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The population growth of the High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1300) was one of the most remarkable demographic transformations in European history. The population of Europe (excluding the Byzantine Empire) grew from approximately 38 million in 1000 to perhaps 74 million in 1300, an average annual growth rate of about 0.6 percent. This dramatic growth was the result of a complex interplay of factors, including the end of the Viking, Magyar, and Saracen invasions, the agricultural revolution of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the favorable climate of the Medieval Warm Period, the expansion of settlement into new lands, and the gradual improvement in the health and nutrition of the European population.
The doubling of the European population between 1000 and 1300 is one of the headline facts of the period, and the proximate cause — the agricultural revolution — is uncontroversial. The question is how much of the growth to attribute to the climate, the new land, the new crops, and the new techniques.
The End of the Invasions
The end of the invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries was a major factor in the population growth of the High Middle Ages. The Viking raids, the Magyar invasions, and the Saracen attacks had produced a long period of political instability, economic disruption, and demographic loss that had kept the population of Europe low. By the late tenth century, however, the situation had begun to change. The Vikings were converting to Christianity and settling into land-holding societies. The Magyars were defeated at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 and gradually converted to Christianity. The Saracens were gradually pushed back from the Mediterranean.
The end of the invasions produced a period of relative stability that allowed for population growth, agricultural expansion, and economic development. The political vacuum that had been created by the collapse of the Carolingian Empire was gradually filled by new political structures, and the demographic and economic recovery proceeded with a new confidence.
The Agricultural Revolution
The agricultural revolution of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was another major factor in the population growth. The diffusion of the heavy plow, the adoption of the three-field system, the introduction of the horse collar and the horseshoe, and the selective breeding of livestock all contributed to a significant increase in the productivity of European agriculture. The agricultural innovations allowed for the cultivation of heavier, wetter soils that had resisted the lighter Mediterranean plow, and they increased the proportion of land under cultivation in any given year.
The agricultural revolution had a cumulative effect on population growth. The higher yields supported a larger population; the larger population provided labor for the clearing of new land; the new land produced more food; and the surplus supported the growth of towns and the development of non-agricultural industries. The cumulative effect of the agricultural innovations was a dramatic increase in the carrying capacity of the land and a corresponding increase in the population of Europe.
The Medieval Warm Period
The Medieval Warm Period (c. 950–1250) was another major factor in the population growth. The warmer and more stable climate of the period produced longer growing seasons, milder winters, and more reliable harvests than the centuries before or after. The climate stimulated the expansion of agriculture into previously marginal lands, and it reduced the frequency and severity of famine.
The Medieval Warm Period also stimulated the expansion of settlement into new lands. The Viking expansion across the North Atlantic was a direct consequence of the milder climate, and the Norse settlements in Iceland, Greenland, and North America were made possible by the relatively ice-free seas. The expansion of German, Flemish, and Dutch settlement into eastern Europe (the Ostsiedlung) was also stimulated by the favorable climate, and it transformed the demographic and political map of central Europe.
The Expansion of Settlement
The expansion of settlement into new lands was another major factor in the population growth. The Ostsiedlung — the great German, Flemish, and Dutch settlement of eastern Europe — transformed the demographic and political map of central Europe. The Cistercian monasteries, with their great estates, were major agents of agricultural development, draining marshes, clearing forests, and establishing new villages. The English developed a sophisticated system of open-field agriculture and manorial management that produced high yields and supported a growing population.
The expansion of settlement also occurred in the west and the south. The clearing of forests, the draining of marshes, and the reclamation of floodplains all contributed to the expansion of arable land. The Spanish Reconquista opened up new lands in the Iberian Peninsula for Christian settlement. The Norman conquests of England, southern Italy, and the Crusader States opened up new lands for European settlement. The commercial revolution of the period stimulated the growth of towns and the migration of peasants to urban centers.
The Improvement in Health and Nutrition
The gradual improvement in health and nutrition was another major factor in the population growth. The more abundant and reliable food supply produced by the agricultural revolution improved the nutrition of the European population, and the improved nutrition increased the resistance to disease and reduced the mortality from infectious diseases. The end of the invasions reduced the mortality from warfare, and the gradual improvement in medical knowledge and practice reduced the mortality from illness and injury.
The improvement in health and nutrition is reflected in a variety of sources, including the records of heights of medieval skeletons, the records of graves, and the records of manors and towns. The heights of medieval skeletons show a gradual increase from the early medieval lows to the High Medieval highs, with the average height of medieval Europeans at the end of the High Middle Ages being similar to the average height of early modern Europeans. The records of manors and towns show a gradual improvement in the diet and the health of the population, and the records of graves show a gradual decline in the mortality from infectious diseases.
Sources
Principal sources used in this article:
- William Chester Jordan, The Great Famine (Princeton, 1996).
- B. M. S. Campbell (ed.), Before the Black Death: Studies in the “Crisis” of the Early Fourteenth Century (Manchester, 1991).
Further reading:
- R. I. Moore, The First European Revolution (2000), ch. 1.
For a recent single-volume synthesis with full scholarly apparatus, see the relevant chapter of Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (University of Toronto Press, 2014).