The Early Middle Ages 500 – 1000
The start of the Middle Ages
Of course it is not easy to put a date on the start of this period. There are a number of pointers. Obviously the decline of the Roman Empire played a key role in this. This started in the 3th century and in particular in north-western Europe this allowed the Germanic tribe to travel more or less freely into Roman territory and many tribes moved permanently into the area. In particular the Saliers where already at the end of the 3rd century well and truly establish in the area below the large rivers in the Low Countries. They became the dominant Germanic force known as the Franks. During the late Roman period most of the military leaders in this region (and even beyond) were coming from the Germanic tribes who had been able to rise through the military ranks to become the leaders in the boarder regions.
Also called the Dark Ages the period covered basically covers the period from the collapse of the Roman Empire till the time Europe was able to pick up its pieces again and culture, knowledge and economic progress started to occur again around 1000 At that time we also see countries such as Spain, Britain, France and Germany starting to emerge proto-countries and Italy continued again its function as the cradle for cultural developments. The territory to which the Dark Ages applies is roughly the same as the previous Roman Empire, without the Eastern part that continued as what was later called the Byzantium or East Roman Empire and while North Africa could be included in this as region and time frame as well it was only for another 150 years, after which its became permanently separated from its nearly thousand year history with Europe.
When the Romans permanently left the region in 402, control was basically in the hand of the Romanised Germans.
Another date of course is the final fall of Rome in 476. But its decline started as soon as the Emperor Constantine moved the capital to Byzantium in 325, which was consequently renamed into Constantinople.
When that same emperor, roughly at the same time, decided that the Roman Empire would adopt the Catholic faith as the state religion another important development was set in motion. Most Roman centres throughout very rapidly also became the seats of bishops and with the ongoing decline of the Empire, the Catholic Church started to take over also an important part of the administration of the areas where they were active and this rapidly expanded from the 6th century onwards. The rapid development of monasteries added to the increase of power of the Church amongst the rural population, especially when after 1100 they were all fully brought under the control of Rome.
The baptism of the Merovingian King Clovis in 500 is anther important date in this context.
The interaction between these three elements (Romans, Germans, Church) led to the ideal aim of that period; one homogenous world, one religion, one church and one emperor. This ideal was maintained throughout the Middle Ages.
Some of the philosophers of late Antiquity warned against this monolithic approach, namely people like Plotinus and perhaps even more so his pupil Porphyr and in general the Neo-Platonists. Their dark view of things to come in the way of ‘ free thinking’ also resulted in the name that this period received that of the ‘Dark Ages’.
One of the major elements that suffered during this period was the collapse of Roman culture. Without the integrity of the Empire, there no longer was that free exchange of culture. Literacy declined as well and soon this was only limited to a handful of senior church officials. Literacy amongst the emerging aristocracy was poor and they depended on clerics, who became widely deployed at the various Frankish courts.
Perhaps one of the most serious effects of the cultural collapse and the consequent limited continuation within an increasingly becoming dogmatic Church, was that this caused the end of reason.
On the other side the survival of Roman (and Greek) culture through the Church assisted the formative period in which the medieval administrative and political systems developed as well as trade. And overtime systems like education and care emerged again.
Equally difficult is to split this period again, but in general three periods are recognised;
- The Early Middle Ages – the prolonged transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
- The High Middle Ages – also sometimes called the prolonged 12th century; and
- The Late Middle Ages – with institutionalised governing bureaucracies and the monetisation of economies
The Merovingian and Carolingian periods are an integral part of the Early Middle Ages, but because of their self contained histories they are covered separately.
Proto-feudal period
Under Roman emperor Diocletianus large landowners – which largely comprised members of the senatorial aristocracy - and their estates (latifundia) were given certain rights under public law and in this way governance, justice and tax collection became linked to landownership. In this way private property title resulted in rights under public law. For fiscal reasons farmers were linked to their land.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire – which started in north western Europe after the withdrawal of the Roman troop from the Limes in 402, the Franks started to take control over the areas left vacant by the Romans. The Roman ‘comes civitatis’ – the military commanders in the districts- were incorporated in the German military system and many were able to increase their power in these districts and together with the remaining Roman landowners became part of the Germanic nobility (counts and dukes) under the leadership of – and in close relationship with – their chieftains who became tribal kings. Those closest to the kings were able to receive the largest awards. The most powerful nobles were those who had enough wealth that allowed them to offer the king their warriors on horseback as we will see below many of them became the early knights. This complex system of relationship forms the basis of the evolving feudal system proper.
Their territorial borders mostly coincided with the Germanic tribal areas.
