HIS109Y1 Lecture 5: HIS109Y September Lecture 5
Document Summary
It was a system born out of chaos, the disintegration of the centrally-administered roman. We talked about all those things except food. The thing to note about the early middle ages is it was continuously chaotic. For a period of three centuries, the population of europe declined dramatically. Roman imperial system meant nobody was maintaining roads or harbours. If you don"t get enough to eat, the fertility rate falls. Up until the 8th or 9th century, there was a dramatic decline in the total population. This meant agriculture could exist on a subsistence basis. Agriculture of the continent of europe was sustained on a primitive level. It was enough to feed the declining population, but not enough to let the population grow. In the 8th and 9th century, it was recognized that you could divide your state into three. An active crop on one, fallow on another, and the third could grow a crop for grazing.
