The Elasticity and Rigidity of Europe - An Age of Scarcity? - Human Manipulation of Supply and Demand

7 important questions on The Elasticity and Rigidity of Europe - An Age of Scarcity? - Human Manipulation of Supply and Demand

How did warfare influence economic life?

  • As states grew in power, rules hired soldiers - mercenaries - and depended less on knights. But these troops were paid such poor wages that they plundered the countryside even when they were not fighting.
  • Warring armies had always disrupted farms, ruining fields as they trampled over them, but in the thirteenth century burning crops became a battle tactic, used both to devastate enemy territory and to teach the inhabitants a lesson.

What made towns vulnerable?

They could defend their walls against roving troops, but they could not easily stop the flow of refugees who sought safety inside.

Why did the king of France offer liberty to all serfs in 1315?

In 1315 the king of France offered liberty to all his serfs, mainly to assess a new war tax on all free men.
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What did great lords do to enforce new taxes?

  • To enforce their new taxes, great lords, both lay and ecclesiastical, installed local agents.
  • Living near villages in fortified houses, these officials kept account books and carefully computed their profits and their costs. 

What torn the rulers?

Rulers were torn by their desire to make money and their duty to the common good.

What balancing act did city governments find themselves in?

City governments found themselves in a balancing act: they could sell their food reserves at below-market cost to the needy, but they could also please their merchants by doing nothing to help the poor.

What did the diversified crops of the Mediterranean region mean?

The Mediterranean region - Italy, Spain, southern France, and Provence - boasted more diversified crops than the north: this meant that, when wheat harvests were poor, peasants could survive on chestnuts and millet.

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