These great waves were punctuated by periods of a different nature—when prices fell a little, then found an equilibrium and fluctuated on a fixed plane. One such era, which might be called the equilibrium of the twelfth century, coincided with the climax of medieval civilization. Another could be named the equilibrium of the Renaissance (ca. 1400–1480). A third may be thought of as the equilibrium of the Enlightenment (1660–1730). The fourth might be remembered as the Victorian equilibrium, for it coincided with the life of Queen Victoria herself. All of these periods of equilibrium were
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