Questions and Outline

__________~E_ =.======~--~~~, ______________________ __ Advanced Placement' Instructor's Manual Questions and Outline 1. How did Europe become a predominantly commercial society? a. Three factors led to the transformation of the European economy from predominantly land-based to commercia: the increase in international grade, sustained population growth, and a gradual rise in prices. b. The Commercial Revolution is best used to describe a very slow process beginning in the fourteenth century and lasting until the Industrial Revolution of the early nineteenth century, a long transition from town-based to nation-based commerce and a capitalistic economy. c. Population grew substantially throughout Europe in the sixteenth century, largely in the rural areas. France had the largest popUlation at that point, four times that of England and London. Paris, Antwerp, Lisbon, and Seville were the largest cities. This encouraged the Commercial Revolution because there were more customers. d. Slow and steady inflation, often called the "price revolution," developed as rising population increased demand for foodstuffs and imports of silver from the New World, combined with royal debasing of currency, raised the volume of money. Wages rose less than did rents and prices. This encouraged the Commercial Revolution in providing increased revenue for producers and traders and reduced costs for credit. 2. What was the impact on economic life and society of this economic transformation? a. The guild system could not make the transition to the commercial world economy because of its inability to produce on speculation for long-distance trade or to accumulate substantial capital. New type of entrepreneurs, such as the Medici of Florence or the Fuggers of Augsburg, prospered. The Fuggers began as cloth merchants, began to trade Asian goods and invest in mines, and became bankers to the Habsburgs, financing both royal ambitions and Portuguese trade. b. In towns, production shifted from guilds with their restrictions and limitations to the "putting out," also called the domestic system or cottage industry, where the entrepreneurs provided the tools of production but kept ownerships, (looms, e.g.), supplied the materials, and controlled the process. (See page 112 for an illustration.) England developed a substantial cloth production economy this way, gendering production with women as spinners and men as weavers. The system created a new division between capital and labor, primarily a cash nexus, encouraging the growth of large-scale"clothiers" at the expense of the master guildsmen. c. New industries flourished, such as mining, printing, the international book trade, shipbuilding, and arms manufacture; the latter two particularly encouraged by the state. Military demands for weapons, clothes for uniforms, and other supplies were a major prompt to the development of capitalism. d. International trade in newer bulk items like tea, coffee, sugar, and rice, as well as in more traditional items like grains, grew substantially. e. New banking practices increased economic activity. The charging of interest, in spite of the fulminations against it by both Protestants and Catholics and the establishment of national banks like the Bank of Amsterdam, encouraged the commercialization of industry. 52 ~----------~-----.- Chapter 3: Economic Renewal and Wars of Religion f. Commercial capitalism became the predominant form of economic life until 1800 or so, when the Industrial Revolution began. Merchants became the dynamic class. 3. What were the characteristics of mercantilism, and why did many governments adopt it? a. The concept of buillionism put an emphasis on inflow of gold and silver into the nation, with the aim of self-sufficiency. Demand for precious metals increased as their value dropped. b. One means to achieve the goal was putting the poor to work and discouraging vagabondage and penury by giving subsidies to merchants who provided work for the poor. The Poor Law of 1601 was in effect more or less unchanged until 1834. c. The goal was a favorable balance of trade by encouraging exports and reducing imports of raw materials. d. Guild restrictions were seen as hindrances to economic development. The Parliament in England and the royal government in France began to regulate apprenticeships and wages, thereby usurping traditional guild authority. Governments also encouraged merchants to go outside of the guild system for production or the sale of goods. e. The government was deeply involved in the economy to achieve these goals, a parallel development to the expansion of government powers by the New Monarchs. They introduced new industries (e.g,. silk manufacturing in France), encouraged production (e.g., of finished woolen cloth in England by importing of skilled weavers from Flanders), passed laws forbidding the emigration of skilled workers, negotiated treaties for trade, and established a national tariff system with protectionist tariffs to keep out foreign goods. Only England was able to get rid of local tariffs. Governments also supported the great merchants on a national, not local, scale; such support was crucial for their success. f. National governments established East Indian Companies for exclusive trade with important colonies: England in 1600, the Dutch in 1602, and France in 1664. SECTION 13: CHANGING SOCIAL STRUCTURES Note: This section deals with societal changes within the most important transformation of the pre-industrial area, setting the stage for the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Ameri can students are often vague about class issues; while they certainly know the differences among rich, middle class, and poor, they often have difficulties with the subtleties of class is sues. Because of the importance of the transformations of the social structures in this period, it is worth it to go slowly to make sure students are clear on the different classes. People: (none) Terms: yeomanry, bourgeoisie, gentry, English Poor Law, colleges in France, hidalgos, robot Student Activities/Discussion Topics 1. Define social structure as a concept, then, try to define it for contemporary America. 2. Discuss the social class of a teacher, a computer "techie," or a small shopkeeper. 53 j J ~----------~-~- • Advanced Placement' Instructor's Manual Questions and Outline 1. How did the changes of the Commercial Revolution have lasting impact on the social structure of Europe? a. Agricultural prices rose, benefiting small leaseholders paying pre-price revolution rents, long established by tradition. They developed into a new class called yeomanry. Rising food prices worsened the conditions of wage earners, whose poverty increased, leading to a reduction in the egalitarian nature of medieval villages. As land rents went up, so did urban housing rents, due to increased population and inflation. This benefited the owners of real estate, but made it difficult for the landed aristocracy living on fixed rents. It became better to receive rent in kind to be sold at a profit. b. The feudal class was transformed into the modern, heterogeneous, aristocracy, ranging from small gentry to great lords, some in government, military, or church service, others impoverished. That many lords were of recent origins made ancestry a mark of prestige. c. The middle classes, or bourgeoisie (French term for town dweller) and burgher (English), were in between the aristocracy and the working or idle poor. The term, middle classes, was fluid and defined differently in various countries. Often forming urban patriciates and including governmental and professional lawyers and doctors as well as merchants and manufacturers, they married into aristocratic families who often moved into towns and engaged in capitalistic activities, as the bourgeois themselves moved to the countryside. The Commercial Revolution increased the size and importance of the bourgeoisie. d. The clergy came from all classes, with noblemen tending to become bishops and abbots. Clergy of middle-class origin were particularly important in Protestant countries. e. The working poor was the largest class in any European society and included both unskilled and skilled laborers. Many were illiterate. In the seventeenth century, increasing disapproval of begging led to the development of government organized charitable relief. f. Women were most likely to work as domestic servants. g. Generally speaking, the poor were worse off in the sixteenth century, as wages lagged behind prices. h. Government economic and political practices either hindered (Spain) or helped (England) the growth of capitalism and of merchant classes. The middle classes in France often held government offices. Winning a title, gaining the accompanying tax exemptions, and attending at court, all became prestige markers. 2. How was the educational system in Europe transformed in the sixteenth century? a. Education became more important in sixteenth century, partially as a consequence of the Reformation and partially because the growth of commerce increased the need for lawyers, educated clergy, and so on. Large numbers of privately endowed schools were created in England and France in late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Grammar schools were established in England, colleges in France. The Ursuline Order established schools for girls. b. New universities in Germany (founded by both Catholics and Protestants), Holland, Switzerland, and particularly Spain (which went from 2 to 20 universities by the early seventeenth century) were

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