The Carolingian Economy

This book is a comprehensive evaluation of the economy of the Carolingian empire (753–877).

Adriaan Verhulst (Author)

9780521004749, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 October 2002

174 pages
21.7 x 14 x 1.4 cm, 0.249 kg

'In this significant and very useful book, Verhulst presents us with a coherent and 'believable' image of the Carolingian economy.' Early Medieval Europe

This book is about the economy of the Carolingian empire (753–877), which extended from the Pyrenees and the northern shores of the Mediterranean to the North Sea, and from the Atlantic coast to the Elbe and Saale rivers. It is the first comprehensive evaluation of the topic in English in over twenty years. The study of the Carolingian empire as an economic rather than a political entity can be justified both because of the major interference of political authority in the economy, and because of the distinctive economic characteristic of growth; and while some regions within the empire had a much more developed economy than others, the whole period is basically one of economic expansion, in parallel with the cultural upheaval of the 'Carolingian Renaissance'.

Introduction
Part I. Land and People: 1. Landscape and settlement
2. Demography
3. Agricultural production
Part II. Production: 4. Agricultural technique
5. Craft and industrial practice
Part III. Commerce: 6. Organisation
7. Directions of trade
8. Money and price movements
Part IV. The Dynamics of Carolingian Economy: 9. The economy and the state
10. The long perspective
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]