Agriculture in the Middle Ages describes the farming practices, crops, technology, and agricultural society and economy of Europe from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 to approximately 1500. The Middle Ages are … See more

The popular view is that the fall of the Western Roman Empire caused what Petrarch would later call "dark ages" in western Europe in … See more

Gradually, the Roman system of villas and agricultural estates using partly slave labor was replaced by manorialism and serfdom. Historian See more

Farmers were not equal in the amount of land they farmed. In a survey of seven English counties in 1279, perhaps typical of Europe as a whole, 46 percent of farmers held less than 10 acres (4.0 ha), which was insufficient land to support a family. Some were … See more

Three events set the stage—and would influence agriculture for centuries—in Europe. First was the fall of the western Roman Empire which began to lose territory to foreign … See more

In what historian Andrew Watson called the Arab Agricultural Revolution, the Arab Muslim rulers of much of Al Andalus (8th through the 15th … See more

The field systems in Medieval Europe included the open-field system, so called because there were no barriers between fields belonging to … See more