Medieval: agriculture

Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts

Gong farmer (also gongfermor, gongfermour, gong-fayer, gong-fower or gong scourer) was a term that entered use in Tudor England to describe someone who dug out and removed human excrement from privies and cesspits. The word "gong" was used for both a privy and its contents. As the work was considered unclean and off-putting to the public, gong farmers were only allowed to work at night, hence they were sometimes known as nightmen. The waste they collected, known as night soil, had to be taken outside the city or town boundary or to official dumps for disposal.

Fewer and fewer cesspits needed to be dug out as more modern sewage disposal systems, such as pail closets and water closets, became increasingly widespread in 19th-century England. The job of emptying cesspits today is usually carried out mechanically using suction, by specialised tankers called vacuum trucks.

...

Human waste "was used to manure the land or enrich the soil. The townsfolk of Newcastle-on-Tyne piled their ashes and dung [humanure] on a heap in the middle of town – the local farmers transported the refuse away once a year to be spread as manure. Malt dust, soap ashes, brine, hair, decaying fish, offal, entrails, and blood were all used as manure."

Hayward - Hedge Warden

Medieval Officer in Charge of Hedges [Professions: Hayward] - KoHi > .

Medieval Professions - KoHi >> .

Technology - medieval

Explosive Facts About the Invention of Gunpowder - TopT > .

Eyeglasses, Spectacles ..

Middelaldercentret - Medieval Technology park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8JFclCipEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ADd4la0Cw4

middelalderlig teknologipark - engelsk version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp_9ZL_hpsA .

Medieval technology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_technology

Theophilus: An Essay Upon Diverse Arts, c. 1125
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1178929.On_Divers_Arts
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/theophilus.html

Crane, treadwheel | Treadwheel crane
Treadwheel crane

The first known construction cranes were invented by the Ancient Greeks and were powered by men or beasts of burden, such as donkeys. These cranes were used for the construction of tall buildings. Larger cranes were later developed, employing the use of human treadwheels, permitting the lifting of heavier weights. In the High Middle Ages, harbour cranes were introduced to load and unload ships and assist with their construction – some were built into stone towers for extra strength and stability. The earliest cranes were constructed from wood, but cast iron, iron and steel took over with the coming of the Industrial Revolution.

During the High Middle Ages, the treadwheel crane was reintroduced on a large scale after the technology had fallen into disuse in western Europe with the demise of the Western Roman Empire. The earliest reference to a treadwheel (magna rota) reappears in archival literature in France about 1225, followed by an illuminated depiction in a manuscript of probably also French origin dating to 1240. In navigation, the earliest uses of harbor cranes are documented for Utrecht in 1244, Antwerp in 1263, Brugge in 1288 and Hamburg in 1291, while in England the treadwheel is not recorded before 1331.

Generally, vertical transport could be done more safely and inexpensively by cranes than by customary methods. Typical areas of application were harbors, mines, and, in particular, building sites where the treadwheel crane played a pivotal role in the construction of the lofty Gothic cathedrals. Nevertheless, both archival and pictorial sources of the time suggest that newly introduced machines like treadwheels or wheelbarrows did not completely replace more labor-intensive methods like ladders, hods and handbarrows. Rather, old and new machinery continued to coexist on medieval construction sites and harbors.

Apart from treadwheels, medieval depictions also show cranes to be powered manually by windlasses with radiating spokes, cranks and by the 15th century also by windlasses shaped like a ship's wheel. To smooth out irregularities of impulse and get over 'dead-spots' in the lifting process flywheels are known to be in use as early as 1123.

The exact process by which the treadwheel crane was reintroduced is not recorded, although its return to construction sites has undoubtedly to be viewed in close connection with the simultaneous rise of Gothic architecture. The reappearance of the treadwheel crane may have resulted from a technological development of the windlass from which the treadwheel structurally and mechanically evolved. Alternatively, the medieval treadwheel may represent a deliberate reinvention of its Roman counterpart drawn from Vitruvius' De architectura which was available in many monastic libraries. Its reintroduction may have been inspired, as well, by the observation of the labor-saving qualities of the waterwheel with which early treadwheels shared many structural similarities.

Structure and placement

The medieval treadwheel was a large wooden wheel turning around a central shaft with a treadway wide enough for two workers walking side by side. While the earlier 'compass-arm' wheel had spokes directly driven into the central shaft, the more advanced 'clasp-arm' type featured arms arranged as chords to the wheel rim, giving the possibility of using a thinner shaft and providing thus a greater mechanical advantage.

