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MEDIEVAL SOURCEBOOK:

TABLES ON POPULATION IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE



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.

AREA 500 650 1000 1340 1450
Greece/Balkans 5.0 3.0 5.0 6.0 4.5
Italy 4.0 2.5 5.0 10.0 7.3
Iberia (Spain/Portugal) 4.0 3.5 7.0 9.0 7.0
Total Mediterranean 13.0 9.0 17.0 25.0 18.8

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

75




70




60




50




40




30




20




10






500 1000 1500

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