Friday, October 1, 2010

Research Material on Medieval Economies

Today I received three used books in the post purchased to help me research the ins and outs of medieval urban life:

"The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 950-1350" by Robert S. Lopez.

"Medieval Cities, Their origins and the Revival of Trade" by Henri Pirenne.

"Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe" also by Henri Pirenne.

All three look quite helpful. I've already started the Lopez book which 20 pages in seems like a quick and surprisingly entertaining read. The conclusions Lopez makes confirm that I'm on the right track. (Very reassuring!) He has some interesting material on post-Roman barbarian economics which will soon become a post here much like the manorialism posts for you Conan and orc marauder types. I'm getting a lot of new-to-me information on the Roman Empire and some context on today's credit driven economy as well. Hopefully, the Pirenne books will be as inspiring.

I read "Life in a Medieval City" by Frances and Joseph Gies years ago and found it great fodder for D&D background material. I recommend it if you're into this sort of thing.

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