Economic and Social Transformations: From Feudalism to Early Capitalism
Economy
A set of wealth-producing activities within a society.
Feudalism
A social, economic, and political system based on fiefs that prevailed in Western Europe from the 9th to the 15th centuries.
Renaissance
A cultural revitalization movement in Western Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. It represents the diffusion of humanism, which determined a new conception of man and the world.
Capitalism
Emerging in 16th-century Europe, capitalism is an economic system where individuals and companies produce and exchange goods and services through market transactions involving prices.
Monarchy
A form of government where the head of state holds the highest office for life, often through hereditary succession.
Sovereignty
The absolute and perpetual power of a republic. A sovereign is one who has the power to make laws without receiving it from another.
Stratified Society
Comprises three elements: the clergy, the nobility, and the Third Estate. Each is distinct, having a code of laws granting privileges (higher clergy and nobility) or rights and duties (Third Estate).
Fief (Manor)
Land given by a lord to a vassal as part of a vassalage contract, in return for fulfilling obligations.
Census
A tax paid by free farmers working land owned by lords.
Monopoly
A situation of legal privilege or market failure where a single producer has significant power and control over a specific product, resource, or service.
Tithe
A tax charged by the church.
Infrastructure
A structure built to provide a public service (e.g., school, street).
Polyculture
Agriculture using multiple crops in the same area, imitating the diversity of natural ecosystems and avoiding monoculture.
Openfields
Unfenced fields, either individual or collective, dedicated to cereal crops and using fallow periods.
Fallow
Land left unplanted for one or more vegetation cycles to recover and store organic matter.
Mansos
Plots of land rented by a lord to peasants (free or unfree).
Subsistence Crisis
Periods of food shortages due to poor crops, ineffective resource and transportation systems, or lack of access to integrated national markets, leading to famine.
Estate
A stratum of society defined by a common lifestyle and similar social function. This social division is characteristic of feudalism and the Ancien Régime. (These are usually closed groups).
Ancien Régime
A social, economic, and political system arising from feudalism (9th-16th centuries) and the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries), evolving with the development of capitalism and the emergence of authoritarian monarchy.
Attributions
The search by an individual for the reasons behind their successes and failures.
Bourgeoisie
A social class identified by its role in a mode of production.
Proletariat
The lowest social class, forced to sell their labor to the bourgeoisie due to lack of means of production.
Guild
An association of craft workshops with the same trade. Its function was to prevent competition by standardizing products and prices.
Manufactures
Large companies producing luxury items (e.g., weapons), subsidized by the state, supporting colonial trade and using labor-intensive production.
Mercantilism
A set of political and economic ideas developed in Europe during the 16th, 17th, and first half of the 18th centuries, marked by strong government intervention in the economy.
Protectionism
An economic policy restricting the entry of foreign products through tariffs and taxes to protect domestic industries.
Tariff
A tax paid on imported or exported goods.
Customs
A public office or institution at borders controlling the international flow of goods and collecting customs duties.
Property Related
Property ownership allowing economic benefit and jurisdiction, but not free sale.
Usufruct
The right to use and enjoy another’s property, while ownership remains with the original owner.
Internal Trade
Trade within a country’s borders, characterized by small surplus production and limited transportation.
Foreign Trade
The exchange of goods and services between two economic blocs or areas.
Colonial Trade
Developing from the 16th century, it stimulated the European economy by providing raw materials from colonies and markets for European manufactured goods.
Finance
The branch of economics studying the generation and management of funds by companies, individuals, or states to meet their objectives.
Demographics
The study of human populations, including their size, structure, evolution, and general characteristics, from a quantitative perspective.
Interventionism
Government action to regulate or replace the activity of other public or private entities.
“Domestic System”
An economic organization emerging in 16th-century Europe, involving commercial contacts between farmers and traders who provided work during periods of low agricultural activity.
Habeas Corpus
A legal institution guaranteeing individual freedom against arbitrary arrest and detention.
Deism
A religious philosophy deriving the existence and nature of God from reason and personal experience, rejecting organized religion and revealed gods, arguing that God is the creator of the world.