Contrary to a popularly held belief, cranes on medieval building sites were neither placed on the extremely lightweight scaffolding used at the time nor on the thin walls of the Gothic churches which were incapable of supporting the weight of both hoisting machine and load. Rather, cranes were placed in the initial stages of construction on the ground, often within the building. When a new floor was completed, and massive tie beams of the roof connected the walls, the crane was dismantled and reassembled on the roof beams from where it was moved from bay to bay during construction of the vaults. Thus, the crane 'grew' and 'wandered' with the building with the result that today all extant construction cranes in England are found in church towers above the vaulting and below the roof, where they remained after building construction for bringing material for repairs aloft.

Less frequently, medieval illuminations also show cranes mounted on the outside of walls with the stand of the machine secured to putlogs.

For many centuries, power was supplied by the physical exertion of men or animals, although hoists in watermills and windmills could be driven by the harnessed natural power. The first 'mechanical' power was provided by steam engines, the earliest steam crane being introduced in the 18th or 19th century, with many remaining in use well into the late 20th century[citation needed]. Modern cranes usually use internal combustion engines or electric motors and hydraulic systems to provide a much greater lifting capability than was previously possible, although manual cranes are still utilized where the provision of power would be uneconomic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_(machine)#Middle_Ages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_(machine)

Treadmill crane in Tudor Monastery Farm Episode 01

https://youtu.be/anuZV9BhcUc?t=21m22s .

Carruca plough, heavy plough, mouldboard plough
Medieval ploughing with Oxen, Green Valley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH7KBZ5jkHg
Oxen in Tudor Monastery Farm Episode 01
https://youtu.be/anuZV9BhcUc?t=25m59s
https://youtu.be/anuZV9BhcUc?t=30m23s
https://youtu.be/anuZV9BhcUc?t=36m27s
https://youtu.be/anuZV9BhcUc?t=46m34s

Agricultural Tools
http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/tekpages/agritools.html
Horse harness
http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/tekpages/harness.html
The whippletree (also known as whiffletrees, swingletrees, splinter bars, or swing bars) is a simple piece of wood attached to the drawpole of a plow or cart at its center. The horses' harness then attaches to the whippletree at convenient places.
http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/tekpages/whippletree.html

The Heavy Plough and the Agricultural Revolution in Medieval Europe
http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/tekpages/heavyplow.html

As of the 9th century to the end of the 13th century, the medieval European economy underwent unprecedented productivity growth. The period has been referred to as the most significant agricultural expansion since the Neolithic revolution . In his path-breaking book, “Medieval Technology and Social Change”, Lynn White, Jr. argues that the most important element in the “agricultural revolution” was the invention and widespread adoption of the heavy plough.

The earliest plough, commonly known as the ard or scratch-plough, was suitable for the soils and climate of the Mediterranean; it was, however, unsuitable for the heavy soils found in most of northern Europe, which “offer much more resistance to a plough than does light, dry earth”. The consequence was that north European settlement before the middle ages was limited to lighter soils, where the ard could be applied. The heavy plough and its attendant advantages may have been crucial in changing this. More specifically, heavy ploughs have three function parts that set them apart from primitive ards. The first part is an asymmetric ploughshare, which cuts the soil horizontally. The second part is a coulter, which cuts the soil vertically. The third part is a mouldboard, which turns the cut sods aside to create a deep furrow (Mokyr 1990; Richerson 2001). The mouldboard is the part of the heavy plough from which its principal advantages on heavy clay soils derive. The first advantage is that it turns the soil, which allows for both better weed control on heavy soil in damp climates and incorporation into the soil of crop residues, green manure, animal manure or other substances. The second advantage is that mouldboard ploughing produced high-backed ridges, which contributed to more efficient drainage of heavy clay soils. The ridges also allowed for better harvests in both wet and dry seasons. In the wettest season there would still be crops on the crest, and in the driest seasons there would still grow crops in the furrow. The third advantage is that the heavy plough handles the soil with such violence that cross-ploughing is not needed, thus freeing up labor time. Hence by allowing for better field drainage, access the most fertile soils, and saving of peasant labor time, the heavy plough stimulated food production and, as a consequence, “population growth, specialization of function, urbanization, and the growth of leisure”.
http://www.medievalists.net/2013/06/the-heavy-plough-and-the-agricultural-revolution-in-medieval-europe/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carruca
http://www.medievalhistories.com/the-heavy-plough/

Medieval Innovations: An Improved Plow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P2CUOsKNoQ

