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The State of the Medieval Economy from 750-1050With the collapse of the Roman Empire, trade in Europe ground to a halt.
Cities were abandoned. Craftsmen and merchants all but disappeared from the European landscape. Money fell out of use and trade was conducted by means of barter. Serfs struggled to feed themselves, and their lords enjoyed none of the luxuries we associate with aristocrats these days. Europe experienced an urban revolution around the 12th century. For three centuries, Europe languished in an economic slump. Then, around 1050, the European economy started turning again, slowly at first, but quickly accelerating. Trade began to flow across Europe's roads and waterways. Urban centers that had been all but abandoned began to grow again. Old trades re-emerged, and new trades were invented. The change was nothing short of an urban revolution. In the course of a couple centuries, Europe went from a continent of farmers, an economic dead end, a cultural backwater, to a land of merchants and craftsmen, living in bustling cities, generating culture at an unprecedented level. Save Timeline Autoplay Speed NormalVideo Quiz Course16K viewsThe Scope of the Urban RevolutionThe scope and speed of Europe's urban revolution is rather startling, considering its stagnation during the Dark Ages. The old Roman cities, which had never been more than fortified outposts to start with, became the centers of growing urban sprawls. Paris, London and Cologne doubled in population between 1100 and 1200, and doubled again between 1200 and 1300. Outside the old empire, new towns were established. 12th century Germany witnessed the founding of such prominent cities as Freiburg, Lubeck, Munich and Berlin. The height of this urban explosion was Italy. Venice, Genoa and Milan already had populations of over 100,000 in the 12th century. These populations would triple in less than two hundred years. Factors Behind the Urban RevolutionSeveral factors made this urban revolution possible. New lands were being opened up for agricultural development. A decline in Viking raids, combined with the development of stable central governments, at last allowed Europeans to stop huddling around feudal manors and start taming the great wilderness of the north. New agricultural technologies and techniques were producing unprecedented surpluses in European farms. The heavy plow was breaking up the rich soils of northern Europe. The three field crop rotation system was allowing farmers to wring the most from each acre. These agricultural surpluses would be essential to feed Europe's growing urban population. Meanwhile, labor saving technologies were freeing up human beings from many time consuming tasks. By the 12th century, Europeans had harnessed horses, the wind and rivers to do work that people used to do. This meant that it took far fewer people to run a farm. Instead of digging in the dirt with sticks or grinding grains by hand, people could pursue skilled trades in Europe's growing cities and leave the grinding and digging to horses and mills. These agricultural shifts were having an impact on the European aristocracy as well. Feudal lords were beginning to realize that they could make a lot more profit by charging rents on free peasants than they could by manning their own fields with serfs. Freed from the land at last, many of these free peasants left their farms to find fortune in the city.