From feudalism to a world of work

A couple of years ago I read a history of how our modern world work arose, as it appeared to the author (Stolzoff, 2023, 37%; also read here). The premise was that Europe was a feudal economy from 1100-1400 CE; with a feudal economy being one where those in power owned, and those without power toiled:

"In the countryside, lords rented their land to peasants who, in exchange, worked and lived upon it. After paying rent, peasants sold what was left over from their harvest" (Stolzoff, 2023, 37%).

By "paying rent", I assume the author means bonded serfdom: that the medium of exchange was peasant labour, rather than 'copper cash'. I was quite struck by the simplicity of this statement, as I had thought that life in the middle ages was more complex than this. So I did some reading, particularly of Lucassen's book, the Story of Work (2021), which is a very scholarly book spanning almost all continents and bringing together a broad range of academic fields.

My layperson's understanding is that around 1000 CE a transition began in Europe away feudalism (Brooks, 2022) to a more modern era of trade (Lucassen, 2021). Europe and India saw a "ruralizing of trades" which decreased professional differentiation (Lucassen, 2021, p. 148). New guilds arose - new professionals who could work the land (Lucassen, 2021). Bonded serfdom existed, sometimes called "manorialism" where "aristocratic landowners exploited the unpaid serf labor and also charged the serfs rents and fees for their use of the village's lands" (Hickey, 2014), but workers were often "tenants with holdings between 6 and 12 hectares, obliged to perform labour dues for their landlords" with poorer people, or "cottars" who "worked less than 4 hectares [which] was the minimum necessary to support a family of 4" (Lucassen, 2021, p. 175). 

This period from 1000-1300 CE became known "as the 'high' Middle Ages [to] emphasize its dynamism, creativity, and importance in setting the stage for subsequent historical developments. During the high Middle Ages, the European economy greatly expanded, leading to a revived cash economy and widespread trade and commerce" (Brooks, 2022) with both free and waged labour (Lucassen, 2021). This was also the time of the Crusades (Brooks, 2022). Fewer wars and agricultural improvements and ploughing innovation meant that yields increased, so farm workers were "able to bargain with their lords for stabilized rents, and a fairly prosperous class of landowning peasants emerged that enjoyed traditional rights vis-à-vis the nobility. Thus, the centuries between 1000 CE – 1300 CE were relatively good for many European peasants", but later in the millennium peasants would be worse off due to a number of factors (Brooks, 2022). So yes, it seems to be more nuanced than Stolzoff (2023) had summarised. 

Next, the first sentence below was a narrative I was familiar with, though the second sentence rang less true to me:

"In town, industries were organized into guilds with rigid hierarchical structures. Only men could enter the guilds, and only master craftsmen, such as blacksmiths or bakers, could produce within" those guilds. Apparently a "purpose of the guilds was to minimize competition. By limiting the number of bakers in town, for instance, the bakers’ guild ensured the [local] supply of bread didn’t outstrip demand and cause the price to fall" (37%).

Yes, the guilds were highly structured, entry was controlled, and those practicing a 'profession' outside a guild was likely to be severely punished (with fines, imprisonment, or expulsion; Brooks, 2022). Those "Guilds existed to ensure that their members produced quality goods, but they also existed to keep out outsiders [in order] to make the 'masters' who controlled the guilds wealthy" (Brooks, 2022). Monarchs could, by decree, control hygiene, prices, and open up supply in times of famine; the assizes checked weights and measures (Lucassen, 2021); and town elders 'regulated' baker and miller profits (Epstein, 1991). Although I have read of guilds limiting membership, I have not heard of them rorting prices. At the end of this period, by the late 1200s, guilds were wealthier, and often in positions of power as town elders. They were able to lock out others (Britannica, 2025), so may have been able to price-fix (though I am sure Monarchs will have been the final arbiter of that). So, while I cannot say that this type of behaviour didn't happen, it seems perhaps more organised than may have been expected for the time...? Perhaps a development of the 1400 and 1500s?

What is also really interesting is that guilds arose in Asia and Africa between 500 and 1500 CE with urban areas containing "guild-like collegia of artisans" (Lucassen, 2021), spreading to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, along with monetisation: i.e. paid service. It appears that the guild (professionalism) is a global idea, not a solely European one. But we should also remember - as previously mentioned - that the guilds were not confined to towns. Professionalism also aided agricultural and land development - including the wool industry (Lucassen, 2021).

Interestingly, it was also during the high middle ages that our European sense of use agreements formed: the idea of the 'commons'. These were "lands not officially controlled by anyone that all people had a right to use", which allowed peasants to gather wood for fires, for making charcoal, for building materials, provided access to "grazing land, and some limited trapping of small animals, collectively serving as a vital 'safety net'" (Brooks, 2022). What is really interesting is how common the idea of the commons is across cultures. The Incans, circa 1300, divided land into three - state, god and people, with: "The third part of the land according to the division above was in the manner of commons", the land for the people themselves (Lucassen, 2021, p. 167).

Fact checking is important: more so if an idea seems delightfully simplistic. But we also learn unexpected things along the way.

Bonus.

Sam

References:

Britannica. (2025). Guild: trade association. https://www.britannica.com/topic/guild-trade-association

Brooks, C. (2022). Western Civilization: A Concise History, origins of civilization to the renaissance. The Louisiana Library Network. https://louis.pressbooks.pub/westernciv/chapter/chapter14/

Epstein, S. A. (1991). Wage labor and guilds in medieval Europe. UNC Press Books.

Hickey, M. (2014). State and Society in the High Middle Ages. Bloomberg University. https://facstaff.bloomu.edu/mhickey/state_and_society_in_the_high_mi.htm

Lucassen, J. (2021). The Story of Work: A New History of Humankind. Yale University Press.

Stolzoff, S. (2023). The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work[e-book]. Penguin.