While most of the Roman landowners left the region, or if they stayed were downsized to farmers the principles of the Diocletian system survived and once the Church and the Merovingians started to take control, many of these Roman legal and administrative systems were also adopted by them. By the Early Middle Ages the system of Diocletian had grown into a proto-feudal system.
During Carolingian times there were some 400 counts (large landowners) that were of significant importance to maintain the integrity of the Frankish Empire. While there is no continuity between the latifundia and the new estates that started to evolve in the latter part of the Early Middle Ages, they were largely styled on these litifundia. While the Romans used slaves to work on their agriculture estates, the system that evolved later first saw the local free farmers being becoming involved, they often felt soon pressured to subject themselves to the new landlords and eventually this led to the system of serfdom.
It was however, impossible to maintain the the cultural and economic integrity of the Roman systems in place, initially the tax system from Diocletian was continued but rapidly this stopped at the landowner. The king was supposed to finance his court and administration from the income generated from his own estates. In order for him to maintain his position he had to be the largest landowner and by ‘divine’ right he owned all the domains within his realm. Once the gift-based economy of the raiding Germans started to stop and wealth became measured in landownership. The king had to be able to pay his nobles in land.
However, without overall governance and military integrity, landowners started to develop their own more or less independent powers and often these landlords misused and abused their powers and started to subdue the local population, often with the help of their own militia.
The complexity of the feudal system
Around the 9th century under the ancient nobility – pre-feudal landlords - a more full blown feudal system of lower landlords started to emerge. During the Merovingian and Carolingian periods the king rewarded his warlords with treasure. However, this system started to reach its limitations and the rewards started to be paid out in the form of land (domains/manors/hoven). Increasingly also privileges (rights) were added along the lines of the immunities issued during Merovingian times to the emerging monasteries..
The new domains increasingly started to include the farms that were part of the territory (patrimonial/allodial domain) as well as a range of range of other claims, goods and services – the first villages. In order to manage and administer all of this a manor (seigneurie, heerlijkheid) became the centre of this feudal system (manorialism). It was also on these domains that the first chapels and churches started to emerge, initialy just for the Lord and his family. Once these feudal centres started to emerge satellite farming communities were established (hoven). In general we are still talking about very small communities often not more than one or two extended farming families. This system became the essential base for the feudal wealth system. Within these new structures the village became a legal public entity, with the local lord at its head.
The agriculture communities that started to evolve included all three classes the serfs, the free farmers and the clergy and the nobility. From the start there were significant differences within the social structures of these emerging agriculture communities (villages).
The church also participated in this system, however, their lands were not heritable, this system is known as prebendal domain. With ecclesiastical and secular life very much intertwined during the Middle Ages both systems were not mutual exclusive. One of the developments here was that, in order to run the Bishopric the bishop appointed ministerialis, feudal bureaucrats in charge of the administration of property and feudal rights on behalf of the Bishop.
Ministerialen – Ministerialis
These were unfree servants of the king, recruited from the servant families (not from the farmers/serfs). They could not marry or move out of this position without the permission of the king, nor could the transfer property or inherit property. They were appointed for managerial (farming) or administrative (court) functions. This system developed towards the end of the Early Middle Ages specifically in East Francia (Germany). After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire this region fell back to the five main tribal kingdoms and the emerging emperors had difficulty recruiting people from the nobility who were not interested to work in servitude for the Emperor. In France and England there was a tighter control around the king and these functions were normally taken by the lower knights. The early sheriffs for example came of the ranks of the barons, only after 1000/1100 became they part of the administrative organisation.
The powerful Conrad II was adamant to create a stronger central control in Germany and started to recruit ministerialis in larger numbers. This situation continued over the next hundred years and also spread to the Low Countries (especially Holland and Utrecht – as we saw in the history in relation to the van Amstels).
Under the original system the lower nobility were feudal lords to their masters, however many of these lower lords increased their powers and also forged links with other lords. During the cause of the Middle Ages all of these families became in one way or another intertwined as we will see below.
This resulted in an enormous complex system where the various lords could have certain rights over certain properties in various places and obviously such allegiances could easily change as well, based on favours, money and marriage arrangements.
These secular Lords also often received guardianships over church properties. A complex relationship could look as follows.
The Pope as the ultimate ‘owner’ could have feudal rights relationship with archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, deacons, local priests as well as with abbots, abbesses, deans and canons. Each one of them could provide guardianships over properties and rights (e.g the tithes) to the secular hierarchy of the Emperor, Kings, Dukes, Counts, Barons, Lords, and other local varieties of these titles. Theoretically all of them could play a role in one single conflict, while I am not aware of such complexity; it is not unusual that up to a dozen of them get involved in certain property and feudal rights issues.