Making History - Plows & Populations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2xY6bjGj24
Medieval Innovations: An Improved Plow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P2CUOsKNoQ

Eyeglasses

The History and Science of Lenses - Filmmaker IQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YIvvXxsR5Y

Lens Making in the 1600s - Corning Museum of Glass
Three centuries ago, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek made hundreds of simple microscopes. He experimented with at least three methods to make their tiny lenses but kept his techniques secret. Based on scholarly research, this video made by The Corning Museum of Glass demonstrates how van Leeuwenhoek might have made his lenses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SJY0foypAo
https://www.cmog.org/collection/exhibitions/microscopes

Microscope: The Tube That Changed the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue-86MDmjns
The History of the Microscope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJyOQmdwHhE

History (dubious)
https://youtu.be/n79rWGQqPaY?t=21s

Developed in the 13th century, the earliest spectacles were produced by glaziers in Venice, Italy, but the identity of the inventor is unknown. Lenses in these first eyeglasses were made from quartz or rock crystal and produced by gold craftsmen. The first spectacles had quartz lenses because optical glass had not been developed. The lenses were set into bone, metal or even leather mountings, often shaped like two small magnifying glasses with handles riveted together typically in an inverted V shape that could be balanced on the bridge of the nose.

Spectacles became common after Guttenburg’s invention of the printing press in the mid-1500’s. Printing with movable type meant even common people could afford books and marked the beginning of widespread need to correct vision with eyeglasses.
https://sdmcphail.com/2016/06/15/eyeglasses-an-invention-made-necessary-by-books/ .

Gunpowder artillery in the Middle Ages ..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_artillery_in_the_Middle_Ages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder

Watermill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermill

Gristmill & waterwheels

Neolithic saddle quern => milling Grain with Water Power

Watermill -- 14th century

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermill

First sawmill for shipbuilding
In 1328, some historical sources show that a sawmill was developed to form lumber to build ships. A blade is pulled back and forth using a reciprocating saw and water wheel system.
https://www.thoughtco.com/middle-ages-timeline-1992478 .

Early Grain Mills

The source of power with the greatest potential to do useful work: water power. Interestingly, in the ancient world, water power was used almost exclusively for one activity: milling grain. At that time, cereal grains—primarily wheat and barley—provided 70 to 75 percent of the calories in the average person’s diet. Before grain can be consumed, however, it must be processed into flour by cracking open its outer husk, or chaff, and then grinding the inner portion into a fine powder. Throughout much of human history, grinding grain was an arduous, tedious, and time-consuming aspect of everyday life. It was a human activity that was ripe for technological improvement.

https://guidebookstgc.snagfilms.com/1132_GreekandRomanTech.pdf

Milling Grain with Water Power | The Great Courses Plus

First sawmill for shipbuilding
In 1328, some historical sources show that a sawmill was developed to form lumber to build ships. A blade is pulled back and forth using a reciprocating saw and water wheel system.
https://www.thoughtco.com/middle-ages-timeline-1992478

Water powered hammer (Monjolo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9TdoO2OVaA

Watermill - Wikipedia

https://plus.google.com/103755316640704343614/posts/9xVMs1EAPvF

12th century watermill
https://youtu.be/2-wBYErO8qc?t=24m49s
Windmill
https://plus.google.com/103755316640704343614/posts/bXhYoWZWrxs

After the Renaissance of the 12th century, medieval Europe saw a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption of gunpowder, the invention of vertical windmills, spectacles, mechanical clocks, and greatly improved water mills, building techniques (Gothic architecture, medieval castles), and agriculture in general (three-field crop rotation).

The development of water mills from their ancient origins was impressive, and extended from agriculture to sawmills both for timber and stone. By the time of the Domesday Book, most large villages had turnable mills, around 6,500 in England alone. Water-power was also widely used in mining for raising ore from shafts, crushing ore, and even powering bellows.

European technical advancements from the 12th to 14th centuries were either built on long-established techniques in medieval Europe, originating from Roman and Byzantine antecedents, or adapted from cross-cultural exchanges through trading networks with the Islamic world, China, and India. Often, the revolutionary aspect lay not in the act of invention itself, but in its technological refinement and application to political and economic power. Though gunpowder along with other weapons had been started by Chinese, it was the Europeans who developed and perfected its military potential, precipitating European expansion and eventual imperialism in the Modern Era.

