For 500 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D., a period known as the early Middle Ages, Europe endured an age of political instability, economic decline, and reduced population. But as the millennium approached, the situation began to improve. Toward the end of the tenth century, an increase in the amount of crop-producing land was accompanied by an increase in population, with the potential for that number to rise even higher. The increase in agricultural production came about as a result of a combination of factors, the most prominent of which were changing methods of field management and improvements in agricultural technology.


For much of the early Middle Ages, peasants continued the Roman practice of dividing their fields in two leaving one fallow, or uncultivated, for a year, and planting their crops in the other half. Fallow land restored its nutrients, but the practice meant that half the land produced nothing every year. In southern Europe with its drier climate this system of two-field crop rotation continued, but in northern Europe, peasants improved on this system by dividing their land into three parts. One they left fallow, another they planted in the spring, and the third they planted with winter crops. This three-field crop rotation, dependent on more rainfall than southern Europe received, meant that two-thirds instead of one-half of a peasant's land was under production in one year.


Related to the changes in crop rotation were improvements in plows and animal harnessing.More land under cultivation spurred experimentation in the construction of plows.Peasants attached wheels to their plows,which made it easier for oxen to pullthem through the heavier wetter soil of northern Europe, and made it possible for a plow to move more quickly down a row provided it had a speedy animal pulling it.



Oxen are slow and unintelligent compared to horses, but peasants could not use horses to pull plows until they devised a different kind of harnessing than the strap that circled an ox's neck.With a harness resting on its shoulders instead of its neck, a horse could be used to plow, and horses could walk more quickly and work longer hours than oxen.They also required less guidance, since they understood verbal signals to turn or to stop.Heavier, wheeled plows pulled by suitably harnessed horses meant that peasants could work more land in a day than ever before. Whether an increase in population across western Europe, but particularly in the north, stimulated innovations or whether such innovations contributed to a rise in population, the cumulative effect of these changes in agriculture was apparent in the tenth century. Conditions in Europe were ripe for an economic and cultural upswing.


Even before trade with the eastern Mediterranean increased starting in the twelfth century, trade and towns were on the rise. Travel was still dangerous, but merchants were willing to risk transporting goods over long distances. By the late thirteenth century, a few merchants from Italy had even reached China. Greater surpluses in crops meant people had more to sell at market. More people and goods led to regularly held markets in the most populated location in a region. It would be impossible to say whether trade gave rise to towns or vice versa. What is clear is that each fostered the other in conditions of greater social stability.


Travel on trade routes increased, and some towns sprang up to provide rest and refreshment to traders. The distance between towns often corresponded to the distance that traders could cover in a day. Merchants kept their eyes open for customers with money to spend. The residences of kings, nobles, and powerful officials became sites of markets for local and long-distance traders. In Champagne, in northeastern France, six large annual markets attracted merchants from all over Europe in the twelfth century. Their different currencies prompted the first development of banking techniques. With the use of coins now the norm, money changers daily posted changing exchange rates so that merchants would know the worth of their coins in relation to the worth of other merchants' coins. By 1300, trade had transformed life for the better throughout western Europe.

自公元前476年西罗马帝国灭亡的500年后，便是中世纪时期，此间是欧洲政治动荡、经济衰退和人口减少的时代。但随着1000年的临近，形势开始好转。到十世纪底，农作物生产用地的增加伴随着人口增加，这个数字的增长潜力甚至更高。农业生产量的增加是多种因素综合作用的结果，其中最显著的因素是田间管理方法的改变和农业技术的改进。 在中世纪早期的大部分时间里，农民们继续罗马时期的实践，把土地分成两部分，每年留出一半休耕地，而在另一半土地上耕种。休耕地恢复了它的营养，但这种做法意味着每年有一半土地没有产出。在欧洲南部，气候较干燥，这种两地作物轮作的制度仍在继续，但在北欧，农民通过将土地分成三部分来改善这一制度。三分之一是休耕地，三分之一用于春天播种，另外的三分之一则用于播种冬季作物。这种三地作物轮作的制度，相比起欧洲南部而言，依赖于更多的降雨，这意味着一年内有三分之二而不是一半的农民的土地是在生产状态下的。 与作物轮作的变化有关的是犁的改良和对动物的利用，更多的耕地促使了犁的耕种试验，农民把轮子装在犁上，使牛更容易穿过北欧的潮湿的土壤。这样，只要有一只快速的动物拉着，犁就有可能更快地成排移动。 牛与马相比是迟缓且愚钝的，但是农民不能用马来拉犁，直到他们设计出一种不同于将带子圈在牛脖子上的方法。将一根挽具放在马的肩上而不是在脖子上，一匹马可以用来犁地，而且马可以走得更快，工作时间比牛还长。他们需要的指导更少，因为他们懂得转弯或停止的语言信号。重型轮式犁由适合驯养的马拉动，这意味着比起以前农民可以在一天内耕作更多地土地。无论是西欧人口，尤其是北方人口的增加，是否刺激了创新，亦或是这些创新是否有助于人口的增加，这些在农业中的变化的累积效应在十世纪来是显而易见的。欧洲的经济和文化繁荣的条件已经成熟。 甚至在十二世纪与地中海东部的贸易在开始增加之前，贸易和城镇蓬勃发展。旅行依旧很危险，但商人们愿意冒长途运输货物的风险。到十三世纪后期，意大利的一些商人甚至已经到达了中国。农作物更多的盈余意味着人们有更多可以在市场上出售。在一个地区人口最多的地方，更多的人和货物引起了定期开展集市的需要。不可能说是贸易促进了城镇的发展还是反之。但显而易见的是，在社会稳定的条件下，贸易和城镇都促进了对方的发展。 贸易路线上的旅行增多了，一些城镇开始涌现，为商人提供休息和饮食。城镇之间的距离通常对应了贸易者一天内可以进行交易的距离。商人们提起精神发掘客户。国王、贵族和有权势的官员的住所成为当地人和长途交易商的交易场所。在法国东北部的香槟市，十二世纪时有六大市场每年都吸引了来自欧洲各地的商人。他们不同的货币促成了银行技术的第一次发展。现在随着硬币的使用成为惯例，货币兑换商每天公布汇率变化，使商人知道他们的货币的价值相对于其他商人货币的价值。到1300年，贸易改变了整个西欧的生活。