This of course was an ideal situation for ongoing conflicts, intrigues and wars. Especially when these overlords started to war with each other, which in our region happened frequently between Brabant, Gelre and Holland, often dragging in even the larger powers such as the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kings of France and England.
While more cohesion arrived under Charles V and later the Dutch Republic the patchwork of territories and feudal rights – especially in and around the old Teisterbant – lingered on until the French Revolution, after which most of the feudal system finally disappeared.
The system of Vassalage
After the Germanic tribes started to settle and the tribal kingdoms started to emerge the word gwas/gwasawl was used to describe non-family bonds between the chieftain (king) and their lower dependent members of their court, it means ‘he who serves’. It became the term for a loyal servant, this was latinised to vassas/vassallus. 1 In the northwestern corner it was mixed with the tribal traditions of the Saliers and this lay the basis for the feudal system of Merovingian system of vassalage.
The old Frankish system of frinlighe (free people) started disappear the most powerful of them became incorporated into this new emerging system of nobility and the rest simple became the new serfs.
The principles are that loyal servants get rewarded with land, the same applied for the monasteries. In the 8th century changes were implemented by Charles Martel, instead of giving away land and privileges (immunities) they from now were given in fief (on a loan basis). In this way the king did not run the risk that he had to give away all of his land as payments for services to his vassals. In a similar way he also required military services and this became the domain of the dukes. During the Carolingian period most counts and dukes were brought into vassalage through the oath of allegiance which were annual confirmed through the system of homage.
In 802 Charlemagne ordered all free males of 12 years and older to swear allegiance to him. This oat became even more important during the following period of anarchy. The whole culture of knight evolved around traditions and symbols such as this oat. In many countries the ‘allegiance’ formula, in one way or another, still exists.
Rapidly this system started to include administrative responsibilities both for the vassal in his own rights as for the kings. They now started to officially installed their own vassal counts in administrative positions, conveniently based on the ancient ‘royal bannum’ (unlimited royal power). This proofed to an effective way for the king to rule a large territory.These counts were also the counselors of the king, these systems were further extended in the 12th and 13th centuries and eventually evolved in to Parliaments.
After the disintegration of the Carolingian empire, there was a period of anarchy, in its essence such a system also existed before that time it did become more prominent from Charlemagne onwards, peaking during the High Middle Ages. It was during the Dark Ages of the 9th and 10th centuries that we saw- apart from the existing vassals – the arrival of hundreds and hundreds of war lords all over north-western Europe. Many of them had until that time been officials working on behalf of the Carolingian nobility. Without central power the unity of the feudal system of vassalage based on personal relationships, partly still based on the old tribal system of kinships, marriages and ongoing negotiations collapsed.
At the same time the Vikings and the Hungarians attacked the remnants of the old Carolingian empire and without any central assistance these local lords had to fight for themselves.
After a turbulent 150 years basically, Europe was totally fragmented, every piece of land had it own lord, there could have been as many as 10,000 of them in north-western Europe alone. The most powerful held a whole pagi but many others just had one or a few domains.
Slowly the Church started to take on the umbrella role over this fragmented situation. With the increasing entanglement of Church and State, Church dogmas and Church Law (Canon Law) impacted on all elements of society, based on faith rather than reason.
These combined developments led to a more organised system of feudalism and serfdom started to set in – closed linked into the relationship between state and church, these feudal relationships lasted till the Great Death around 1350, after this a monetary based economy slowly started to change the feudal system. In some parts of Europe feudal systems survived into the 20th century.
However, there were also some problems with the system. As the king was in constant need of services and these counts and dukes became more and more powerful eventually he was forced to make these positions hereditary. Even ecclesiastical positions were extended with secular powers (prince-bishops). Overtime these dukes and counts established a new layer of vassalage underneath them of landlords. The system became enormously complex as many counts also held allodial lands and titles. We also see some of the original landowners handing over their rights to the king, count or duke who than in exchange gave it back as a fief in exchange for the protection of the suzerain Lord. In this way many of the rulers were linked together in systems where they were in one situation a vassal and in another situation a Lord. Land and titles could also be scattered over many independent counties and duchies.
Misuse, confusion and conflicts in such a system was thriving and special feudal courts were established for disputes in relation to fiefs and privileges.
Especially in the early stages of this development, when all these lords tried to establish their own little kingdoms, these powers were often used against their own population (serfs) as if they were at war with them.
