The agricultural revolution brought many changes to farming and the way in which this farming was done. Europe, from 800 to 1300, had a very different climate than the previous part of the middle ages. During this time period, Europe was less rainy, and the temperature did in fact rise 2-3 degrees in temperature (Bennet 139). These perfect conditions allowed for changes in the economy, which made the demand for agriculture rise. Agriculture as the peasants knew it was about to change, but for the better.
The 12th century climate change allowed for peasants to increase their yard per acre and allowed these people to sell their product in weekly/monthly markets (Bennett 139). As a result, peasants did not just have to farm more land, but also more intensely. A good strategy of rotation was needed to do cultivate this fallow land. Before this, two field rotation systems were used, but because of the demand for crops, three field rotation systems were introduced. Crops were moved to a three-year cycle that moved like this: spring planting for fall harvesting, fall planting for early summer harvesting, and fallow (Bennett 140). The schedule seen blow finally took hold (Lienhard).
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Works Cited
Bennett, Judith M. Medieval Europe: A Short History. 11th ed., McGraw Hill, 2011.
Lienhard, John H. “Three Field Crop Rotation.” Engines of Our Ingenuity, The Engines of Our
The idea of crop rotation was extremely revolutionary and increased production. By rotating out the fields and letting them set fallow it let the soil regain some of their nutrients to get better crops.
ReplyDeleteIt's cool to see the ideas of agricultural efficiency grow in medieval Europe. The farming methods displayed have scientific backing, and differ greatly compared to ancient civilizations. Crop rotation seems to yield a better harvest than Aztec human sacrifices to the sun god...
ReplyDeleteIt seems like this crop rotation and the plough helped agriculture grow incredibly in the Central Middle Ages. Making it more organized, such as what food grows when and which fields go through fallow at certain times, really helped making farming as efficient as possible.
ReplyDeleteI love how you investigated into this topic more from the book and class discussions. The third crop rotation allowed many farmers to avoid seasons of poverty as the consistently had money rolling in. Great job at explaining it's importance!
ReplyDeleteThe three crop rotation is very interesting to me. I am intrigued at how this system was implemented and how it greatly expanded the number of crops that were able to be grown. I think it is crazy that there was not two harvesting seasons before this idea came into place. I wonder if it was hard to create the third field for planting? Good post, Brock.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post showing how the three crop rotation was implemented in Medieval Europe. The three crop rotation system really brought forward a new boom in food and health. This must have contributed to the development of the medieval cities discussed in class as populations were affected by the new system.
ReplyDeleteThis post is good when trying to research about farming and the way they made it happen back then. I love that they put in all this work and it was because of a 2-3 degrees temperature change. It is just fascinating that people of the middle ages even noticed that type of change in the weather.
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