Учёт. Анализ. Аудит (Jan 2019)
The Economy of the West-European Middle Ages (V-XV centuries)
Abstract
Introduction, Purpose. Timeliness and Relevance. The present article considers the main directions and features of economic development of Europe in the V-XV centuries. In the article the attention is paid to the condition of agriculture, craft, trade as well as to the development of the cities, functioning of credit and registration and monetary systems. The purpose of the article is to show how feudalism turned from the economic set-up into a socioeconomic structure and the new way of production. Methods. In the article on the basis of the problem and chronological method the two stages of feudalism are considered: the genesis (the V-IX centuries) and the renaissance (the X-XV centuries). The research was conducted on the basis of medieval sources - the Salic truth, Charters of craft shops and merchant guilds, economic works by F. Akvinsky, the reports by Charles the Great’s capitulary, registration books of the Pontifical Household, Florence, Siena and “The treatise about accounts and records” by L. Pacholi. Results. At the end of the article, the conclusions were made that in the Middle Ages with its agrarian economy and the dominance of natural agriculture marketability signs were gradually emerging. The process of switching in a number of the West-European countries led to the liberation of the peasants and their transformation into payers of the fixed qualification tax. Monetary circulation having overcome the feudal fragmentation, returned to silver monometallism and the renewal of stamping and mining of gold coins. Single entry bookkeeping with its chronological linear record was succeeded by double entry bookkeeping. Discussion. The expiration date of the medieval period continues to remain a controversial issue. However, the most acute and debatable topic that needs further research is a problem of the use and applicability of the principles of double-entry bookkeeping in the cities of northern Italy much earlier than it had become the common property of the whole world.
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