Vassalage as a system of forced labour (serfdom – Latin: servus = slave), became essential because the low population density in Europe ( between 2 and 4 people per square kilometer around 500AD and around 15 by 1300) made labour a scarce commodity in the booming agriculture economy. Which as we saw led to lucrative trade which provided income to the nobility through a system of taxes and levies.
The collapse of central power also required a further division of land in order to facilitate the increase of new land owners (warrior aristocrats) and as a result of this; many of the pagi (such as Bracbatensis) were further divided – in the case of Brabant into four parts, Twente in three parts and so on..
The concept of vassalage also evolved in other regions, in the 6th century the Persian Emperor did exactly the same and also paid his knights (dekkans) in land, creating a new class of landowners. After the collapse of this Empire, this system of vassalage was adopted by the new Arab rulers and from here also entered Spain.
Result of the collapse of central powers
The key characteristics of vassalage is the unequal personal relationship between the Lord and his vassals, cemented in the act of homage. In an age without much writing, this was based on trust and close personal bonds this became a highly ritualised process with many onlookers – even the ordinary people – and the pledge was often sealed with a kiss on the lips. While the vassals accepted their overlords, these vassals basically operated independently with a ‘licence’ to rule their territories under their private control. Some of them lasted to well into modern times and some can be seen as the precursors of modern counties and councils.
After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire, most central systems disappeared, namely defense and especially with the raids of the Vikings, the Magyars and the Muslims local lords were left on their own to defend their territory, without much support from the central powers of those days (East Francia, West Francia, Lotharingia) . Within this power vacuum many local war lords seized the opportunity to also enlarge their own territories. It is within these dynamics that in north western Europe the many new overlords such as the counts and dukes of Flanders, Brabant, Gelre, Holland and Hainault started to emerge.
The process of how this happened was rather straightforward. In order for these overlords to be able to survive, they needed the military assistance of these vassals. The interdependence between the two was very dynamic; the more wars were fought the more they needed their vassals who in exchange would obtain more privileges in return. When there was a lesser need for their services the overlords used their powers in trying to get some of these rights back. From the 11th century onwards, we slowly start seeing the power moving back to the newly emerging kings of France and Germany with Burgundy holding its own in the middle.
The political system that evolved around vassalage meant that the ownership of lands and rights was linked to the House of that vassal. Many places had different Lords who held different rights within a town or region, this not only led to exploitation but also to continued conflicts, which sometimes lasted well into modern times ( see: Conflicts of interests in Ootmarsum).
With the arrival of cities we also see that these entities start wielding their own power and they are able to get their own rights (town privileges). This started to force the vassal Lords back into the country areas. Slowly we start to see that once state forming starts to take place and the Court gets more and more separated from the State, that the States are becoming the overlord of all vassals. This is in particular the case in the Netherlands, where over the centuries some 1500 vassals had been able to carve out there own little territories.
See also: Villages in the Feudal Ages.
From warriors to knights
It were the strongholds of local vassals which started to emerge around the year 1000 which started to give the impetuous of many if not most of the villages that are still with us today. These local chiefs started to assemble their own vassals as armed warriors. This resulted in was an enormous large number of small private armies. They consisted of a mixture of court staff, vassals, clerks and farmers (serfs). These ‘armies’ dominated warfare during the next 300 to 400 years. While in general these private armies were operated under the control of the feudal Lord, very often they also operated on their own in the many family feuds and other conflicts that were a continuing part of life in the Middle Ages.
Originally not more than fortified strongholds, castles started to emerge and the walled area around it started to provide protection to the farmers in the area in an ever more aggressive environment and as a consequence these farmers became more and more dependent on these lords, this grew into the system of serfdom.
The lords needed well armed warriors to protect their territories. This also gave new impetus to the cavalry, which first stated to emerge under Charles Martel. In order to be successful these horsemen (farmers) needed to become more specialised and this militia increasingly required more money and as a consequence increasingly only the aristocracy could afford to take part in the militia.
In the middle and north European regions this developed in the ‘cult’ of the knighthood complete with its own inaugural ceremonies, codes of honour, hairstyles, fashion and tournaments. Many of the original militia turned knights were not necessarily from noble origin, however over time most became part of the lower nobility. In northern Italy these private armies were closely linked to the cities in that region, with more emphasis on the militiae than on the ceremony.
With the invention of the bascinet (face shielded helmet) it became important to wear personal marks indicating his identity. This led to the development of heraldry that initially was predominantly used on their weapon shields. The explosion in family weapons also led to the function of herald. His task was to announce the knights at tournaments and for that he needed to know all those family weapons by heart. He also became in charge of the organisation of these events and soon became the expert in the history of the knights, their family weapons and the wars they fought in. On the battlefields they also became the messengers between the warring parties.
