Research On Religion » Middle Ages

Gary Richardson on Religion & Craft Guilds in the Middle Ages

tonygill — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 09:00:06 +0000

Economic historians have long studied and examined the importance of medieval craft guilds on the economic development of Europe. But what importance, if any, did religion play in the formation and maintenance of these professional organizations? Dr. Gary Richardson, professor of economics at the University of California – Irvine, explains that religious belief and ritual were crucial components of guilds in the 14th through 16th century (and much later in many Catholic countries).

Prof. Richardson, who is known for his research on 19th and 20th century banking crises, begins by explaining how he came to become interested in medieval guilds as a graduate student. More importantly, he discusses how he came to include religion in his analysis. While examining primary documents related to 14th century guilds, he noted that a majority of these documents were devoted to religious issues and themes. While some scholars in the humanities have known this for some time, economists studying the topic largely ignored these writings in favor of the slim portion of the documents devoted to what one might consider more typical economic content (e.g., issues on physical goods output). Gary had a hunch that this extensive discussion of religion was more than just casual, and may have played an important function in the organization of professional groups.

Following his hunch, Gary discovered that many of these guilds originated from prayer societies. It was common for local groups of individuals to gather and pray for salvation and the souls of friends and relatives who were deceased. In an age when the doctrine of purgatory was widely accepted, such prayers held great importance to individuals as witnessed by the significant amount of resources that people would devote to ensuring salvation. Not surprisingly, since certain industries tended to be located in the same place in town for practical reasons — e.g., blacksmiths would all exist in one area to concentrate the smoke and noise (a medieval form of “zoning”) — it was common for people engaged in the same occupation to gather together for worship and prayer. Religious social gatherings would likely include discussion of professional activities and the collective action created for religious purposes naturally made it easier for members of the same profession to coordinate their more secular business dealings.

We spend some time discussing what guilds back in the Middle Ages did and how they helped to preserve the reputational quality of the industry. Gary uses the manufacture of pewter in London as a classic example of how craftsmen needed to preserve their reputation. While most pewter of the time contained lead and would tarnish after a certain time, London pewter was known for its high quality and resistance to tarnish. Instead of using lead, these pewter makers used tin and a few other alloys to create a highly desired product, albeit one that was a bit more costly to make. However, since London pewter commanded a higher price on the market, individual manufacturers had an incentive to sneak in lead to their product so as to maximize their profits. When such “cheating” became known, the reputation of all pewter makers tended to suffer. Thus, the guild had to devise ways to monitor and punish individual manufacturers who added lead to their product

Religion served as a powerful means of dissuading individuals from cheating. First, we learn that it extended the benefits that accrue from cooperation into the afterlife. While cheating for short-term gain in the present is tempting, losing the prayers for one’s soul while in purgatory discouraged people from cheating in the present. Second, the social networking that occurred in weekly religious gatherings and contributions to regular pageants, plays, and processions also helped guild members monitor each other’s commitment. Gary also discusses how the Black Death changed the dynamic of this arrangement, making religious cooperation under the threat of a “random” early death all the more worrisome for individual guild members. We finish by talking about how the Protestant Reformation (in continental Europe and England) changed the incentive calculations and led religion to become less connected to craft guilds over time. Recorded: October 28, 2014

Jared Rubin on Christian and Islamic Economic History

tonygill — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:00:40 +0000

One of the great puzzles of economic history is why a disorganized and war-torn medieval Europe economically surged ahead of the more culturally advanced Islamic world beginning roughly in the 11th century, eventually culminating in Europe being the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Are the reasons for these different trajectories related entirely to secular causes, or does religion and religious institutions play a role in conditioning each region’s path? Prof. Jared Rubin, assistant professor of economics at Chapman University (known for being across the street from Bruxie’s), leads us through this fascinating story beginning with what each civilization looked like in the early-mid medieval period (c. 9th and 10th centuries). He then reviews the standard economic explanations for this divergence and we briefly discuss why economists have largely ignored the role of religion and other cultural factors. Jared then primes us for his explanation that focuses on the relationship between religious and political authorities by focusing on one crucial difference that emerged between these two societies — the role of usury laws and how they were enforced. We talk about the origins of usury doctrine, noting that usurious interest was a common practice for consumption loans (as compared to entrepreneurial investment) and was seen by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as sinful or improper. Jared then traces how changes in the relationship between political and religious authorities affected how prohibitions on usury (and regulations on interest in general) changed in the two regions. With political authorities gaining the upper hand on religious authorities in Europe by the 1400s and 1500s, laws prohibiting or regulating interest rates were significantly relaxed allowing investment capital to pool more easily in Europe, thereby spawning a virtuous cycle of economic growth. These changes did not occur in the Islamic world where religious and political authority remained more tightly intertwined. We finish our discussion with a preview of Prof. Rubin’s work on the economic role of the printing press in European economic development. While the role of the printing press is often given a central role in the economic history of Europe, Prof. Rubin provides a new reading of why it was so important. His full explanation will have to wait until his book is published and/or he returns to our podcast. Recorded: November 8, 2011.

Philip Jenkins on Global Christianity

tonygill — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:00:54 +0000

In a conversation that covers two millenia of Christian history and every region of the world, noted historian Philip Jenkins — the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of the Humanities at the Pennsylvania State University and Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University’s Institute for Study of Religion — talks about the ever-changing nature of Christianity. Our discussion begins with a reminder that a strong understanding of history is essential for understanding the contemporary religious world. Contrary to the popular notion that Christianity is a European faith, Jenkins reveals that this religious tradition had an extensive geographic reach through its inception up until the 13th century. The podcast then turns attention to how Christianity has been growing and changing in the “global South,” which includes Africa, Asia and Latin America. We see how Pentecostal and charismatic forms of Christianity tend to predominate in these regions and discuss how Christians on these continents view The Bible. We end our discussion with some speculation on how religion in the “global South” may be influencing Christian beliefs and practices in Europe and North America. Prof. Jenkins also reveals his three favorite Western movies. Recorded: July 15, 2010.