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The odds of surviving infancy in middle ages were 50-50. The life expectancy was closer to 25 years of age around 1000 and moved closer to 35 years of age by around 1300. Modern demographics are precisely the opposite: long life expectancies, low fertility rates that are often below replacement levels, and low mortality rates, as well.ĭespite the pre-modern demographic profile of high medieval Europe, important changes took place between 10. These demographics are characterized by three phenomena: high mortality rates, high fertility rates, and low life expectancy. Learn more about the Commercial Revolution Pre-Modern versus Modern DemographicsĬompared to today, the demographic profile of Europe in 1300, as in 1000, seems thoroughly pre-modern. Population growth had far-reaching consequences, leading to the revival of urban life, which in turn led to the phenomenon that historians refer to as the Commercial Revolution. Given the context in which the High Middle Ages took place, we begin to understand that population growth was an unusual phenomenon. (Image: Original by Roger Zenner (de-WP) Enlarging & readability editing by user Jaybear and derivative work by Andy85719/Public domain)īy about 1460, the population of Europe was less than half of what it had been in 1346. The migration of the Black Death across Europe in 1347-1351 resulted in a drastic drop of the population for more than a century.

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The arrival of the plague in 13 plunged Europe into a period of demographic free fall with the population then dropping to precipitously calamitous levels for more than a century. At first, the population was at a very high level in 1300 but had not grown appreciably by 1350. The Late Middle Ages, from 1300 to 1500, was not a period of population growth.

The population of Europe was sparse and during the final few centuries of the Roman Empire’s existence, the population of Europe had fallen, century after century. In the Early Middle Ages, population totals in Europe were relatively stagnant, growing very slightly from the 6th through 10th centuries. During those two periods, the population of Europe did not increase appreciably. This growth was wedged between two different demographic periods: the Early Middle Ages, 500 to 1000, and the Late Middle Ages, 1300 to 1500. Remember that the population growth of the High Middle Ages, 1000 to 1300, was unusual by medieval standards. If the trajectory of population growth is to increase, how much impact can there be by having the population double over the course of three centuries? A huge one, depending on the context. The demographic growth of high medieval Europe seems underwhelming to many modern individuals, because we live in a world where the population of the globe, not just one continent, increased at an enormous rate, for several centuries in a row, and will double in a matter of decades, regularly, according to the model of the 20th century. Watch it now, Wondrium.Ĭompared to demographics, those two events pale in comparison.

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This is a transcript from the video series The High Middle Ages. “What about the Magna Carta? What about Thomas Aquinas?” When I announce in my classes that this is the single most important fact about high medieval history, I’m usually met with bewilderment, disappointment, and a sense of anticlimax. In the High Middle Ages, between the years 10, the population of Europe roughly doubled. The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH/Public domain) Population Growth in Medieval Europe Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Bilddatenbank.1. Discover previous obstacles to population growth, as well as the factors accounting for this expansion. This fact may not seem remarkable to modern readers, but historically, it was unprecedented. By Philip Daileader, Ph.D., The College of William and Mary Europe’s population in the Middle Ages, between the years 10, roughly doubled.