The church opposed knighthood and the pomp and ceremony that developed with it, and tried to bent this development to their own advantage by using these warriors to fight for the church and this became a critical element of the many crusades organised by the Church throughout Europe and the Middle East. Inaugurations from now on were held in chapels and churches.
It was during this time that the prestige of the knighthood grew to phenomenal heights. Even kings started to present themselves as knights.
Wirth the arrival of the cannon in the 1330’s the castles and their knights started to loose their importance as strongholds and warriors, but the legacy of their 300 years of rule still exists in the 21st century. Many castles were built strong enough to last into modern times and knighthood still exists be it now in a more ceremonial sense. A major castle rebuilding program saw many of these fortresses changed into far more comfortable castles.
Tribal chiefs and early knights became later on known as the ancient nobility. Their nobility was based on landownership based on hereditary Germanic law that kept landownership within the family. Modern (feudal) nobility started to emerge after 1100 when the Emperor started to provide knighthood privileges to its ‘bonded’ or unfree military chiefs and top officials (ministerialis). By 1350 these two groups had largely merged.
The vassals were in effect the standing army of the local Lord. When mobilisation was announced they received a personal call to meet the Lord on horse. The serfs an other farmers could also be called upon and would be put under the command of of a military official of the Lord (baljuws, shouten (d) – sheriffs (e). In the early Middle Ages the most common military operation was that of the ‘chevauchée’ a rather small group of warriors mainly or only consisting of knights. These personal armies often consisted of hundreds of knights who individual often also shared in the plunder – rather similar to the raids of the Germanic tribal chiefs.
No market economy
After the Roman Empire had collapsed money became very scarce and more or less disappeared from the economy. The early Middle Ages and even beyond that, was a booty driven economy, favouring only the chieftains of the clans and the family members they believed they could trust. So what ever wealth meant at that time it was only in the hands of less that 1% of the people. In this respect the ‘campus maii’ was an important spring event. Here the warlords would meet to discuss their raids for the upcoming season. This raiding culture resulted in a more or less permanent state of war. Under Charlemagne these summits were also used to discuss other political and economic issues.
At the start of the Merovingian period slavery was still continued from Roman times, but there were also free farmers. But – in exchange for ‘protection’ – the emerging war lords had increasingly bonded peasants working for them.
From a Gift-giving based economy
The booty economy relied on blood relationships and on trying to tie in others in the campaign. If successful the participants were rewarded with a share of the booty. Increasingly the raids alone didn’t deliver enough of the ‘gifts’.
In order to maintain the relationships an elaborate system of gift giving existed and for that purposes apart from raids trade was established. The aristocracy had to more and more use the services of specialised merchants for the supply of their prestige and luxurious goods. such as: salt and silk and for military purposes there was also a trade in copper and iron as well as in the end product of this weapons. We referred to the salt and weapon trade before in relation the Celts along the river Meuse (The King of Oss). Aristocratic women were often also seen as a trading object in the gift exchanges.
Trade in the early Middle Ages basically only existed to support the ‘gift exchange’ system for the purpose of patronage between the king and their nobles. Trade was there only to supply the elite with highly valued produce that served as gifts. This system is still in place in some tribal societies.
Trade as we know it was rather limited in those days as there was hardly any surplus to trade with. Furthermore merchants could easily become the bounty of a raiding party. This led to special protection of merchants and trading activities (markets) by the kings.
This ‘protection’ in turn became part of the system of privileges during the Merovingian and Carolingian period and from there it became part feudal privileges given to the lower nobility and later to cities such as the rights to collect tolls and market dues and the rights to punish and collect the associated fines.
Slowly we see that the ‘gift giving’ culture started to change for booty and luxurious trading goods, to privileges such as the building of defense walls, dig moats and built castles. Through the bannum these military rights were inextricable linked to kings and as such never challenged, as well as the rights to use land the land for its prudence (agriculture, hunting, fishing, forestry, etc).
Slowly what in its origin was a gift giving tradition became a set of privileges and this became common law and under the feudal system this was often very severely misused, these gifts became taxes and personal services (serfdom) levied both by landlords and the church.
To an Agriculture based economy
It has been estimated that the population of Europe doubled between 600 and 1000 from about 12 to around 20 million, an annual rather meagre growth of around a quarter of a percent. An estimated 15 million of them lived in the Carolingian Empire that included France, the Low Countries, half of Germany, Austria, and Italy. The population density is estimated at around 2 to 5 people per square kilometre. The increase of the population in the 9th and especially from the 10th century onwards saw an intensification of a more efficient agriculture based economy; this was largely due to the so called Medieval Warm Period (MWP). During the period (800-1300) warmer weather increased to amount of arable land. Close to 100% of people who lived in Carolingian Europe at that time relied on agriculture for their survival.
