The Carolingian Economy

Description

This book is about the economy of the Carolingian empire (753-877), which extended from the Pyrenees and the northern shores of the Mediterranean to the North Sea, and from the Atlantic coast to the Elbe and Saale rivers. It is the first comprehensive evaluation of the topic in English in over twenty years. The study of the Carolingian empire as an economic rather than a political entity can be justified both because of the major interference of political authority in the economy, and because of the distinctive economic characteristic of growth; and while some regions within the empire had a much more developed economy than others, the whole period is basically one of economic expansion, in parallel with the cultural upheaval of the 'Carolingian Renaissance'.

Adriaan Verhulst was Ordinary Professor of Medieval Economic History, University of Ghent, 1966-1995 (now Emeritus). His book The Rise of Cities in North-West Europe was published by Cambridge University Press in 1999.

'The Carolingian Economy is an extremely useful compendium, orderly and deft in its presentation of a remote period's economics ...Verhulst furnishes a concise and judicious synthesis, full of information and insight, that is actually fun to read.' EH.NET '... useful and accessible ... model of synthesis ... As a textbook it is presently without rival and well worthy of the best work if its dedicatee.' The Agricultural History Review 'In this significant and very useful book, Verhulst presents us with a coherent and 'believable' image of the Carolingian economy.' Early Medieval Europe