IMC 2026: Sessions
Session 347: Peasants, Producers, and Consumers, III: Assessing Peasant Engagement in Exchange in Medieval Economies before 1200
Monday 6 July 2026, 16:30-18:00
| Sponsor: | 'Patterns of Circulation and Exchange in the Early Medieval Economies of Northwestern Iberia' (PadEx - PID2023-146374NA-I00), Universidad de Salamanca |
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| Organiser: | Álvaro Carvajal Castro, Departamento de Historia Medieval, Moderna y Contemporánea, Universidad de Salamanca |
| Moderator/Chair: | Abel de Lorenzo Rodríguez, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela / University of Edinburgh |
| Paper 347-a | Sales on the Ground: Contexts for Land Purchases in Early Medieval Northern Iberia (Language: English) Index terms: Economics - Rural, Social History |
| Paper 347-b | Price, Value, and Circuits of Exchange in Early Medieval Portugal (Language: English) Index terms: Economics - Rural, Social History |
| Paper 347-c | The Villagers' Perspective: The Case of the Elaphiti Islands and Island Agency (Language: English) Index terms: Economics - Rural, Social History |
| Abstract | Studies on the participation of medieval peasants in exchange have tended to focus on their engagement in the market. Peasant access to the circulation of goods, however, was not restricted to commercial exchange. They could dispose of their surplus and obtain the things they needed – and wanted – through other means, at the local level and beyond. Having a broader picture of which those means were and how peasants related to them can help us gain a better understanding of the role of peasant demand as an economic force. Papers in this session will provide detailed analysis of the role of exchange in local societies, with a particular focus on the circulation of goods through land sales and the criteria and dynamics of valuation. |