No complete population censuses were taken until the 18 th century, thus estimates of population levels are notoriously unreliable. Estimated levels vary as a number of multiplier factors often have to be taken into account estimated population density, ages of marriage, and perhaps most importantly the number of people denoted by a hearth in those medieval tax surveys that do provide hard numbers. Other expansions of the few hard figures we have are frequently done by using actuarial data from modern world societies with population structures like that of medieval Europe, for instance figures derived from Indian population surveys earlier in the 20 th century. Josiah Russell is the historian who has stuck his neck out and made the estimates we have. The following tables are, then, quite speculative, but not insane.
Population Estimates (in millions) at specified times 500-1450.
France/Low Countries 5.0 3.0 6.0 19.0 12.0 British Isles 0.5 0.5 2.0 5.0 3.0 Germany/Scandinavia 3.5 2.0 4.0 11.5 7.3 Total Northern Europe 9.0 5.5 12.0 35.5 22.3
Slavia 5.0 3.0 Russia 6.0 8.0 6.0 Poland/Lithuania 2.0 3.0 2.0 Hungary 0.5 0.5 1.5 2.0 1.5 Total Eastern Europe 5.5 3.5 9.5 13.0 9.5
TOTAL EUROPE 27.5 18.0 38.5 73.5 50.6
The information here is taken from Josiah C. Russell, "Population in Europe:, in Carlo M. Cipolla, ed., The Fontana Economic History of Europe, Vol. I: The Middle Ages, (Glasgow: Collins/Fontana, 1972), 25-71.
(c)Paul Halsall Jan 1996 halsall@murray.fordham.edu
1. Select one region (Mediterranean or Northern Europe) in the chart-above, and construct a graph comparing population trends between the nations of that region, as-well-as with the regional totals. Use four different colours or distinct line-patterns to make it easier to distinguish the countries from each-other, and from the regional and continent-wide totals. 2. Next, calculate the percentage of increase/decrease in population from one data point to the next for every country you graphed, and write your calculations on the lines connecting the data points. Be sure to also perform the same calculations for the region and Europe. 3. Read chapters 12 The Rise of Medieval Europe, A.D. 500-1300 (pages 292-315) and 13 Medieval Europe at Its Height, A.D. 1050-1500 (pages 316-339) in your textbook World History: The Human Experience. Add significant dates to the graph that may explain the population increases/decreases. 4. Write an essay summarizing the trends of the graph, and offering your explanation for the increase/decrease in population over time.
MEDIEVAL SOURCEBOOK: TABLES ON POPULATION IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE
ESTIMATED EUROPEAN POPULATION BY REGIONS A.D. 500 TO 1500
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
500 1000 1500
MEDIEVAL SOURCEBOOK: TABLES ON POPULATION IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE
ESTIMATED EUROPEAN POPULATION BY REGIONS A.D. 500 TO 1500
(Studies in Medieval Reformation Traditions History, Culture, Religion, Poll Mann, J., Spicer, A., Judith Pollmann, Andrew Spicer-Public Opinion and Changing Identities in The Early Modern Nethe