Also significant in this respect were advances in maritime technology. Advances in shipbuilding included the multi-masted ships with lateen sails, the sternpost-mounted rudder and the skeleton-first hull construction. Along with new navigational techniques such as the dry compass, the Jacob's staff and the astrolabe, these allowed economic and military control of the seas adjacent to Europe and enabled the global navigational achievements of the dawning Age of Exploration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_technology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_sandglass

? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Make+Prehistoric ?
? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Make+Primitive ?
? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Make+Stone+Age ?
? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Make+Bronze+Age ?
? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Make+Iron+Age ?
? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Make+Roman+Age ?
? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Make+Viking+Age ?
? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Make+Medieval ?

Medieval technology - Wikipedia

Cooling - Medieval famine, plague, social change

Medieval cooling, famine, plague, social change

Long before the bitter cold winters and drenching rains of the early 14th century announced the end of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), Europe had expanded dangerously close to the limits of its resources. Four centuries of unusually mild temperatures (the highest in 8,000 years), prompted the continent’s farmers to plant crops on vast quantities of land previously unsuitable for agriculture; the increased food supply in turn fueled a population explosion that tripled the number of people in medieval Europe.

Several causes have been proposed for climatic cooling: cyclical lows in solar radiation, heightened volcanic activity, changes in the ocean circulation, variations in Earth's orbit and axial tilt (orbital forcing), inherent variability in global climate, and decreases in the human population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztninkgZ0ws

Higher April to July mean temperatures prevailed in the first decade of the fourteenth century, during the late 1320s and early 1330s, the 1350s and the 1390s. Lower temperatures marked the mid-1290s, about 1313 to 1323, the late 1330s and 1340s, the mid-1360s to the mid-1370s and the 1380s. Additionally the reconstruction reveals periods of high and low inter-annual variability in the spring and early summer temperatures. Between 1315 and 1335 as well as 1360–1375 the year to year variability was especially high: jumps in growing season temperatures from one year to the next were frequently reaching 1.5°C. Phases of medium inter-annual variability marked 1290–1315, about 1405–1411 and the early 1420s. Finally, during the second half of the 1330s and in the 1340s, in the 1350s, around 1380 and in the 1410s spring and early summer temperatures were comparatively stable.

1384
During this summer there was so great a drought that streams and springs which normally gushed from the ground in ceaseless flow, and indeed, as seemed yet more remarkable, even the deepest wells, all dried up. The drought lasted until the Nativity of the Virgin [8 September, Old Style]; […]. In the course of the summer the larger cattle died in very great numbers through the shortage of water.

The reconstructed April–July mean temperatures 1256–1431, based on grain harvest dates (Pribyl et al., 2012). The grey error bars represent ±2 S.E. (RMSE) derived from the regression analysis during the 1768–1816 calibration period.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/figures/doi/10.1002/wea.2317#figure-viewer-wea2317-fig-0003

The impact of weather induced harvest failure in the Middle Ages is dependent on population density, infrastructure and the transport network, the storage capacity for grain, the access to other resources, the integration in wider trade networks and the capacity of the authorities to organise relief measures.

High inter-annual variability of the growing season -temperature alone could cause severe problems for medieval agriculture, as could periods of cold springs and summers that were often coupled with raised precipitation levels. So during the cold and variable 1310s the worst famine of the last millennium in northwestern Europe occurred 1315–1317, caused by incessant rains. In England 10% of the population are estimated to have fallen victim to this famine. During the 1360s grain prices remained high, even though the population loss due to recurrent plague waves reached at least 30% and hence lowered the demand for grain. Again, weather was cold and variable and high rainfall levels interfered with agricultural production. During the warm springs and early summers of the 1330s and 1410s grain prices were stable and generally low.

Extreme weather as well as long term climatic change could also influence land use and settlement patterns. Climate change also constituted a factor in the desertion of villages during the later Middle Ages. It is likely that in England desertions also took place in villages, where an unfavourable combination of climate and soil conditions rendered agriculture more vulnerable.

Famine in medieval England
http://www.medievalists.net/2015/12/20/approaches-to-famine-in-medieval-england/

14th C end of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP)

Borehole inversions indicate a globally coherent pattern of cooling from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age that is also documented in recent land and ocean proxy compilations. The ocean adjusts to surface temperature anomalies over time scales greater than 1000 years in the deep Pacific, which suggests that it too hosts signals related to Common Era changes in surface climate.

