A Source Book For Medieval Economic History

First published in 2005. This original study the author writing in 1936 has tried to sketch the character and general movement of the economic and social evolution of Western Europe from the end of the Roman Empire to the middle of the fifteenth century.

A Source Book for Mediæval History is a scholarly piece by Oliver J. Thatcher. It covers all major historical events and leaders from the Germania of Tacitus in the 1st century to the decrees of the Hanseatic League in the 13th century.

A clear and readable account of the development of the European economy and its infrastructure from the second century to 1500. Professor Pounds provides a balanced view of the many controversies within the subject, and he has a particular gift for bringing a human dimension to its technicalities. He deals with continental Europe as a whole, including an unusually rich treatment of Eastern Europe. For this welcome new edition -- the first in twenty years -- text and bibliography have been reworked and updated throughout, and the book redesigned and reset.

This excellent and concise summary of the social and economic history of Europe in the Middle Ages examines the changing patterns and developments in agriculture, commerce, trade, industry and transport that took place during the millennium between the fall of the Roman Empire and the discovery of the New World. After outlining the trends in demography, prices, rent, and wages and in the patterns of settlement and cultivation, the author also summarizes the basic research done in the last twenty-five years in many aspects of the social and economic history of medieval Europe, citing French, German and Italian works as well as English. Significantly, this study surveys the present state of discussion on a number of on unresolved issues and controversies, and in some areas suggests common sense answers. Some of the problems of economic growth, or the lack of it, are looked at in the light of current theories in sociology and economic thought. This classic text, first published in 1972, makes a useful and interesting general introduction for students of medieval and economic history.

History and Economic Life offers students a wide-ranging introduction to both quantitative and qualitative approaches to interpreting economic history sources from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Having identified an ever-widening gap between the use of qualitative sources by cultural historians and quantitative sources by economic historians, the book aims to bridge the divide by making economic history sources more accessible to students and the wider public, and highlighting the need for a complementary rather than exclusive approach. Divided into two parts, the book begins by equipping students with a toolbox to approach economic history sources, considering the range of sources that might be of use and introducing different ways of approaching them. The second part consists of case studies that examine how economic historians use such sources, helping readers to gain a sense of context and understanding of how these sources can be used. The book thereby sheds light on important debates both within and beyond the field, and highlights the benefits gained when combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to source analysis. Introducing sources often avoided in culturally-minded history or statistically-minded economic history courses respectively, and advocating a combined quantitative and qualitative approach, it is an essential resource for students undertaking source analysis within the field.