The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History

by David Hackett Fischer

Even so, this great inflation of the medieval era was great because it was general throughout the Western world, and because it continued for a very long time. It happened in England, France, Italy, Germany, Iberia, and every other part of Europe where prices have been studied.10 Throughout that broad region, its impact was not perfectly uniform. The pace of inflation was comparatively rapid in the north of Italy, moderate in England and France, and slowest in eastern and northern Europe; but no part of the Western world is known to have escaped it.11 Why did medieval prices go up? Some historians find the cause in an expansion of the money supply; others, in the growth of population. Both factors were involved, but population appears to have been the prime mover. Before 1150, as we have seen, the population of Europe had been slowly increasing. After 1170, its rate of gain accelerated. In Picardy, the rural population doubled during the last quarter of the twelfth century (1175–1200), and kept growing rapidly for three generations thereafter. Similar trends appeared in England, France and Germany.12