The Little Ice Age and 20th-century deep Pacific cooling

Little Ice Age
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYdCE0SqrJM

1315-22 Wet summers, rinderpest, crop failure, famine, and decimation followed by the Great Pestilence and the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.2317/full
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period
https://www.thedailybeast.com/when-the-weather-went-all-medieval-climate-change-famine-and-mass-death

Little Ice Age - Wikipedia

Great Famine of 1315-1317

Hell on Earth: The Great Famine of 1315-1317 - Craft > .

English Economy 14th century

English Economy 14th century

Economics of Medieval English Agriculture ..

Economics of Medieval English Brewing ..
Trade and Economics in the Middle Ages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Wfw_DbNVc
Early Medieval Trade | World History | Khan Academy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyW7CUl9KDc
11th-14th centuries: Rise of Towns & Europe's Economy in the Late Middle Ages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhnyQjRjxY4
Changes in the Middle Ages 3 Economy and Trade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvbegSLqMGc

Anglo-Saxon, Norman taxation > .

Medieval Economics
http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/tutorials/tuts/m_econ.htm
http://www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/economy-in-the-middle-ages.html
http://www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/the-black-death.html

Medieval Coinage
14th century: farthing, half penny, penny, half groat, groat, noble
https://plus.google.com/103755316640704343614/posts/V86JZuKvRAS

The loss of life in the Great Famine of 1315–17 shook the English economy severely and population growth ceased; the first outbreak of the Black Death in 1348 then killed around half the English population, with major implications for the post-plague economy. The agricultural sector shrank, with higher wages, lower prices and shrinking profits leading to the final demise of the old demesne system and the advent of the modern farming system of cash rents for lands. The Peasants Revolt of 1381 shook the older feudal order and limited the levels of royal taxation considerably for a century to come. The 15th century saw the growth of the English cloth industry and the establishment of a new class of international English merchant, increasingly based in London and the South-West, prospering at the expense of the older, shrinking economy of the eastern towns. These new trading systems brought about the end of many of the international fairs and the rise of the chartered company. Together with improvements in metalworking and shipbuilding, this represents the end of the medieval economy, and the beginnings of the early modern period in English economics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_England_in_the_Middle_Ages

The putting-out system (cottage industry) is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the work in off-site facilities, either in their own homes or in workshops with multiple craftsmen.

It was used in the English and American textile industries, in shoemaking, lock-making trades, and making parts for small firearms from the Industrial Revolution until the mid-19th century.

The domestic system was suited to pre-urban times because workers did not have to travel from home to work, which was quite impracticable due to the state of roads and footpaths, and members of the household spent many hours in farm or household tasks.

A cottage industry is a small-scale industry, where the creation of products and services is home-based, rather than factory-based. While products and services created by cottage industries are often unique and distinctive, given the fact that they are usually not mass-produced, producers in this sector often face numerous disadvantages when trying to compete with much larger factory-based companies.

A cottage industry is an industry—primarily manufacturing—which includes many producers, working from their homes, typically part time. The term originally referred to home workers who were engaged in a task such as sewing, lace-making, wall hangings, or household manufacturing. Some industries which are usually operated from large, centralized factories were cottage industries before the Industrial Revolution. Business operators would travel around the world, buying raw materials, delivering them to people who would work on them, and then collecting the finished goods to sell, or typically to ship to another market. One of the factors which allowed the Industrial Revolution to take place in Western Europe was the presence of these business people who had the ability to expand the scale of their operations. Cottage industries were very common in the time when a large proportion of the population was engaged in agriculture, because the farmers (and their families) often had both the time and the desire to earn additional income during the part of the year (winter) when there was little work to do farming or selling produce by the farm's roadside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putting-out_system

By late Roman times, domestic wool was already being used to produce textiles (“cloth”) in the Low Countries. The marshes along the coast, which had not yet been enclosed by dikes, provided grazing for large flocks of sheep which yielded sufficient wool to satisfy domestic demand. In the 12th century a fundamental change occurred. Production was transferred from the countryside to the fast-growing cities (Ypres, Ghent, Bruges, and later also Brussels and Antwerp), and weavers began using English wool as their raw material instead of home-produced wool. The result was a high quality, luxury product intended for export. Sheep reared on the type of grass produced by the very damp English pastureland with its poor soil yielded a particularly fine and springy woollen fleece. For that reason, demand for English wool was virtually inelastic: neither home-produced wool nor the wool occasionally imported from Spain offered a real alternative.

