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Capitalist miners in feudal Europe: A commentary on Marxist agrarian history
Author(s) -
Graulau Jeannette
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of agrarian change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.63
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1471-0366
pISSN - 1471-0358
DOI - 10.1111/joac.12328
Subject(s) - feudalism , agrarian society , marxist philosophy , capital (architecture) , historiography , serfdom , agrarian system , capitalism , economy , economic history , economics , law , history , political science , ancient history , agriculture , archaeology , politics
Marxist agrarian history conceives of medieval mining as a pre‐capitalist and backward economy isolated from all forms of capitalist change. Mining history says otherwise. Evidence confirms that mining labour enjoyed the conditions for an early emancipation from serfdom, rooted in the ascent of a European silver‐based monetary economy from the eleventh century onwards. Feudal lords were caught between Scylla and Charybdis, vulnerable to the rise of free miners and a mining economy that demanded capital outlays. Drawing upon the case study of mining in the feudal principality of Trent, the article briefly sketches the rise of capitalist miners and the conditions that gave them decisive advantages over feudal lords. The article summarizes general arguments and lines of inquiry for opening the field of Marxist agrarian history to the study of mining and extractive economies.