Economy and Society in the Modern Age: 16th-18th Centuries
Economy in the Modern Age
A few new innovations emerged, including:
- New plants taken from America
- In Western Europe, feudalism continued, characterized by non-economic working relations where lords forced farmers and knights to work for them, pay taxes, and obey them.
A manor was the type of land organization in feudalism. It was divided into a demesne, the area owned by the lord, and holdings, areas he controlled that were cultivated by the farmers.
The consequence of these innovations was that crops were related to cycles based on weather conditions, the amount of space cultivated, and demography. Better crops increased food and population, leading to the cultivation of new fields and increased production. This cycle continued until bad crops, epidemics, or decreasing yields caused production to decrease. Yield is the amount of crops produced in a field, taking into consideration the investments made to achieve it. During population growth, new lands were cultivated. “Breaking up” refers to preparing new fields for cultivation.
Economic Expansion in the 16th Century
Both the European population and agricultural production increased.
Economic Crisis in the 17th Century
The economy experienced a crisis in the 17th century due to a slowdown in agricultural production, decreasing yields, a minor climate change, and a decrease in population. Craft was also important, especially in cities organized into guilds (associations of all artisans producing the same product in a city). Guilds regulated work, organization, and prices. They produced profitable goods for the upper classes or armies for the King.
Two main novelties in craft included:
- The domestic system expanded in England and the Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries. Peasant families produced simple goods at home with materials provided by the company owner, who paid them for each piece produced.
- Absolute monarchs funded royal factories or manufactures as part of their mercantilist policies. These were large production facilities that used traditional methods and produced goods for the court, such as luxury or military products.
Trade Expansion
Trade expanded significantly during these centuries. Chartered companies were trading companies founded in the 16th and especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were stock companies, with ownership divided into stocks that could be sold. This expansion increased trade, especially in the Atlantic triangular trade, which connected Europe, Asia, and America in the 16th century. Europe controlled this trade, collecting all the profits from it.
This increase in trade helped to expand a banking system, a network of several European families like the Fuggers in France. Their activity was initially based on giving loans to noblemen or kings and later to traders.
Kings in the 17th century also realized how important trade was for their economies as they applied Mercantilism: a series of economic policies adopted by some kingdoms and republics. Colonies are settlements of people in an area far away from their original country. It is also an area controlled by a power located far from that territory.
Society in the Modern Age
People were born into an estamento or state, each one of the social groups during the Modern Age. These included the nobility, clergy, and the Third Estate.
Nobility
The nobility owned the majority of the land and maintained their power to tax and judge inhabitants within their manor. They had their own laws and courts and did not pay taxes to the king. During crises, they tried to protect their incomes by pushing peasants to pay more taxes. Nobles considered themselves part of a large family over time, with the objective of improving inheritance.
Clergy
The clergy was one of the major landowners and received money from people. In the Reformed countries, Church properties belonged to kings and noblemen. They behaved like any lord, making the Church very powerful. They depended on the Pope and kings for protection, so they had their own laws and courts and did not pay taxes to the king. The clergy was diverse, with a high clergy that controlled large territories and had significant power, and a low clergy that was poor but better trained than in the Middle Ages. The regular clergy was also important, consisting of monks and nuns who were part of a religious order, like the Benedictines. Jesuits were members of the order founded by Ignacio de Loyola, called the Society of Jesus. Their objective was to save the souls of the entire population.
Third Estate
The Third Estate was composed of all the people under the common law of the king. They paid taxes to the king and were judged according to the king’s laws. The richest members tried to join the other two groups.
Rise of the Bourgeoisie
In the 17th century, chartered companies and craft enriched a small part of this state, laying the foundations for the bourgeoisie, a social group made up of rich commoners, especially those connected with trade and production. They promoted the liberal revolutions of the 19th century that abolished the last remains of feudalism. Most commoners tried just to survive and make ends meet, while others sought to increase their wealth and become part of the nobility.