Essay - Economics Emergence of the Modern Industrial Economy Origins in the...

Economics

***** of the Modern Industrial Economy

Origins in ***** British Manorial System

*****

Economic systems tend to reflect the societies of which *****y are a part. The medieval world was one ***** extreme localism and considerable division of power. Local lords dominated everyday life. The lord of the manor controlled, in ***** way or another, almost every aspect ***** the lives of ordinary men and women. Across much of Western Europe, the manor provided a fr*****mework for social ***** economic interaction. ***** manor was, in effect, a mini*****ture state within a *****. The centr*****l authority had lost power and influence through the delegation or seizure of responsibility. Local ***** regional magnates usurped the prerogatives of kings. The ***** was self-sufficient - a unit ***** agrarian production that provided for virtually all of ***** basic needs of its residents. Manned largely by unfree labor, it fulfilled many of the functions ***** would *****day be filled by the marketplace. Such manufacturing as took place occurred within ***** territorial limits. Only commodities were usu*****y traded from one manor to another, or across the continent. Yet, England ***** an unusual case. ***** Anglo*****Saxon realm was well on its ***** to become a nation ***** great estates, after the continental model, when it ***** suddenly overwhelmed by the *****ces of William the Conqueror. William's Norm*****s displaced the native ***** as the new parceled out ***** among his followers. The system that was created was different ***** that known in most of the West - the king was established as supreme overlord. The new English Kingdom represented a reasonably orderly hierarchy that was well designed to meet the ***** of political domination and economic exploitation.

In post*****Conquest Engl*****, the King was ultimate overlord. Manors formed the bottom rung of an ***** economy. Groups ***** ********** joined together formed the baronies and counties - later earldoms ***** that comprised ***** English state. Manors were staffed by a population of serfs; men ***** women who ***** bound to the soil. Serfs received housing and certain rights in ***** fields and other resources, ***** exchange for military protection and a complex series of dues. The entire system ***** b*****sed on a web of interpersonal relationships and feudal oaths ***** obligations. The new arrangements quickly became customary. Little was done in the world of the High Middle Ages that did not depend on tradition. In its ideal form, life went on like clockwork. The lord of ***** manor ***** both business manager and source of justice for his serfs, and also ***** those free pers*****s who happened to leave within the bounds of ***** manor. The manorial system encouraged exploitation, but did little to foster innovation. These essential conditions for industrialization existed only in germ form. The agrarian enterprises ***** the manor, ***** with its ***** for exploiting the resources of field and *****est, ***** develop only later into ***** source of Engl*****'s industrial might. Conditions would need to change. Sweeping ***** laws would need to transform the countryside,