A.     An Agricultural Revolution (that transforms Europe)

-         began with the peasants on the farmlands- they adapted new technologies

-         the iron plowà carve deep into the soil (used to use wooden ones)

-         a new harnessà use horses to plow the field (instead of oxen- the horses are much faster and allow the peasants to grow more crops)

-         a windmill- it spun from the heavy wind (used to grind grainà flour)

-         now people were starting to want more land- to get more food- so the nobles pushed the peasants to clear forests, drain swamps, and reclaim waste land

-         also farmers adopted the three field system- they use up more land to plant things in different parts (used to have a two field system- half of the land wasn’t used, now only 1/3 of the land wasn’t being used)

-         since there was more planting and farming there was more foodà population

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B.     Trade Revives

-         now that there was a big population people wanted more materials that they didn’t have (peasants- iron (for plow), nobles- wool, wine, spices from Asia)

-         since there was much less feudal warfare and more foreign invasion trade routed began to form (between Europe, Asia and the Middle East)

-         in Constantinople- trade of: Chinese silk, Byzantine jewelry, and Asian spicesà Venice and Adriatic Seaà England and lands on the Baltic Sea

-         they had trade fairs- were usually all the people went and enjoyed themselves but most of them couldn’t afford most of the stuff- except the nobles…

-         in the winter when there weren’t any fairs- the merchants and traders went to small towns with a bishop’s palace and castles. These became medieval towns with very big populations

-         the most prosperous cities were in Flanders and northern Italy

-         merchants who wanted to open cities- got charters from local lords (allows them to do that) and they had to pay a lot of money or yearly fees in return

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C.     A Commercial Revolution

-         now that there was trade merchants need money to buy things so they borrowed money from moneylenders- so now they needed capitals (money for investment)

-         now groups of merchants started coming together and forming organizations and they were pooling (raising prices a little) the industry

-         the merchants started to form insurance bonds

-         bill of exchange- the merchant gives money to the banker, and the banker gives him a bill of exchange that he can exchange for cash when he goes to other cities (so he could travel, making sure that his money wasn’t stolen)

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D.    Social Changes:

-         now peasants started selling products and goods- and instead of being serfs to the lords they started paying rent

-         by 1130 most peasants were either tenant farmers or hired farm laborers

-         by 1000 there was a new class of merchants, traders and artisans

-         now women were starting to gain a little more freedom

-         the nobles (the busy towns was a disruptive influence!) and clergy (usury- interest on money borrowingß this is crazy!) hated the new middle class

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E.     Role of Guilds

-         merchant guilds (associations) dominated the life in medieval towns

-         they passed laws, issued taxes, and decided what to use it for (roads, towns…)

-         the artisans started to get annoyed from it so they formed craft guilds- when each group of workers in a certain occupation come together to protect their own economic interests

-         some riots were caused from the resentfulness of the two guilds

-         the guilds:   -    prevented competition by making no leaders

-         regulated hours of work

-         ensured quality of goods (made rules)

-         social services

-         helped make schools, hospitals, and also widows and children

-         first you have to be a trainee- work as an apprentice (start at 7)

-         women were in many guilds too (equal to men)

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F.      City Life

-         medieval towns were surrounded by walls

-         as population grew people started to live in the fields outside the walls

-         so the city used to rebuild is walls every year- making the town bigger

-         usually it was a bunch of cities lined with tall houses

-         in the largest cities there was usually a bishops cathedral, or a guild hall

-         there was no garbage collection in most towns- they were noisy, dirty, filthy