Rural wage labour in the sixteenth-century Low Countries: an assessment of the importance and nature of wage labour in the countryside of Holland, Guelders and Flanders

Bavel, Bas van

doi:10.1017/s0268416005005631

Cited by 18 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In the late sixteenth century, 60 to 70 percent of the population of Andalusia and New Castile consisted of jornaleros , day labourers, 40 i.e. an even higher percentage than in Holland, 41 while the agrarian structures in the two areas had nothing at all in common.…”

Section: Comparisons: Wage Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring ideas about work and workers in pre-industrial Europe and other parts of the world. A reply from the authors of Worthy Effforts

Lis¹,

Soly²

2014

Tijdschrift Voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis/ the Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History

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In the reviews of Worthy Eff orts , the book is seen in relation to some of the major debates in historiography. How should ancient European society be characterized? Classical Antiquity and the medieval West: continuity or change? How important was the interaction between religious and secular worlds in medieval society? What was the role of labour in the Great Divergence? In what respects did pre-industrial Europe diff er from other parts of the world? The reviewers note gaps in our present knowledge, warn against overly structured points of view, and question some of our statements and hypotheses. They also make clear that still other views were expressed about work in medieval and early modern Europe, and that global comparisons are absolutely necessary.

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Section: Comparisons: Wage Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring ideas about work and workers in pre-industrial Europe and other parts of the world. A reply from the authors of Worthy Effforts

Lis¹,

Soly²

2014

Tijdschrift Voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis/ the Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History

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“…Many farmers owned their land, although land ownership by urban citizens and institutions was also increasing rapidly in these years. People had substantial trust in markets: a large share of the population (30 to 50 per cent, according to different estimates) was (partly) dependent on wage labour ( Van Bavel, 2006), and thus relied for a very large part of their livelihood on the market, not only for income, but also for expenditures. The staple foods, rye and wheat, were imported from the Baltic, and therefore also bought on the market; most farmers specialized in livestock products such as butter, cheese, and meat.…”

Section: How Well Were Property Rights Protected?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Small is beautiful: the efficiency of credit markets in the late medieval Holland

Zanden

Zuijderduijn

Moor

2012

European Review of Economic History

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In this paper we analyse the functioning of private capital markets in Holland in the late medieval period. We argue that in the absence of banks and state agencies involved with the supply of credit, entrepreneurs access to credit was determined by two interrelated factors. The first was the quality of property rights protection and the extent to which property could be used as collateral. The second was the level of interest in borrowing money at the time, as well as such borrowing compared with the interest rates on risk-free investments. For our case study, the small town of Edam, and its hinterland, De Zeevang, in the fifteenth and sixteenthcentury, we demonstrate that properties were used as collateral on a large scale, and that interest rates on both small and large loans were relatively low (about six per cent). As a result, many households (whether headed by men or women) owned financial assets and/or debts, and the degree of financial sophistication was relatively high.

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“…5 With respect to the labour market, about half of the labour performed in the countryside in sixteenth-century Holland consisted of wage labour. 6 The start of these developments can be dated back even further. The second half of the fourteenth century, in particular, witnessed massive urbanisation and a rise of the secondary and tertiary sectors, labelled the 'jumpstart ' of Holland's economy.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The organisation of markets as a key factor in the rise of Holland from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century: a test case for an institutional approach

et al. 2012

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Although the importance of New Institutional Economics and the institutional approach for understanding pre-industrial economic development and the early growth of markets are widely accepted, it has proven to be difficult to assess more directly the effects of institutions on the functioning of markets. This paper uses empirical research on the rise of markets in late medieval Holland to illuminate some of the factors behind the development of the specific institutional framework of markets for land, labour, capital and goods, and some effects of these institutions on the actual functioning of the markets. The findings are corroborated by a tentative comparison with the functioning of markets in Flanders and eastern England.

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Rural wage labour in the sixteenth-century Low Countries: an assessment of the importance and nature of wage labour in the countryside of Holland, Guelders and Flanders

Cited by 18 publications

References 5 publications

Exploring ideas about work and workers in pre-industrial Europe and other parts of the world. A reply from the authors of Worthy Effforts

Exploring ideas about work and workers in pre-industrial Europe and other parts of the world. A reply from the authors of Worthy Effforts

Small is beautiful: the efficiency of credit markets in the late medieval Holland

The organisation of markets as a key factor in the rise of Holland from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century: a test case for an institutional approach

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