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A. An Agricultural Revolution (that transforms Europe)
- began with the peasants on the farmlands- they adapted new technologies
- the iron plow� carve deep into the soil (used to use wooden ones)
- a new harness� 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 grain� 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 food� population
- 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 spices� Venice and Adriatic Sea� 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
- 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)
- 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 borrowing� this is crazy!) hated the new middle class
- 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)
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
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