The Commercial Revolution

1
The Commercial Revolution

• Medieval Society Comes of Age

2
Why a Commercial Revolution?

• Population Growth
• Climate
• Relative Peace
• Agricultural Technology
• From Scratch Plow to Heavy Plow
• Three Field System and Fertilizers
• Horse Collar, Stirrup, and Horseshoe
• Mills
• Rural Routines and Yields

3
How the Rise of Cities Challenged Medieval Values

• Town, Country and Commerce
• Urban values and medieval assumptions.
• Commerce, work, and warfare.
• Profit motives and the Church
• principles of fraternity or Corporatism

4
Urban Communes and Government

• Establishment of city governments
• Charters and the written word
• Communes and liberties
• Corps or social bodies.
• Organization of government
• The relationship between town, kings, and the
  warrior nobility

5
Urban Industry

• Towns and the Guilds
• Guilds defined
• Merchant and artisanal guilds
• Social hierarchy within the guilds
• Masters, journeymen, and apprentices.
• The unincorporated.

6
Commerce and the Cities

• The Fairs
• Commercial improvements
• notaries
• Banking and Credit
• The sin of usury
• Partnership contracts commenda
• Money and Minting

7
Money

• Liards or copper coins
• 12 denier 1 sous
• 20 sous 1 livre ( ) Livre tournois
• Louis dOr (1/2 livre)