I.Agricultural Revolution, c. 900-1100
     A.Contributing Factors
          1.New Heavy "Moldboard" Plow
          2.Horse Shoe
          3.Shoulder Bearing Horse Harness
          4.Three Field System
          5.Warmer Climate, c. 900-1300
     B.Immediate Consequences
          1.Better harvests allow better for nutrition
          2.Surplus population on farmlands
          3.Differentiation of labor in farming villages
          4.More land put under cultivation (including marginal land)

II.Monasteries as Agricultural Extension Services
     A.Centers of Learning
     B.Optimization of labor
          1.Three field system
          2.Wind & water power
          3.Drainage technology
          4.New strains of seed grains

III.The Urban Revolution
     A.Mediterranean Towns (Communes & Republics)
          1.Rise of Venice, 800-1204
               a.Special privileges in Byzantium
               b.Special privileges in Crusader States
               c.Dominate Byzantine trade after 1204
          2.Other Italian towns: Genoa, Pisa, Lombard League
     B.Northern European Towns
          1.Pirenne's Viking>Merchant theory
               a.Vikings plunder & raid
               b.Trade booty for goods (at towns like Birka)
               c.Normal trade when things get too hot
               d.Settle down near fortresses or trading centers
               e.Local lord grants privileges
               f.Merchants remain center of town (i.e., Bourgeois)
          2.Overland trade & regional fairs
               a.Trade routes run inland from ports
               b.Medieval fairs (most are local, but mention
               Champagne)
               c.Towns grow up at trade crossroads, at fair sites,
               around palaces of church & state
                    (1)Towns sell luxury goods to aristocracy, for
                    money
                    (2)Money coined for circulation, not just for
                    prestige
               d.Independent merchants obtain land grants &
               privileges
               e.Merchants remain center of town (i.e., Bourgeois)
     C.Gradual Decay of Serfdom
          1."Town Air Makes Free"
          2.Towns are a market for agricultural surpluses
               a.Subsistence Crops become Cash Crops
               b.Gradual re‰mergence of money economy
               c.Towns sell manufactured goods to peasants
          3.By 1200 many peasant services are commuted to fixed
          cash payments
               a.This further liberates the peasants
               b.Especially as inflation lessens the burden of
               fixed payments

IV.Structure of Medieval Towns
     A.Classical Towns
          1.Nobility dominate classical towns
          2.Merchants & artisans an underclass
     B.Medieval Towns
          1.Merchants dominate towns, local nobility in countryside
          2.Towns are self-governing & aggressive
          3."The whole character and growth pattern of western
          European civilization depended on this fact, for the
          towns became the primary seat of civilized activity in
          Europe." (McNeill, 281)
     C.Craft and Professional Guilds
          1.System of apprenticeship
               a.Limits competition
               b.Fixes prices
               c.Assures quality control
          2.The "Just Price"
               a.Merchants usually wished to do God's will
               b.They worked with the Church to fix a "Just Price"
               c.More concerned with justice than the nobility was
     D.Regional Urban or Mercantile Alliances
          1.Lombard League in northern Italy
          2.Hanseatic League in northern Germany
     E.Origin of modern banking & accounting systems
          1.Double Entry bookkeeping
          2.Credit/Debit banking
               a.Fuggers in Germany (expands)
               b.Medici in Italy (expands)
               c.Knights Templar