Crisis and Destruction in Medieval Western and Central Europe

The goals of the course

The course intends to introduce the students to the most important methods and literature of medieval social and economic history from a slightly unusual angle. It presents a general overview of the main paradigms of economic and social development of Western and Central Europe from Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages and familiarizes the students with new research questions as well as some of the primary source materials on which the results are based.

Learning outcome

The expected outcome is, for the students, a general knowledge of the problems analyzed by the course, a familiarity with the most important interpretations and debates in the historiography, and the knowledge of selected items of recent literature. After completing the course, students are expected to be able to draw upon this general knowledge and various interpretations as a context, frame of reference, and comparative dimension for their more specific topics of study and research.

Recommended general readings:

Aberth, John. From the brink of the apocalypse: confronting famine, war, plague, and death in the later Middle Ages. London: Routledge, 2001.

Epstein, Steven A. An Economic and Social History of Later Medieval Europe. Cambridge: CUP, 2009.

Hodges, Richard. Dark Age Economics: the origins of towns and trade A.D. 500–1000. London: Duckworth, 1989, 1-28. and 162-184.

Jankrift, Kay Peter. Brände, Stürme, Hungersnöte. Katastrophen der mittelalterlichen Lebenswelt. Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 2005.

Schedule:

Week 1: Introduction: Crisis – recession – depression – decline – disaster: theoretical and methodological approaches

Szende, Nagy, 22 September

The first class gives a theoretical and conceptual introduction to the particular negative angle that the instructors have decided to choose as the main approach of the course to issues of social and economic history. We will discuss both the long-term negative processes like decline and recession as well as short-term – and for the contemporaries more conspicuous – events such as disasters and catastrophes, together with their respective consequences on human communities. Finally, we will survey the possible sources, written, archaeological, pictorial, and others, that may shed light on such processes in the Middle Ages.

Readings: 

Schenk, Gerrit Jasper. “Historical Disaster Research. State of Research, Concepts, Methods and Case Studies,” Historical Social Research, 32 (2007), No. 3, Special Issue: Historical Disaster Research. http://hsr-trans.zhsf.uni-koeln.de/hsrretro/docs/artikel/hsr/hsr2007_1015.pdf

Slater, Terry R. and James P.P. Higgins. “What is urban decline: desolation, decay and destruction, or an opportunity?” in Towns in Decline AD 100–1600, ed. T.R. Slater. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000, 1-22.

Week 2: The fall of the Roman Empire: an event or a process?

Szende, 29 September

Ever since Edward Gibbon’s magisterial work on The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the waning of antique civilization in the West has been the subject of much scholarly debate. Why and how did political, social and economic structures that had existed for centuries collapse – or why did not this happen much earlier? Or was the period of Late Antiquity not a time of decline but rather a “religious and cultural revolution” (P. Brown)? This class will look at these confronting opinions in the light of new research.

Mandatory readings:

Ward-Perkins, Bryan. The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization. Oxford: OUP, 2005. Chapter VII: The Death of a civilization, 138-169.

Frankovich, Riccardo. “The beginnings of hilltop villages in early medieval Tuscany,” in The Long Morning of Medieval Europe. New Directions in Early Medieval Studies, eds. Jennifer R. Davis, Michael McCormick. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008, 55-82.

Optional readings:

McCormick, Michael. Origins of the European Economy. Communications and Commerce, A.D. 300–900. Cambridge: CUP, 2001. Chapter 3: Land and river communications in late antiquity; 64-82, Chapter 4: Sea change in late antiquity, 83-114.

Week 3: The decline of towns in the Early Middle Ages

Szende, 6 October

This class spans almost 500 years of urban ups and downs, from the gradual disintegration of the urban network of the Late Roman Empire through the nadir of urban life in the sixth-seventh centuries to new urban beginnings of the ninth-tenth century. We will discuss the question of continuity or discontinuity between late Antique and Early Medieval towns and their relation to their hinterlands as well as the gradual emergence of new connections between towns which eventually led to the emergence of a continent-wide network of towns.

Mandatory readings:

Liebeschuetz, J. H. W. G. The Decline and Fall of the Roman City. Oxford – New York: OUP, 2003. Chapter 9: Decline and the Beginnings of Renewal in the East, 284-317, Chapter 12: Decline and the Beginnings of Renewal in the West, 369-399.

