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Important changes became apparent in the late thirteenth century that signal the late medieval economic crisis. Population had grown beyond the capacity of existing agricultural technology to feed it. The climate also began worsening at the turn of the fourteenth century, affecting food production. Population was declining in parts of Italy in the late thirteenth century, in the north shortly after 1300, particularly after the devastating famine of 1315 and the subsequent plagues. By 1330 all parts of western Europe had substantially lower populations than in 1270.

Signs of an overheated economy mounted. Interest rates at the Champagne fairs declined sharply after 1245. The large cities of Europe almost without exception experienced food shortages, which led in Italy to even stricter repression of the contado in order to extract more grain from the countryside. Violent conflicts after 1280 led to some broadening of the membership on town councils. By 1320 most city councils in the economically developed parts of Europe were chosen on the basis of guild affiliation; but, given that most nominally artisan guilds were dominated by merchants who furnished the raw materials of the trade to those who actually practised the craft, the result was something less than artisan control.

00:00 Context
03:02 The first phase of rural economic expansion: an agricultural revolution?
14:15 The towns and the development of a market economy
21:54 The expansion of the rural economy: the second phase
30:10 The coinage revolution
36:00 The commercial changes of the thirteenth century
55:24 The situation of Italy
01:01:05 Credit and banking
01:09:54 The fairs
01:15:18 The ‘commercial revolution’ of the late thirteenth century?

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