6.3 Work and trade

Early modern agriculture

How did these broad changes affect production? In early modern Europe, as in medieval times, the economy was dominated by agriculture. Between 80 and 90 per cent of the population lived in rural areas, and most (though not all) worked on the land. Men, women and children all laboured to produce foodstuffs (mainly grain, but also fruits and vegetables), fuel in the form of timber, and raw materials such as wool, flax (the fibre used to make linen) and leather. Although agriculture was the main form of work across Europe, rural life was not the same for everyone. Different types of agriculture were practised in different areas, and many people worked in rural industries rather than on the land. Rural life was difficult – factors such as the weather could determine whether people lived well or starved.

While techniques of agricultural work did not change much in the early modern period, there were developments in farming. Farmers successfully responded to the increasing demand for food by introducing new agricultural practices (such as mixing pasturing and raising crops), by bringing more land into cultivation and by seeking out the cheapest sources of labour. Interestingly, farmers continued to innovate when population growth slowed and demand declined, by moving into more specialist forms of agriculture and by farming larger fields, which allowed more efficient use of labour. Clearly, farming was changing over time, through many small improvements in farming practices rather than any one fundamental innovation.

Early modern manufacturing

Processes of growth, specialisation and diversification also occurred in manufacturing – although change was slow and, for many people, work changed little over generations. The dominant feature of manufacturing in the early modern period was the small scale of production. Many of the goods used every day were made within households. Food was processed: grain was made into bread and beer, and milk into butter, while fish and meat were preserved for later use, either by the family or for sale. Simple items such as brooms, platters and baskets were made at home. Textile production had traditionally been carried out in the home, but in the early modern period, while women continued to process fibre into yarn at home (Figure 6), the more skilled aspects of clothing production – weaving cloth and making up cloth into garments – were passed to specialist weavers and tailors.

Textiles were an important part of the early modern economy, with demand for clothing growing steadily as more people expected to have clothes reflecting the latest fashions. Cloth was traded over large distances. Silk fabrics from Italy and woollen cloths made in England and the Netherlands were exported across Europe. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, household textile production was coordinated into larger-scale manufacture through the ‘putting-out system’ or proto-industrialisation. This system exploited the slack periods in the farming year, when workers had spare time that they could use in making cloth. Merchants bought raw wool or flax and sent out parcels of the material to a succession of workers who would in turn prepare the fibre, spin it, weave it into cloth and then dye the cloth. Merchants paid each worker for their contribution, according to the amount of yarn spun or cloth woven, and sold the finished cloth to recover their costs and make a profit. In some areas, proto-industries began to take over from agriculture, with families abandoning farming work and devoting all their time to manufacturing.

The manufacture of luxury goods, such as furniture, jewellery, elaborate ceramics and mirrors, required higher levels of skill. These goods were produced in towns, in the workshops of specialist craftsmen. The production of these goods was closely regulated by guilds, associations of workers engaged in the same trade, such as goldsmiths or furriers, who banded together to protect their collective interests. Guilds oversaw the training of apprentices, and regulated the number of new businesses that were set up in any location and the quality of goods offered for sale.