Optional readings:

Christie, Neil. “Construction and deconstruction: reconstructing the late-Roman townscape,” in Towns in Decline AD 100–1600, ed. T.R. Slater. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000, 51-71.

Christie, Neil, “Towns and Peoples on the Middle Danube in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages,” in Towns in Transition. Urban Evolution in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, eds. Neil Christie and S. T. Loseby. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1996, 71-98.

Week 4: The aftermath of the Carolingian consolidation: the fall of an empire – the rise of an empire

Nagy, 13 October

The class discusses the disintegration of the Carolingian territories as a consequence of inner conflicts and the new wave of invasions. The participants analyze the symptoms of downfall and also the cores of the stabilization thereafter. Speaking about these developments we will focus on the rise of Germany in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

Mandatory readings:

Duby, Georges, The early growth of the European economy. Warriors and peasants from the seventh to the twelfth century. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974, 112-153.

Müller-Mertens, Eckhard. “The Ottonians as kings and emperors” In: The New Cambridge medieval history, Volume III c. 900–c. 1024. Ed. Timothy Reuter, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 233-266.

Optional readings:

Europe's centre around AD 1000, eds. Alfried Wieczorek and Hans-Martin Hinz. Stuttgart: Theiss, 2000, 435-539.

Riché, Pierre. The Carolingians: a family who forged Europe, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993, 207-324.

Week 5: Settlements, economy and environment in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries

Nagy, 20 October

The social, demographic and economic expansion of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries was one of the most decisive factors in medieval Europe. The participants will discuss multifaceted developments of this period, including external as well as internal expansion.

Mandatory readings:

Bartlett, Robert. The making of Europe: conquest, colonization, and cultural change, 950–1350. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993, Ch. 1 (The expansion of Latin Christendom), Ch. 6. (The new landscape)

Phillips, J.R.S., The medieval expansion of Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998, 17-51.

Optional reading:

Génicot, Léopold. “On the evidence of growth of population in the West from the 11^th to the 13^th century”, in Internal colonization in medieval Europe. e21ds. F. Fernández Armesto and J. Muldoon, (The Expansion of Latin Europe, 1000–1500, 2.) Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008, 29-44.

Week 6: The Mongol invasions and their effects in East and West

Nagy, 27 October

The participants will discuss the events and effects of the Mongol invasions. In the mid-thirteenth century the European Christian society was confronted with a previously unknown enemy and was forced to devise new military strategy against the Mongols. Besides the military events the demographic and other consequences will be also examined.

Mandatory readings:

Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2005, 8-86.

Optional readings:

Sinor, Denis, “The Mongols in the West,” Journal of Asian History, 33:1 (1999): 1-44.

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/sinor1.htm

Week 7: Climatic changes in the High Middle Ages and their consequences on agriculture

Nagy, 3 November

The climatic transformations influenced almost all factors of the economic and social development of the period. In this class the participants will explore the methods and the main turning-points of climatic history.

Mandatory readings:

Behringer, Wolfgang. A Cultural History of Climate. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010, 85-166.

Optional readings:

Duby, Georges. Rural economy and country life in the medieval West. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1976, 61-165.

Week 8: A recurrent menace: contagious diseases and epidemics and their possible effects

Szende, 10 November

Historical research considers the waves of plague in the mid-fourteenth-century the greatest cataclysm in late medieval Europe. The class will discuss how much destruction did this epidemic and similar diseases cause in human lives and economic potentials and how the Black Death transformed the economic and demographic systems of medieval Europe. We will also consider the uneven geographic distribution of the diseases and the effect of this on the development of Eastern and Central Europe.

Mandatory readings:

Cohn, Samuel K. Jr. The black death transformed. Disease and culture in early Renaissance Europe. London: Arnold, 2002. Chapters 1-3.

Herlihy, David. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1997. Ch. 2: The New Economic and Demographic System. 39-57.

Optional readings:

Benedictow, Ole J. The Black Death, 1346–1353: the complete history. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2004. Ch. 25: Patterns of conquest, dynamics of spread, 227-243.

Platt, Colin. King Death: The Black Death and its aftermath in late medieval England. London: UCL Press, 1996.

Week 9: Village desertion and population changes

Nagy, 17 November

Settlement desertion was a special experience of late medieval Europe, which was in close interaction with other phenomena of economic regression. The participants will discuss the most recent literature on the deserted settlements.

Mandatory readings:

Dyer, Christopher and Richard Jones (eds), Deserted Villages Revisited, Hatfield: Hertfordshire University Press, 2010, Chapters 2-3.

Optional readings:

Dodds, Ben and Richard Britnell (eds), Agriculture and Rural Society after the Black Death. Common Themes and Regional Variations. Hatfield: Hertfordshire University Press, 2008, Chapter 13.

Sárosi, Edit. “Development of deserted ‘puszta’ landscapes in the Danube–Tisza Interfluve region,” Ruralia 2009: 3-16.

Week 10: Towns in crisis: long-term decline and short-term disasters

Szende, 24 November

The rise and fall of towns had its own internal dynamics, dependent not only on general trends of economic development, but also on local circumstances and competition. The class will discuss the signs and impacts of urban decline on the topography and built fabric of late medieval towns as well as on society, which lead to upraises and riots in several towns in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century. Beside these long-term changes, short-term disasters like fires, floods and earthquakes will also be considered, given their strong effects due to the density of settlement.

Mandatory readings:

Lilley, Keith. “Decline or Decay? Urban landscapes in late-medieval England,” in Towns in Decline AD 100–1600, ed. T.R. Slater. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000, 235-265.

Cohn, Samuel K. “The political economy of urban decline in the Renaissance,” in Towns in Decline AD 100–1600, ed. T.R. Slater. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000, 289-305.

Optional readings:

Nightingale, Pamela. “The Rise and Decline of Medieval York: A Reassessment,” Past and Present 206 (2010): 3-42.

Kubinyi, András. “Urbanisation in the East-Central Part of Medieval Hungary,” in Towns in Medieval Hungary, ed. László Gerevich. Budapest: Akadémiai, 1990, 103-149.

Week 11: Wars, pogroms, military destructions

Szende, 1 December

Wars and other forms of violence threatened the lives of a huge part of medieval population and damaged much of the available resources. The class will look at these gruesome events primarily from the social and economic, and less from the ideological or political points of view; analyzing the way how violent actions destroyed, redistributed, or generated wealth. We will also look at possible ways of coping with the effects of violence on the level of individuals, settlements, and societies.

Mandatory readings:

More, Robert Ian. The Formation of a Persecuting Society. 2^nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007, Chapter 5., 144-171.

Postan, Michael M. “The costs of the Hundred Years War,” Past and Present 27 (1964): 34-53.

Optional readings:

McFarlane, K. B. “War, the economy and social change,” Past and Present 22 (1962): 3-18.

Kedar, Benjamin Z. “Expulsion as an issue of World History,” Journal of World History 7 (1996): 165-180.

Bak, János M. “Politics, society and defense in medieval and early modern Hungary,” in From Hunyadi to Rákóczi : war and society in late medieval and early modern Hungary, eds. János M. Bak and Béla Király, New York, 1982, 1-22.

Week 12: A view into the Early Modern period: the painful transformation of social and economic structures

Szende, Nagy, 8 December

The last class of the course opens up towards new tendencies and processes in the Early Modern period, including the economic transformations triggered by the new geographical discoveries, the Reformation and its social and economic consequences and the popular movements accompanying it. Were these processes signalling the final crisis of the Middle Ages or were they heralds of new times which gave different responses to problems that had been present all along?

Mandatory readings:

Brown, Judith C. “Prosperity or hard times in Renaissance Italy?” The Renaissance Quarterly 42 (1989): 761-780.

Scott, Tom and Robert W. Scribner. The German Peasants' War: A History in Documents. Atlantic Highways: Humanities Press, 1994, “Introduction.”

Optional reading:

Dyer, Christopher. An age of transition? Oxford: OUP, 2005. Chapter 6. “Work and leisure,” 211-241.

Assignments and grading:

• Class journals: 2-3 page protocols of the readings and the class discussion to be submitted every second week (30 %)

• An in-class presentation of c. 15-20 minutes on a topic selected after consultation with the instructors (30 %)

• A final paper of 3000 words on the basis of the in-class presentation (30 %)

• Participation: contribution to class discussions (10 %)

Attendance:

Students taking the class for grade must not miss more than two sessions. Students taking the class for audit must not miss more than three sessions.