English wool was now being imported into the Low Countries in unprecedented quantities, in sacks or as fleeces still attached to the skin. Flemish and Brabant merchants and weavers were very active in this trade. They went to England in person, to the grounds of the sometimes remote Cistercian abbeys where the sheep were predominantly reared. On the local wool markets they often paid in advance for future deliveries, so that they also already had a stake in the actual production of the wool. Flemish vessels shipped the wool from London and other ports such as Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, Dover, Sandwich and Boston.

The Southern Netherlands merchants needed English coins to buy their wool; they became good customers of the English coin workshops, where they exchanged the lightweight pennies from the Netherlands or bars of silver for English sterling. Thus, the accounting records of the London Mint list the names of merchants from Ypres and Brussels, side by side with the names of English customers. On their return from England, they did not always take their surplus English money for melting down into local pennies again, but sometimes preferred to set the foreign currency aside ready for their next trip. It is therefore not surprising that the 13th century coin treasure discovered in 1908 during the demolition of a cellar wall in the house at no. 32 Rue d’assaut in Brussels contained no less than 80,927 English sterling coins.

Gradually, the rulers and merchants on the Continent came to realise that they could make considerable savings by minting sterling coins themselves in their own country, rather than buying them from English coin workshops. From around 1270, coins worth one or two sterling pennies were therefore minted in the Low Countries, alongside the ordinary lightweight pennies. The sterling copies had the same weight and alloy as the foreign originals. The images on the face of the coins varied greatly: some depicted a crowned head, just like the English coins, while others displayed a totally distinctive image. In contrast, the reverse of virtually all the coins depicted the cross with three bullets between the arms, copied from the English model. From about the mid 14th century, owing to the rising demand for high value currency, the sterling penny became less important, giving way to the silver groat – worth three sterlings – and gold coins.

https://www.nbbmuseum.be/en/2009/12/sterling.htm

The importance of London for craft and industry in medieval England
http://www.theposthole.org/sites/theposthole.org/files/downloads/posthole_47_360.pdf

1100-1290

Mining did not make up a large part of the English medieval economy, but the 12th and 13th centuries saw an increased demand for metals in England, thanks to the considerable population growth and building construction, including the great cathedrals and churches. Four metals were mined commercially in England during the period: iron, tin, lead and silver using a variety of refining techniques. Coal was also mined from the 13th century onwards.

Iron mining occurred in several locations including the main English centre in the Forest of Dean, as well as in Durham and the Weald. Some iron to meet English demand was also imported from the continent, especially by the late 13th century. By end of the 12th century, the older method of acquiring iron ore through strip mining was being supplemented by more advanced techniques, including tunnels, trenches and bell-pits. Iron ore was usually locally processed at a bloomery and by the 14th century the first water-powered iron forge in England was built at Chingley. As a result of the diminishing woodlands and consequent increases in the cost of both wood and charcoal, demand for coal increased in the 12th century and began to be commercially produced from bell-pits and strip mining.

A silver boom occurred in England after the discovery of silver near Carlisle in 1133. Huge quantities of silver were produced from a semicircle of mines reaching across Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland - up to three to four tonnes of silver were mined each year, more than ten times the previous annual production across the whole of Europe. The result was a local economic boom and a major uplift to 12th century royal finances. Tin mining was centred in Cornwall and Devon, exploiting alluvial deposits and governed by the special Stannary Courts and Parliaments - tin formed a valuable export good, initially to Germany and then later in the 14th century to the Low Countries. Lead was usually mined as a by-product of mining for silver, with mines in Yorkshire, Durham and the north, as well as in Devon. Economically fragile, the lead mines usually survived as a result of being subsidised by silver production.

England's economy was fundamentally agricultural throughout the period, but the mining of iron, tin, lead and silver, and later coal, played an important part within the English medieval economy.

The Black Death epidemic first arrived in England in 1348, re-occurring in waves during 1360-2, 1368-9, 1375 and more sporadically thereafter. The most immediate economic impact of this disaster was the widespread loss of life, between around 27% mortality amongst the upper classes, to 40-70% amongst the peasantry. Despite the very high loss of life, few settlements were abandoned during the epidemic itself, but many were badly affected or nearly eliminated altogether. The medieval authorities did their best to respond in an organised fashion, but the economic disruption was immense. Building work ceased and many mining operations paused. In the short term, efforts were taken by the authorities to control wages and enforce pre-epidemic working conditions. Coming on top of the previous years of famine, however, the longer term economic implications were profound. In contrast to the previous centuries of rapid growth, the English population would not begin to recover for over a century, despite the many positive reasons for a resurgence. The crisis would affect English mining for the remainder of the medieval period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_English_Mining_in_the_Middle_Ages

Medieval technology
After the Renaissance of the 12th century, medieval Europe saw a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption of gunpowder, the invention of vertical windmills, spectacles, mechanical clocks, and greatly improved water mills, building techniques (Gothic architecture, medieval castles), and agriculture in general (three-field crop rotation).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_technology

Search google book: "English Medieval Industries: Craftsmen, Techniques, Products" edited by John Blair, Nigel Ramsay

‘Good Parliament’ of 1376 ..

