Economic recovery

1. ECONOMIC RECOVERY AGRICULTURE - Technical changes in agriculture productivity:

improved

- Three-year crop rotation (only a third of agricultural land was left fallow each year) - Mouldboard plough (arado de veredera).

- Improved agriculture made more food available to the population.

- People became healthier when they ate regularly.

- As a consequence, the population increased in Europe.

1. ECONOMIC RECOVERY CRAFTS -

Craft products were made in workshops.

The craftsmen formed guilds, which were associations that grouped together all the people who worked in the same field (shoe makers, carpenters‌)

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The guilds: - They regulated prices and working practices in a particular field.

- They were associations for mutual assistance, that provided help if a craftsman fell ill.

There were different categories of crafsman:

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- Master craftsmen: - they owned the workshops and the tools.

- They ran the guilds.

- Journeymen: - They worked for the master craftsman in exchange for a salary.

- Apprentices: - They learnt their skills in return for food and accommodation

1. ECONOMIC RECOVERY THE GROWTH OF TRADE -

Trade increased greatly in the 12 th century.

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Types of trade:

1. Local commercial activity: -

Products were exchanged between the inhabitants of a city amd the people who lived in the surrounding area.

2. Long- distance trade: - This was risky and someimes dangerous so merchants organised into associations.

- One of the most famous was the Hanseatic League in the Baltic.

- There were two great centres of commercial activity: 1. The mediterranean: -

There were trade routes from Spain and Italy to the Muslim and Byzantine ports.

There were imortant cities: Milan, Venice, Genoa.

2. The Atlantic and the Baltic: - Trade routes linked Portugal and the Cantabrian coast with cities in north-west Europe (Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp) - Trade fairs, (Example: the fair at Champagne in France) were attended by merchants from the great trading cities.

- To finance their journeys the merchants sometimes granted credit, and bills of exchange were used instead of money. (These activity later developed into banking)