Early Growth of the European Economy - (World Economic History Series) by Georges Duby (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The techniques and insights of modern social science are applied to early medieval history in this extraordinary work. Professor Duby offers a chronological account of the European economy from its primitive beginnings, through a period when an extensive trading community developed, to an era when circulation of money and urban growth came to overshadow agricultural activities. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the history of the countryside, particularly the French countryside, he has authoritatively identified the moving forces behind economic behavior and economic growth in the early Middle Ages.

Review Quotes

This is a splendid book and confirms Georges Duby's standing as one of the best writers of historical synthesis among medievalists today. Few contemporary scholars have shown as much ability both to carry out detailed original research and to generalize about the findings of others.

This... important single-volume survey of European economic history during the formative medieval centuries... belongs in the great French scholarly tradition initiated by Marc Bloch. Not only does this sensitive and complex analysis of economic and social life from the seventh through the twelfth century introduce the reader to a sequence of fascinating problems, but also it allows him to come to appreciate the inner workings of Duby's mind.... This book offers a detailed description of the changing character of agrarian life leading up to the 'take-off' of the 12th and 13th centuries. Leading aspects of the technology, the landscape, the demography, the diet, the climate, etc., are placed against the backdrop of emerging mental attitudes pertaining to money, burial customs, marriage, etc. Duby possesses the talent to translate socioeconomic detail into the stuff of everyday life.

About the Author

Georges Duby holds the chair in the Social History of the Middle Ages at the Collège de France.