Economy of England in the Middle Ages - Wikipedia

𝕸 Livestock, Fodder, Timber

Agricultural Transformation (18thC-19thC) ↠
BBC Farm Series ..

Land Enclosure - Agricultural Monopolism ..
Tree Hay - former fodder ..

Early Agriculture

Impetus of Clothing - Early Agriculture ➧

Falconry

Tudor Xmas ..

Farming

Life - Anglo-Saxon Britain ➧

Life - Medieval Peasants ..

Livestock control
Hayward - Hedge Warden ..

Humanure

Gongfermors & Uses for Excreta ..

Society

Daily Life ..

Transport

Handcart ..

Woodland

Timber - Woodland Management ⇝

Timber management - coppicing, pollarding ⇝

BBC Farm Series

Agricultural Transformation (18thC-19thC) ↠

It appears that, in a never-ending Red Queen game, BBC has complained and YouTube has eradicated episodes (and channels) carrying uploads of Victorian and Edwardian Farm. When the inevitable happens, and some brave soul uploads more free advertising for the DVDs, I will update the playlists. So far, Tales from the Green Valley, Tudor Monastery Farm, and Wartime Farm remain intact.

In chronological order by period, not television production:

Tudor Monastery Farm
TMF playlist contents.

Tales From the Green Valley
TFGV playlist contents.

Victorian Farm
VF playlist contents.

Edwardian Farm
EF playlist contents.

Wartime Farm
WF playlist contents.

Land Use in Britain – Overview.

Land Use in Britain – Stone Age to Iron Age.

Land Use in Britain – Romans and Vikings.

Land Use in Britain – Normans bring Feudalism.
Land Use in Britain – Beyond Early Modern.

Playlist Wild Food.

Tree Hay - former fodder

Tree Hay: A forgotten fodder (full version) - Agric > .

Tree Hay - winter fodder - Lynb > .

Tree Hay & Mast - Fodder, Pannage - RexG >> .

Given a choice, which they rarely are in modern agriculture, many livestock prefer to browse on trees rather than graze on grass. The table below illustrates both the reason for their preference, and part of the reason that those living in the Iron Age began to carefully manage the remaining woodland. The forestry practices, on which they relied for fuel, wood, timber, fodder (leaves, nuts, mast), and specialized supplies (oak galls for ink, tannin-rich barks for tanning, etc) continued beyond the Middle Ages, but have been abandoned since the rise of alternate sources.

Abstract from Tree pollarding in western Norway, by Ingvild Austad in The Cultural Landscape: Past, Present, and Future

"The practice of collecting twigs and leaves for fodder for domestic animals is a very old form for fodder harvesting. Leaf fodder can be collected efficiently with small iron tools and the practice has a history at least back to the Iron Age. Almost all species of deciduous trees were used for animal fodder, also some conifers. Although the harvesting of trees for collecting fodder was widely practised all over Norway, the choice of species, techniques and utilization varied from area to area, as did the names given to tree management.

Pollarding (“styving”) refers to the process of topping trees, i.e. cutting back branches at a height of 2 -3 m, above reach of grazing animals. Lopping (“lauving”) is the actual fodder-collecting. The branches were cut into smaller pieces (approx. 1 m), bunched and tied together. The bunches of twigs (“kjerv”) were dried, and later stored in barns or stacked together (“rauk”). Young shoots were sometimes cut directly from the tree bases or as suckers (coppicing). Some farmers set aside areas that were cut frequently. In some areas, leaves were collected for fodder by plucking them (“rispelauv”). Raking up autumn leaf-fall (“rakelauv”) was practised mostly for the use as bedding in stalls.

Branches especially from Ulmus glabra (wych elm, Scots elm) and Fraxinus excelsior (European ash) were sometimes collected during the winter for twigs (“ris”) and bark (“skav”) and later fed to animals. Bark from Ulmus glabra was peeled, cut into small pieces, mixed with water and given especially to dairy cows during the winter and early spring. Bark of Ulmus glabra was also valuable for its use in human nutrition (bread, “barkebrød”).

