Concept 1.4
European society and the experiences of everyday life were increasingly shaped by commercial and agricultural capitalism, notwithstanding the continued existence of medieval social and economic structures.
Traditional town governments, dominated by craft guilds and traditional religious institutions, struggled to address growing poverty. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation stimulated a drive to regulate public morals, leisure activities, and the distribution of poor relief. In both town and country, the family remained the dominant unit of production, and marriage remained an instrument of families’ social and economic strategies. The children of peasants and craft workers often labored alongside their parents. In the lower orders of society, men and women did not occupy separate spheres, although they performed different tasks. Economics often dictated later marriages (European marriage pattern). However, there were exceptions to this pattern: in the cities of Renaissance Italy, men in their early 30s often married teenaged women, and in eastern Europe, early marriage for both men and women continued to be the norm. Despite the growth of the market economy in which individuals increasingly made their own way, leisure activities tended to be communal, rather than individualistic and consumerist as they are today. Local communities enforced their customs and norms through crowd action and in some cases, rituals of public shaming.
1.4.1: Economic change produced new social patterns, while traditions of hierarchy and status continued.
1.4.1.A: Innovations in banking and finance promoted the growth of urban financial centers and a money economy.
1.4.2: Most Europeans derived their livelihood from agriculture and oriented their lives around the seasons, the village, or the manor, although economic changes began to alter rural production and power.
1.4.2.A: Subsistence agriculture was the rule in most areas, with three-crop field rotation in the north and two-crop rotation in the Mediterranean; in many cases, farmers paid rent and labor services for their lands.
1.4.2.B: The price revolution contributed to the accumulation of capital and the expansion of the market economy through the commercialization of agriculture, which benefited large landowners in western Europe.
1.4.2.D: The attempts of landlords to increase their revenues by restricting or abolishing the traditional rights of peasants led to revolt.
1.4.3: Population shifts and growing commerce caused the expansion of cities, which often placed stress on their traditional political and social structures.
1.4.3.A: Population recovered to its pre–Great Plague level in the 16th century, and continuing population pressures contributed to uneven price increases; agricultural commodities increased more sharply than wages, reducing living standards for some.
1.4.3.B: Migrants to the cities challenged the ability of merchant elites and craft guilds to govern, and strained resources.
1.4.4: The family remained the primary social and economic institution of early modern Europe and took several forms, including the nuclear family.
1.4.4.A: Rural and urban households worked as units, with men and women engaged in separate but complementary tasks.
1.4.4.B: The Renaissance and Reformation movements raised debates about female education and women's roles in the family, church, and society.
1.4.5: Popular culture, leisure activities, and rituals reflecting the continued popularity of folk ideas reinforced and sometimes challenged communal ties and norms.
1.4.5.A: Leisure activities continued to be organized according to the religious calendar and the agricultural cycle and remained communal in nature.
Traditional town governments, dominated by craft guilds and traditional religious institutions, struggled to address growing poverty. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation stimulated a drive to regulate public morals, leisure activities, and the distribution of poor relief. In both town and country, the family remained the dominant unit of production, and marriage remained an instrument of families’ social and economic strategies. The children of peasants and craft workers often labored alongside their parents. In the lower orders of society, men and women did not occupy separate spheres, although they performed different tasks. Economics often dictated later marriages (European marriage pattern). However, there were exceptions to this pattern: in the cities of Renaissance Italy, men in their early 30s often married teenaged women, and in eastern Europe, early marriage for both men and women continued to be the norm. Despite the growth of the market economy in which individuals increasingly made their own way, leisure activities tended to be communal, rather than individualistic and consumerist as they are today. Local communities enforced their customs and norms through crowd action and in some cases, rituals of public shaming.
1.4.1: Economic change produced new social patterns, while traditions of hierarchy and status continued.
1.4.1.A: Innovations in banking and finance promoted the growth of urban financial centers and a money economy.
- Double-entry bookkeeping
- Bank of Amsterdam
- The Dutch East India Company
- The British East India Company
- Gentry in England
- Nobles of the robe in France
- Town elites (bankers and merchants)
- Continued prestige of land ownership
- Aristocratic privileges reading taxes, fees for services, and legal protections
- Continued political exclusion of women
1.4.2: Most Europeans derived their livelihood from agriculture and oriented their lives around the seasons, the village, or the manor, although economic changes began to alter rural production and power.
1.4.2.A: Subsistence agriculture was the rule in most areas, with three-crop field rotation in the north and two-crop rotation in the Mediterranean; in many cases, farmers paid rent and labor services for their lands.
1.4.2.B: The price revolution contributed to the accumulation of capital and the expansion of the market economy through the commercialization of agriculture, which benefited large landowners in western Europe.
- Enclosure movement
- Restricted use of the village common
- Freehold tenure
1.4.2.D: The attempts of landlords to increase their revenues by restricting or abolishing the traditional rights of peasants led to revolt.
1.4.3: Population shifts and growing commerce caused the expansion of cities, which often placed stress on their traditional political and social structures.
1.4.3.A: Population recovered to its pre–Great Plague level in the 16th century, and continuing population pressures contributed to uneven price increases; agricultural commodities increased more sharply than wages, reducing living standards for some.
1.4.3.B: Migrants to the cities challenged the ability of merchant elites and craft guilds to govern, and strained resources.
- Sanitation problems caused by overpopulation
- Employment
- Poverty
- Crime
- New secular laws regulating private life
- Stricter codes on prostitution and begging
- Abolishing or restricting Carnival
- Calvin’s Geneva
1.4.4: The family remained the primary social and economic institution of early modern Europe and took several forms, including the nuclear family.
1.4.4.A: Rural and urban households worked as units, with men and women engaged in separate but complementary tasks.
1.4.4.B: The Renaissance and Reformation movements raised debates about female education and women's roles in the family, church, and society.
- Women’s intellect and education
- Women as preachers
- La Querelle des Femmes
1.4.5: Popular culture, leisure activities, and rituals reflecting the continued popularity of folk ideas reinforced and sometimes challenged communal ties and norms.
1.4.5.A: Leisure activities continued to be organized according to the religious calendar and the agricultural cycle and remained communal in nature.
- Saint’s day festivities
- Carnival
- Blood sports
- Charivari
- Stocks
- Public whipping and branding
- Prominence of women
- Regional variation
- Social upheaval