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IMC 2010: Sessions

Session 529: Economic and Military History in Later Middle Ages Europe, I: Urban Economies of Warfare

Tuesday 13 July 2010, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:Michael Jucker, Historisches Seminar, Universität Luzern
Moderator/Chair:Chris Given-Wilson, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Paper 529-aMilitary Equipment and Urban Economy: Cities of Flanders in the Burgundian Low Countries (15th Century)
(Language: English)
Peter Stabel, Centrum voor Stadsgeschiedenis, Universiteit Antwerpen
Index terms: Economics - General, Economics - Urban, Military History, Social History
Paper 529-bFinancing War: Florentine Bankers and the Wars of the French Kings Louis XII and Francois I
(Language: English)
Heinrich Lang, Department of Early Modern History, Otto-Friedrichs-Universität Bamberg
Index terms: Economics - General, Military History, Social History
Abstract

Classical and more recent studies state the fact that economic developments and political / military incidents are closely interrelated. Surprisingly, very little research has been done on this intersection so far, which has put a tight limit on chances for dialogue and collaboration between the two disciplines. This is partly due to the low number of sources allowing direct insights into areas where war and economy overlap, as, for instance, books of the treasuries would. Therefore, many studies remain impressionistic or tend to focus on cultural aspects.
Another way to address these connections, however, depends on the perspectives we take at the history of merchant companies, military evolution, and actors who participated in war and economy.
The aim of this section is to present basic aspects of the entanglement of military and economic evolution in later Middle Ages. War and political developments had serious impacts on demographics (loss of lives, epidemics, famines, migration), trade (loss of goods, blocked trade routes), capital (devaluation, shrinking capital stocks and assets), and fiscal systems (tax burdens, regionally and socially biased distributions).