HIST 207 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Harvest
24 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Landscapes and victuals (from end of middle ages) 18th c. most euro"s lived in rural settlements of less than 5k inhabitants. Prominent european products incl: (in the north) barley, wheat (south) olives, grapes. European ate less meat in the 17th century. Agriculture = central to everyday concerns of most euro families. All men, women and children were involved at various levels of agrarian economy. Produced food for either their own households or sold at market. Harvest = central to economy, harvest was dependent upon weather. 20 acre holding expected to feed family of 5. Many farmers dependent on selling goods/labour services to their landlords to keep their homes. Period of high prices caused by either harvest failure or by market inefficiency were common (until agricultural rev. ) there was a fear of malnutrition.