It is estimated that by the 10th century the population above the main river system had increased from 10,000 at the end of the Roman period to 40,000.
Unlike the situation in the warmer Mediterranean regions, agriculture in northwestern Europe provided such a low yield that it could not and did not contribute much to the economic activity i.e. there was no surplus to trade. For centuries, the yield remained the same. 1:3 or 1:4 in relation to seedlings. In particular after the WMP, a cold spring, a wet summer or a plant disease meant famine. On average one in four harvests failed. It could well be that a few communities further up had a better harvest, but lack of communication and transport (trade) meant that there was hardly any opportunity to ‘import’ food.
Innovation did not happen. While during the migration period rye was introduced in western Europe, coming from Turkestan, agriculture technology stood still during most of the early Middle Ages. Towards the end of the period contacts with the Arab countries finally led to innovations that in its turn led to an increase of the yield and the opportunity for population increase.
The nobility had to establish large and productive landholdings (domains/hoven) in order to maintain provisions for their own campaigns. Here they produced the foodstuffs to maintain their families, their entourage and their campaigns. These extensive self-sufficient domains formed a powerful part of the political unity of the Merovingian and Carolingian periods.
Initially the king had no permanent places of settlement and travelled from place to place to tap into the produce provided by these domains, once such a place was exhausted they travelled on again. (Interestingly these travelling courts with all of its staff became in itself places of attractions which pulled in many others such as artists, performers, traders, merchants, etc).
The Twentse hoven (domains)
During the Carolingian period domains were first established in the Rhine land and in the eastern part of the Low Countries. There were six major domains in Twente all roughly 10 kilometres apart from each other. They all had their own central functions such ad administration, jurisdiction, tax collection, bonded labour, storage, etc. They were: Oldenzaal, Ootmarsum, Delden, Weddehoen, Borne and Goor 2. After Charles Martel defeated the Frisii in 719 their land (including Twente) became part of the Bishopric Utrecht.
Already in 797 the hoven of Mander and Hezinge (under Ootmarsum) are mentioned in an official Charter from Oodhelm whereby he donated the farms to the Church of Wichmond near Zutphen. These farms were managed by the court of the major-domo (who lived elsewhere) he was in charge of the production and the management of the farm and he was also in charge of the various feudal and servitude obligations of the people. This system operated outside the normal civil system (city, province) of the day. Because of their often rather isolated positions they were amongst the last elements of the feudal system that finally got dismantled.
Appeal was possible at the court-mayor in Ootmarsum. This also had become a hereditary function and was – for centuries – held by the family Beverforde. The court was finally abolished in 1812, during the Napoleonic Period.
The vassal court to which Ootmarsum belonged was in Colmschate (Deventer).
Apart from these in origin Frankish domains also the Deaneries of the Utrecht based St Pieter and St Jan had properties in Twente resp. in Albergen and Espelo and in Dulder.
The domain system started to decline when the money economy was started up again during the 13th and 14th centuries. These domains changed into large farming estates.
Money matters
After the fall of the Roman Empire the economy had fallen back to bartering trade. The first small silver coins that were minted again were known as sceattae (wealth). From the 7th and 8th century onwards they were minted in England, Frisia and Jutland. In the Merovingian lands Pippin reformed the system in 755 and replaced the sceatta with fixed valued solidi, a uniform Frankish coin, bearing his name (sceatae didn’t bear the names of kings). Under the gift giving scheme as mentioned above, soon certain nobles received a minting privilege and especially during the Carolingian period we saw a significant increase in this activity, what of course could be interpreted as an increase in economic activity.
As in indication of their emerging power, it is during this time that we are also seeing some of the cities minting their own coins. Officially minting was an official monopoly of the emperor, nevertheless during the Carolingian period some 30 cities had their own mint, including Dorestad and Maastricht.
Charlemagne in 781, introduced the silver denarii. In 794 he fixed the weight and the exchange rates between the coins: twenty solidi made a pound and twelve denarii equalled one solidus (the denarius became the penny and was the most popular coin).
Louise the Pious and Charles the Bald followed up on Charlemagne’s work and further regulated the Carolingian money market. Charles designated mints for new coins at the courts of: Quentovic, Rouen, Reims, Sens, Paris, Orléans, Chalon-sûr-Saône, Melle and Narbonne. On July 1 856 everybody had to exchange their silver bullions for the new coins.
