw)’, in Naturwetenschappelijk tijdschrift, 1956.Google Scholar
‘Probleme der mittelalterlichen Agrarlandschaft in Flandern’, in Zeitschrift für Agrargeschichte und Agrarsoziologie. 1961.Google Scholar
Walter of Henley's Husbandry. Together with an anonymous Husbandry, Seneschaucie and Robert Grossetestes Rule's. Ed. . (Royal Hist. Soc. 1890.)
‘The Labors of the Months in antique and mediaeval Art to the End of the Twelfth Century’, Princeton Monographs in Art and Archaeology, 1938.Google Scholar
‘Development of agriculture in polish territories at the period of contacts with the Celtic and Roman culture’, in Ergon, vol. II, 1960.Google Scholar
- 7
- Cited by