Medieval Economic Thought

There is no unanimity among writers, on the span of time covered by the middle ages which began with the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D. According to Dr. Ingram and others the period came to close in 1300 A.D. at which time economic thought and essential society features had reached their climax. But the transition to the medieval society was not complete by that time. Some modern writers, therefore, believe that the period should end with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 still others believe that the geographical discoveries of economic thought. Moreover, the contributions made by Gabriel Biel the last of the school-men, should not be ignored. Hence the period should end roughly in 1500. The middle ages cover a vast span of about one thousand years which is divided into two parts-1) from 476 to the 11th century known as the dark ages in which static or stagnant economy prevailed and 2) from the 12th to the 15th century – the period which witnessed commercial and economic progress. Feudalism, Before we proceed to discuss the economic thought of the scholastic s or the famous school-men, it is imperative for us to know the structure of society and the influence of the church which had a great impact on contemporary economic thought. The social structure of the medieval period was raised on the foundation of feudalism which appeared in the Western Europe in the course of the 9th century which divided the entire society into two classes- those of feudal Lords and tenants called serfs. Nobles or feudal lords owned large estates and the dependence of people on them made them small sovereigns. The king was not in a position to control them, hence for practical purposes they had become independent rulers and made their own laws. The landless and the poor came under their patronage and they granted their requests for tilling the soil. The relationship between feudal lords and serfs was of a permanent nature. The latter had to pay taxes mostly in kind to the former for tilling their land nor else to pay them in the form of manual labor on their fields. Feudal lords in turn granted them hereditary right of tillage; ensured protection against probable attacks by barbarians and guaranteed justice to them. Another feature of feudal economy was the development of towns and cities which played an important role in stimulating commercial activities. Great cities became strong trading centers during the 11th and 12th centuries. It must be remembered in this connection that crusades or holy wars greatly contributed to the development of communications which considerably helped in promoting trade and commerce and industries opening new markets some of which came to attain international importance, but the most important feature of feudal economy was the predominance of agriculture. Emergence of capitalism, during this period, barter economy was disrupted and money economy was firmly established which gave rise to the problem of modern capitalism. Production began to be carried on in an organized way and the wage system came to be adopted.