Under Carolingian rule the local economies were revived and this had a long lasted effect on the economic future of Europe. However, it still would be several hundred years before money would become the major form of payment for transactions.
The Ottonian kings in East Francis (Holy Roman Empire) took over monetary policies from the Carolingians and the Cologne denarius became one of the most successful coins of the time.
My birthplace Vught was one of the first places in Brabant, together with Antwerp that had minting and toll rights in the 11th century (first record for Fughte dates back to 1028).
Merchants
The emerging centralised structures of the Merovingian and Carolingian era also favoured a broader economic growth and by leaps and bounces progress started to emerge which would in norhtwestern Europe lead to the developments of very rich cities, amongst the most prosperous in Europe.
As the war booty alone did no longer deliver enough of the ‘gifts’. The aristocracy had to more and more use the services of specialised merchants for the supply of their prestige and luxurious goods. Over time, trade, in a much broader way, would become the backbone of the local economy.
Interestingly some of the early merchants in Austrasia were the successful slave traders. Christian people such as Charlemagne where uncomfortable with this human trade and tried to ‘regulate’ this by ordering bishops to monitor these transactions.
He also ordered a ban on the export of weapons, The Rhineland blacksmith were world-famous for their trade and there was a large international demand for their products.
Slowly -within the more central governed lands – the ‘natural’ state changed from permanent war to peace. Under the ‘kings peace’ no fighting was allowed within the Empire and as a result trade flourished during the reigns of for example of the Merovingian king Dagobert and later on under Charlemagne, key products were: grain, wine, iron, lead, military hardware, salt, wool and many other goods. However, soon after the collapse of the Carolingian Empire these early economic booms faded away again.
The area between the Seine basin and the river Rhine became the early economic motor of Europe, it were the Frisians who dominated the river trade in the early Middle Ages.
Frisia the first merchant economy
The Frisians were the masters of the river systems that linked the various parts of Europe together and they became the core of the new European merchant community. They became the commercial intermediaries between Scandinavia, Britain, the Rhineland and the Frankish Empire.
Their centre of trading was Dorestad, just south of the old Roman garrison town of Traiectum (Utrecht), the city was most prosperous under Frankish control, with some 2,500 inhabitants during the reign of Charlemagne.
Already in the 8th and 9th centuries Dorestad attracted traders from Britain, other cities drew the attention from merchant coming from as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, Byzantium and Asia.
As we will see below the town was conquered by the Vikings and became their capital in the Low Countries. This brought the town in close contact with other Viking cities such as Haithabu (Hedeby on the Schleswig isthmus), Kaupang in the Oslo fjord and Birka on Gotland. I saw a large scale maquette of this town in the National museum in Stockholm, Sweden in early 2007. The structure of the town reminded me very much of the reconstruction plans I had seen from Dorestad.
After the decline of Dorestad in the 10th century, Tiel a bit further along the Rhine became the largest trading city in the Northern Low Countries and flourished in particular in the 11thcentury. They were now operating well beyond the river system and also dominated the coastal trade in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. This led to the first conflicts in 1284-1285 with the upcoming Hanse city Lübeck and other Wend cities along the Baltic coast. Interestingly River cities such as Kampen, Zuthpen,Harderwijk, Staveren, Zwolle, Groningen and Deventer all supported Lübeck 3 , most likely because of the fierce competition they received from the Frisians, these Dutch cities were at that time, together with Baltic cities, all part of the Holy Roman Empire and received significant support from the emperor to stimulate their trade.
The arrival of regional market places
Since ancient times the Mediterranean had been the centre of trade. Even after the collapse of the empire the Mediterranean remained the economic centre of Europe (and beyond). However, slowly but steadily changes started to occur.
An important event happened under the reign of the Merovingian king Dagobert I (died in 639). Since the crowning of Clovis, there had been a strong link between the Merovingians and the monastery of St Denis. The monks here lived under the rule of St Martin and unlike the Benedictines they didn’t profit from the privileges and immunities provided under the Episcopal structure of the Church. This would have played a role in Dagobert providing the monastery of St Denis (near Paris) with the privilege of holding an annual fair to provide a more stable income for the community of both religious and lay people.
This support and the entrepreneurial spirit of this close nit community turned this fair into – most probably – the first large trading event in northern Europe. This also stimulated the Frisii to further develop their trading skills and their reach.
Despite’s Dagobert’s initiative in St Denis, the Merovingians mainly stuck to their traditional form of wealth creation: their annual raid parties. The southern parts of Europe were, in the 7th century, still reasonable easy hunting grounds for the raiders; however the heydays of these old Germanic tribal traditions were clearly coming to an end.