A wide range of landscape elements and biotopes have been formed and maintained by farming techniques including leaf-collection. Most of the human-influenced and human-dependent vegetation types are under great pressure from extensive disuse, overgrowing and encroachment, vanishing due to inexperience with maintaining and preserving them."

Playlist: Tree Hay & Mast - Fodder, Pannage .

Table of leaf nutrition. Percentage of constituents in tree species compared to hay and red clover.

	water
		ash
			fat
				sugar
					protein
						fiber

Ulmus glabra	12.6	9.9	2.9	49.2	13.2	12.3
Sorbus aucuparia	11.9	5.9	6.5	50.4	9.9	15.4
Salix caprea	11.5	6.1	3.8	50.3	11.6	16.7
Populus tremula	10.8	8.5	6	43.5	13.3	20.9
Fraxinus excelsior	11.6	6.3	3	50.4	12	16.7
Alnus incana	11.9	3.9	5.9	43.6	17.6	17.4
Betula spp.	11.7	3.9	7	49.2	12	16.2
regular hay	14.96	5.42	2.2	44.43	8.51	24.56
Trifolium pratense	15.65	5.17	1.88	36.76	10.98	28.56

Adapted from The Cultural Landscape: Past, Present, and Future, Birks et al, Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Ulmus glabra	wych elm
Sorbus aucuparia	rowan
Salix caprea	goat willow
Populus tremula	European aspen
Fraxinus excelsior	European ash
Alnus incana	grey alder
Betula spp.	birch
regular hay	grass, legumes, herbaceous plants
Trifolium pratense	red clover

Peasant, Serf, Villein // Lord

Five Myths about Medieval Peasants > .

Danièle takes on five common myths about medieval peasants.

Were medieval peasants slaves? Servile vs Free Legal Status - Modern History > .

How Europe Transitioned from Slavery to Serfdom - Middle Ages - K&G > .

Introduction to the Slavic Slave Trade - Laser > .

Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed during the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century.

Unlike slaves, serfs could not be bought, sold, or traded individually though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land. The kholops in Russia and villeins in gross in England, in contrast, could be traded like regular slaves, could be abused with no rights over their own bodies, could not leave the land they were bound to, and could marry only with their lord's permission. Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land. In return, they were entitled to protection, justice, and the right to cultivate certain fields within the manor to maintain their own subsistence. Serfs were often required not only to work on the lord's fields, but also in his mines and forests and to labour to maintain roads. The manor formed the basic unit of feudal society, and the lord of the manor and the villeins, and to a certain extent the serfs, were bound legally: by taxation in the case of the former, and economically and socially in the latter.

The decline of serfdom in Western Europe has sometimes been attributed to the widespread plague epidemic of the Black Death, which reached Europe in 1347 and caused massive fatalities, disrupting society. The decline, however, had begun before that date. Serfdom became increasingly rare in most of Western Europe after the medieval renaissance at the outset of the High Middle Ages. But, conversely, it grew stronger in Central and Eastern Europe, where it had previously been less common (this phenomenon was known as "later serfdom").

In Eastern Europe, the institution persisted until the mid-19th century. In the Austrian Empire, serfdom was abolished by the 1781 Serfdom Patent; corvée continued to exist until 1848. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861. Prussia declared serfdom unacceptable in its General State Laws for the Prussian States in 1792 and finally abolished it in October 1807, in the wake of the Prussian Reform Movement. In Finland, Norway, and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist; however, serfdom-like institutions did exist in both stavns (the stavnsbånd, from 1733 to 1788) and its vassal Iceland (the more restrictive vistarband, from 1490 until 1894).

According to medievalist historian Joseph R. Strayer, the concept of feudalism can also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia, ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt (Sixth to Twelfth dynasty), Islamic-ruled Northern and Central India, China (Zhou dynasty and end of Han dynasty) and Japan during the Shogunate. However, Wu Ta-k'un argued that the Shang-Zhou fengjian were kinship estates, quite distinct from feudalism. James Lee and Cameron Campbell describe the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644–1912) as also maintaining a form of serfdom.

Melvyn Goldstein described Tibet as having had serfdom until 1959, but whether or not the Tibetan form of peasant tenancy that qualified as serfdom was widespread is contested by other scholars. Bhutan is described by Tashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, as having officially abolished serfdom by 1959, but he believes that less than or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold situations.

The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery also prohibits serfdom as a practice similar to slavery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_serfdom .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery .