The Commercial Revolution and the Revival of Church Building in Europe

The patrimony of the church:accumulationof land and housesover the centuriesMortmain =Ecclesiasticalproperty cannot be sold or alienated

Properties belonging to the abbey of St.-Denis

The Commercial Revolution – RobertLopez, 1971

RomanEmpire

the High MiddleAges

Population:England in 1086: 1,100,000

c. 1346: 3,700,000

Florence: c. 1300 120,000 by 1427 this declines to 36.909

Siena, 52,000Pisa, 40,000; by 1315 up to 50,000,

but by ca. 1350 declines to 8000, in 1427 is 7, 106

Perugia, 28,000; Arezzo, 20,000; Asissi, 1232, 12,397

most Italian cities did not recoup their pre-plague pop until late 19th

century

New developments in agriculture

Changes in diet: legumes in addition to grains –more protein= greater fertility and longevity

The heavy plow forheavy northernsoils; also:

1. Crop rotation

2. The horse collar

3. The horseshoe

4. Horses instead of oxen

5. Land clearance

The horse collar, stirrups, and rotating axle

The Bayeux Tapestry: a Norman warrior riding with stirrups

At the same time, the increasing monetizationof the medieval economy - in effect the

origins of the modern commercial economy in which merchants became immensely wealthy

But wealth was complicated in the medievalchurch:

1. trade looked down upon2. money lending/borrowing for interest

a sin

The importanceof Islam in establishing a model of effectivelong-distancetrade

A Roman road in S. Italy (Apulia) – still an essential network in the Middle Ages

Islam believed that the good, honest merchant was a valuable member of society; that trade was essential for well-being

Medieval trade by theHigh Middle Ages

The annualfair as anessentialform of trade andexchange

Krakow, the market square and the cloth hall

Also rivers:The RhoneThe RhineThe VistulaThe Po

Technology: lifting wheels, waterwheels, windmills

fulling

The fate of the soul after Death mediated by thechurch

Intercessory prayerCommemorative masses

Salvation becomes a commodity

Jacques Le Goff: The Birth of Purgatory

double entry bookeeping----------

Italian City-States and their Cathedrals, starting early 11th century

Modena Cathedral

Parma Cathedral

Parma Cathedral

Pisa: the Cathedral Complex

baptistery

cathedral

tower

Florence, the Baptistery and the Cathedral

Ferrara: the Loggia of the Mercanti(merchant’s lodge)

Lay patronage

Aquileia: the Early Christian Cathedral

The pavement of Aquileia Cathedral

Donor from Aquileia

The new “incentive system” for pious donations: the doctrine ofPURGATORY

The fate of the soul after deathas mediated by the church

Intercessory prayerCommemorative masses

Salvation becomes a commodity

Jacques Le Goff: The Birth of Purgatory

(double entry bookeepinginvented by Fibonacci, inPisa, early 13th century? )