European History in Perspective General Editor: Jeremy Black Published Benjamin Arnold Medieval Germany Ronald Asch The Thirty Years' War Christopher Bartlett Peace, War and the European Powers, 1814-1914 Robert Bireley The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450-1700 Mark Galeotti Gorbachev and his Revolution Martin Johnson The DreyfUs Affair Peter Musgrave The Early Modern European Economy J. L. Price The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century A. W. Purdue The Second World War Francisco J. Romero-Salvado Twentieth-Century Spain Brendan Simms The Struggle for Mastery in Germany, 1779-1850 David Sturdy Louis XIV Peter Waldron The End of Imperial Russia, 1855-1917 Forthcoming Nigel Aston The French Revolution Nigel Aston Frederick the Great N. J. Atkin The Fifth French Republic Ross Balzaretti Medieval Italy: A Cultural History Donna Bohanan Crown and Nobility in Early Modern France Robin Brown Warfare in Twentieth-Century Europe Patricia Clavin The Great Depression, 1929-39 Geoff.Cubitt Politics in France, 1814-1876 John Foot The Creation of Modern Ital_v Alexander Grab Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe 0. P. Grell The European Reformation Nicholas Henshall The Zenith of Absolute Monarchv, 1650-1750 Colin Imber The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1481 Brian Jenkins European Nationalism Trevor Johnston International Relations in Europe, 1492-1715 Timothy Kirk Nazi Germany Peter Linehan Medieval Spain, 589-1492 Marisa Linton The Causes of the French Revolution Simon Lloyd The Crusading Movement William S. Maltby The Reign of Charles V David Moon Peter the Great's Russia Kevin Passmore The French Third Republic, 1870-1940 Roger Price 1848: A Year of Revolution Maria Quine A Social History of Fascist Italy Martyn Rady The Habsburg Monarchy, 1848-1918 Richard Sakwa Twentieth-Century Russia (List continues overleaf)
Thomas J. Schaeper The Enlightenment Tim Rees Rethinking Modem Europe: A Rural Perspective, 1750-2000 Graeme Small Later Medieval France Hunt Tooley The Western Front Peter G. Wallace The Long European Reformation Patrick Williams Philip II Peter Wilson From Reich to Revolution: Germany, 1600-1806 European History in Perspective Series Standing Order ISBN 0-333-71694-9 hardcover ISBN 0-333-69336-1 paperback (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in the case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG2l 6XS, England
THE EARLY MODERN EUROPEAN ECONOMY Peter Musgrave Lecturer in Economic and Social History University of Leicester
Peter Musgrave 1999 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 1999 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-0-333-66542-8 ISBN 978-1-349-27535-9 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-27535-9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 08 07 06 05 6 5 04 03 4 3 02 01 2 1 00 99 Published in the United States of America 1999 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-22331-1 hardcover ISBN 978-0-312-22332-8 paperback
CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgements VI Introduction 1 Development and Change 13 2 Stratagems and Spoils 33 3 The Rise of a Consumer Society 59 4 The Role of the State 86 5 The Prosperity of the South 112 6 The Prosperity of the North 138 7 Europe's Place in the World 162 Conclusion 197 Notes 207 Select Bibliography 219 Index 227
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is as well to begin by stating clearly what this book is not; it does not, on the one hand, make any claim to be an extensive or comprehensive 'Economic History of Early Modern Europe', covering in detail the development of all major sectors of the economy, nor the development of every region of Europe. Such a book, which would be very useful, but also very difficult to write, would be much larger in scale than this and would also involve a much greater level of qualification to the main thrust of the argument than this book permits itself. On the other hand it is not a contribution to what might be called the 'Debates in... ' type of history. Although I have relied extensively on the work of other historians, my concern has not been to debate the detail of their work, nor yet to discuss the ways in which their work complements or contradicts the work of others. Rather I have operated on the principle that behind many of the more modern studies of aspects of the early modern period there lies a developing pattern of broader interpretation which is sharply distinct from the earlier underlying assumptions. What I have attempted to do in this book is to express and formulate that underlying pattern. I am very conscious that in doing so I may have either falsified or distorted the assumptions of other authors; to them, in advance, I apologise. A book such as this cannot be written without the help, assistance and support of others; in identifying a few people to list here, I am very conscious that they are only a small proportion of the very large number of colleagues and friends who have helped with the development of the ideas I express here. It is to my colleagues at Leicester that I am most indebted. Derek Aldcroft, Huw Bowen, Peter Clark, Philip Cottrell, Peter Fearon, Francesco Galassi, Paul Griffiths and Charles Phythian Adams have all endured listening to me on the topics developed here, not only during the writing of the book but previously. In a sense, Vl
Preface and Acknowledgements Vll the true originator of this book was the late Ralph Davis, who taught me the importance of looking behind the surface of detailed studies to the theoretical assumptions which lie behind them all; Ralph would have hated this book and its theoretical approach, but without his encouragement of a particular approach, it would never have been written. Ralph's insistence on seeing the events of economic history within a broader conceptual framework chimed closely with the insistence of my earliest university teachers, in particular Jack Plumb and Simon Schama, that the historian must always relate the events he or she is studying to a wider intellectual and conceptual framework. My Heads of Department at Leicester, Derek Aldcroft, Huw Bowen and Peter Fearon, have helped immeasurably in the production of this book, not merely by their encouragement but also by making it possible for me to find time in a busy teaching and administrative programme to do the reading which the preparation of the book required and also to write it. I am pleased to acknowledge the support of the Staffing Committee of the University of Leicester which has granted me study leave. Gillian Austen and Lynne Haynes have performed miracles with my ham-fisted word processing. The final, but most important thanks must, however, go to my wife, Sheena, who has been ever-patient and supportive throughout all the difficulties of this long process. She has been my greatest supporter and my greatest and most constructive critic and I owe her a great deal. In the end, the ideas and interpretations expressed in the following pages are my own and I take full responsibility for them. Peter Musgrave