Monastic Economy And Medieval Markets In The Case Of Monastic Economy Of Durham Cathedral Priory

The institutions of the middle ages are generally seen as tradition-bound; Monks and Markets challenges this assumption. Durham's outstanding archive has allowed the uncovering of an unprecedented level of detail about the purchasing strategies of one of England's foremost monasteries, and it is revealed that the monks were indeed reflective, responsive, and innovative when required. If this is true of a large Benedictine monastery, it is likely to be true also for the vast majority of other households and institutions in Medieval England for which comparable evidence does not exist. Furthermore, this study gives a unique insight into the nature of medieval consumer behaviour, which throughout history, and particularly from before the early modern period, remains a relatively neglected subject. Chapters are devoted to the diet of monks, the factors influencing their purchasing decisions, their use of the market and their exploitaiton of tenurial relationships, and their suppliers.

The only survey of the urban, commercial and industrial history of the period between the Norman conquest and the Black Death.

Examinations of the culture - artistic, material, musical - of English monasteries in the six centuries between the Conquest and the Dissolution. The cultural remains of England's abbeys and priories have always attracted scholarly attention but too often they have been studied in isolation, appreciated only for their artistic, codicological or intellectual features and notfor the insights they offer into the patterns of life and thought - the underlying norms, values and mentalité - of the communities of men and women which made them. Indeed, the distinguished monastic historian David Knowles doubted there would ever be sufficient evidence to recover "the mentality of the ordinary cloister monk". These twelve essays challenge this view. They exploit newly catalogued and newly discovered evidence - manuscript books, wall paintings, and even the traces of original monastic music - to recover the cultural dynamics of a cross-section of male and female communities. It is often claimed that over time the cultural traditions of the monasteries were suffocated by secular trends but here it is suggested that many houses remained a major cultural force even on the verge of the Reformation. James G. Clark is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. Contributors: DAVID BELL, ROGER BOWERS, JAMES CLARK, BARRIE COLLETT, MARY ERLER, G. R. EVANS, MIRIAM GILL, JOAN GREATREX, JULIAN HASELDINE, J. D. NORTH, ALAN PIPER, AND R. M. THOMSON.

Numerous aspects of the medieval economy are covered in this new collection of essays, from business fraud and changes in wages to the production of luxury goods. Long dominated by theories of causation involving class conflict and Malthusian crisis, the field of medieval economic history has been transformed in recent years by a better understanding of the process of commercialisation. Inrecognition of the important work in this area by Richard Britnell, this volume of essays brings together studies by historians from both sides of the Atlantic on fundamental aspects of the medieval commercial economy. From examinations of high wages, minimum wages and unemployment, through to innovative studies of consumption and supply, business fraud, economic regulation, small towns, the use of charters, and the role of shipmasters and peasants as entrepreneurs, this collection is essential reading for the student of the medieval economy. Contributors: John Hatcher, John Langdon, Derek Keene, John S. Lee, James Davis, Mark Bailey, Christine M. Newman, Peter L. Larson, Maryanne Kowaleski, Martha Carlin, James Masschaele, Christopher Dyer

The book aims at a readership of both economists and historians. Beyond the well-known Weberian thesis concerning the role of Protestantism in the development of capitalism, monastic economies are studied to assess their impact on the religious patterns of economic behavior. Those issues are discussed in the frame of key economic concepts such as rationality, state intervention, networking, agency, and governance. The book includes essays concerning Byzantine, Ottoman and modern South-Eastern Europe, and early modern Western Europe. Survival and continuity of the monastic wealth is considered as an example of successful handling of real estate transactions, flows of funds, and contacts with financial institutions. Moreover, the book focuses on the economic impact of the privileged relations of monasticism with the secular powers. Finally, the question is raised how the monastic economy (still) matters in the contemporary world.

Conspicuous consumption in the 15th century both offers causes for revolt and allows reconstruction of regional supply and trading networks. The essays in this volume focus on the sources and resources of political power, on consumption (royal and lay, conspicuous and everyday) on political revolution and on economic regulation in the later middle ages. Topics range from the diet of the nobility in the fifteenth century to the knightly household of Richard II and the peace commissions, while particular case studies, of Middlesex, Cambridge, Durham Cathedral and Winchester, shed new light on regional economies through an examination of the patterns of consumption, retailing, and marketing.Professor MICHAEL HICKS teaches at King Alfred's College at Winchester.Contributors: CHRISTOPHER WOOLGAR, ALASTAIR DUNN, SHELAGH MITCHELL, ALISON GUNDY, T.B. PUGH, JESSICA FREEMAN, JOHN HARE, JOHN LEE, MIRANDA THRELFALL-HOLMES, WINIFRED HARWOOD, PETER FLEMING.