Pippin the Short (as the first Carolingian king) confirmed the privileges of St Denis in 753. He also ordered the introduction of designated market days in other episcopal towns that did not already have them organised.
His aim was to fix times and places where commercial transactions could be monitored, thereby enriching the treasury with the various sales imposts, cartage and tolls that were levied at the places and at these events. Markets grew into regular events, attracting ever larger numbers of buyers and sellers. Kings, dukes, counts and other rulers all showed a keen (financial) interest in these commercial activities. Inventories and audits of market towns were conducted regularly in order to eliminate illegal gatherings and ensure the regulations. Bishops, abbots and counts all became involved in these regulations in order to secure their cut of the increase in commercial activities. These activities were a severe impediment on an efficient economic system. Ships carrying goods would easily have to pay tolls and dues at a dozen places; this of course significant increased their costs, but even more disrupting was the fact that at these tolls significant delays occurred because of the inspections which sometimes required the unloading of the goods and the requirement to use local ships for the next part of the journey.
Nevertheless the emergence of trade led to an instant success of these early markets and Charlemagne had to issue a capitulary urging farmers not to waste their time at market places. Many of such warnings regarding markets and fairs have been issued over the following one thousand years plus. It is not without reason the connotation with fair is not just with an economic market activity, but equally with fun and partying. Obviously that his been the case form those very early days onwards.
Initially most of these new markets in Europe north of the Alps were as elsewhere held once a week, often at Saturdays. Under its city privileges Oss was allowed to have a weekly market but this one was on Tuesday (a Saturday market was added later but always remained of less importance). After more than 600 years, both these two markets still exist and there will be thousands of such examples throughout Europe. Some of these northern fairs became of international importance: Lyon, Frankfurt, Vienna, Cracow, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Bergen-op-Zoom.
Trade protection and trade privileges
In order to stimulate trade, specific privileges were developed by the Carolingian kings:
- Under the ‘kings peace’, Charlemagne offered reasonable secure conditions for long-distance trade.
- In 828 Louise the Pious issued a capitulary securing the protection of international merchants travelling to trade at the court.
- One of the first international free trade agreements was signed in 840 between King Lothar I and the city state of Venice, allowing free passage of merchants throughout northern Italy.
However, these emerging economic developments needed more than these supporting privileges. More and better demand and supply management systems and a range of new economic skills to secure longer term economic sustainability. It were the merchants in these cities rather than the nobility (landowners) who started to take up a leadership role in this new economic direction.
The nobility typically had their power bases in the country, where they owned their lands and as such they never became seriously involved in the economic activities; as these were concentrated in the emerging cities. However, as mentioned above, based on their privileges trade opened up interesting taxing possibilities for the landowners – over which domains these goods needed to be transported. Both the old Roman highways and the river ways were used to link cities such as Dorestad, Marseille, Bordeaux, Corvey, Calais, Rouen, Paris, Ghent, Maastricht and Narbonne, to just name a few.
But the real value of trade was embedded in the activity itself. Trade creates wealth and wealth creates political power and very rapidly the cities became more and more powerful and this in its turn – at least for the following centuries – drew power away from the nobility. The early towns and villages that had some regional importance, perhaps because local fortifications or because of link to one of the many emerging monasteries became the first the trading settlements and they became also regular venues for fairs and markets. Some good examples of this development can be found in Flanders as early as in the 9th century, towns such as St Omer, Bruges, Ghent and Kortrijk (Courtrai) were amongst the earliest settlements that started to emerging as trading places. Soon the towns started to set their own rules for the conduct of business, with a growing merchant class, they were far better equipped to manage their economy than the nobility.
Increasingly also commercial centres were established outside the walls of the city, several of these so called ‘emporiums’ or ‘portus’ were established along the river Scheldt, including one at Ename.
Developments in the East
While we concentrate on the developments in north-western Europe, it is important to note that in the early Middle Ages the centre of economic and scientific had moved to the east. Since Emperor Constantine had moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in 325 the west started to decline, this was further assisted by the invasions of the Germanic tribes, whose major activity was raiding rather than ‘empire building’. The Greco-Roman tradition continued here whereby many Greek scholars became the leaders in academic and professional pursuit.
Famous physicians included: the brothers Stephanus, Dioscorus and Alexander Anthemius, another brother Olympicos was a famous jurist. Pappus of Alexandria was perhaps the most famous mathematician of his time. Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, can perhaps be best described as engineers. They built the world famous Hagia Sophia in Constantinople within the incredible short period of 5 years (532-537).
The work of John the Cappadocian on the Justinian Code in 529 is still the foundation of many of the legal systems in Europe.