The High Middle Ages | Demography and the Commercial Revolution (Lecture 2)

Lecture 2: Although its mortality rates were appallingly high and life expectancies appallingly low by modern standards, the population of Europe roughly doubled between 1000 and 1300. This growth in population distinguished the High Middle Ages from the Early Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages, both of which were periods of relative demographic stagnation and even regression. Europe’s population growth resulted from a combination of factors, such as climatic change, the disappearance of bubonic plague, the end of the Viking invasions, and the introduction of better agricultural technology. The upsurge in population would ultimately be responsible for many of this period’s other developments, including the commercial revolution, whereby local markers, long-distance trade, and the use of money revived throughout Europe.

Suggested Readings:
Carlo M. Cipolla, ed., The Middle Ages. Vol. I of The Fontana Economic History of Europe. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1976.
Robert Lopez, The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 950–1350. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

Lecture 3: https://www.bitchute.com/video/8OmKI8iZsRNe/