The Economy of Europe in the Renaissance
General Comments
Few Innovations
While there were some technological innovations during this
period, as there is in any era covering 250 years, in general the
Renaissance is not known for many accomplishments in the economic
realm. The great innovations in business techniques belong to
the 13th century or even earlier: banking, coinage, double-entry
bookkeeping, contracts, insurance. Other innovations belong to
the 17th century: joint-stock companies, money markets, stock
exchanges.
No Economic Renaissance
The Renaissance saw, however, a great acceleration of the trends
of the 13th century. The first banks may belong to the Middle
Ages, but the first banks of note belong to the 14th. The other
innovations of capitalism likewise may have sprouted in earlier
times but they came to fruition in the Renaissance. Think of
this time as an era of adoption and elaboration. You should
note, too, that there is little evidence of merchants attempting
to imitate the ancients in matters of trade and manufacture; in
this sense, there was no such thing as a Renaissance of business.
Serfdom
Our era marks the beginning of the definitive split
between eastern and western Europe in matters of landholding.
Even as serfs were becoming peasants in the west, the free
peasants of the Slavic lands were being turned into serfs. The
reasons for this, and the dynamics of the process, are complex as
you might expect; I point out here only the fact itself.
Exploration
The greatest economic innovation of this time at first looks more like
technology than economics. In the 15th century the Europeans learned to
make long ocean voyages . . . for profit. While other
civilizations had built navies and sailed wide oceans, they either sailed
for political purposes or else did not maintain their efforts for very
long.
It takes sophisticated naval technology to sail in open waters for weeks
at a time, and even more skill to do so and make money at it. It also
requires an economic system back home able to absorb and reward the
risks; in other words, it takes merchants as well as sailors.
This was the great economic advance of the Renaissance: the creation of
the means to exploit vast new markets. It was one of the key
developments that demarcate the Middle Ages from modern times, for not
only did exploration open new markets, it opened up paths of colonization
and conquest as well, with lasting effect on a global scale.