The Commercial Revolution and the Revival of Church Building in Europe The patrimony of the church:accumulation of land and houses over the centuries Mortmain = Ecclesiastical property cannot be sold or alienated Properties belonging to the abbey of St.-Denis The Commercial Revolution – Robert Lopez, 1971 the High Middle Ages Roman Empire Population: England in 1086: 1,100,000 c. 1346: 3,700,000 Florence: c. 1300 120,000 by 1427 this declines to 36.909 Siena, 52,000 Pisa, 40,000; by 1315 up to 50,000, but by ca. 1350 declines to 8000, in 1427 is 7, 106 Perugia, 28,000; Arezzo, 20,000; Asissi, 1232, 12,397 most Italian cities did not recoup their pre-plague pop until late 19th century New developments in agriculture Changes in diet: legumes in addition to grains – more protein= greater fertility and longevity The heavy plow for heavy northern soils; also: 1. Crop rotation 2. The horse collar 3. The horseshoe 4. Horses instead of oxen 5. Land clearance The horse collar, stirrups, and rotating axle The Bayeux Tapestry: a Norman warrior riding with stirrups At the same time, the increasing monetization of the medieval economy - in effect the origins of the modern commercial economy in which merchants became immensely wealthy But wealth was complicated in the medieval church: 1. trade looked down upon 2. money lending/borrowing for interest a sin The importance of Islam in establishing a model of effective long-distance trade A Roman road in S. Italy (Apulia) – still an essential network in the Middle Ages Islam believed that the good, honest merchant was a valuable member of society; that trade was essential for well-being Medieval trade by the High Middle Ages The annual fair as an essential form of trade and exchange Krakow, the market square and the cloth hall Also rivers: The Rhone The Rhine The Vistula The Po Technology: lifting wheels, waterwheels, windmills fulling Jacques Le Goff: The Birth of Purgatory double entry bookeeping ---------- The fate of the soul after Death mediated by the church Intercessory prayer Commemorative masses Salvation becomes a commodity Italian City-States and their Cathedrals, starting early 11th century Modena Cathedral Parma Cathedral Parma Cathedral tower cathedral baptistery Pisa: the Cathedral Complex Florence, the Baptistery and the Cathedral Ferrara: the Loggia of the Mercanti (merchant’s lodge) Lay patronage Aquileia: the Early Christian Cathedral The pavement of Aquileia Cathedral Donor from Aquileia The new “incentive system” for pious donations: the doctrine of PURGATORY Jacques Le Goff: The Birth of Purgatory (double entry bookeeping invented by Fibonacci, in Pisa, early 13th century? ) The fate of the soul after death as mediated by the church Intercessory prayer Commemorative masses Salvation becomes a commodity .