Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T22:57:09.627Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Beyond building craftsmen. Economic growth and living standards in the sixteenth-century Low Countries: the case of 's-Hertogenbosch (1500–1560)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

BRUNO BLONDÉ  and
JORD HANUS
BRUNO BLONDÉ
Affiliation:
Centre for Urban History, University of Antwerp, and Research Foundation, Flanders, Belgium, Bruno.Blonde@ua.ac.be; Jord.Hanus@ua.ac.be
JORD HANUS
Affiliation:
Centre for Urban History, University of Antwerp, and Research Foundation, Flanders, Belgium, Bruno.Blonde@ua.ac.be; Jord.Hanus@ua.ac.be
Get access

Abstract

Economic historians are increasingly aware of the divergence between the development of real wages and GDP per capita in pre-industrial Europe, even in affluent urbanized societies with high wage levels such as the sixteenth-century Low Countries. This article offers an empirical answer to this alleged paradox by merging living standards and real wages with income distributions in a case study of sixteenth-century 's-Hertogenbosch. It provides evidence for an optimistic reading of the living standards of this era despite the modest performance of the urban economy and a strong decline in real wages. The rich sources of 's-Hertogenbosch were instrumental in reaching this conclusion, as they offer proof that the drop in wage labourers' purchasing power was paralleled by a marked decline in social position. As such, their income experience turns out to be surprisingly atypical, and does little to capture the strong resilience of the majority of the urban populace in the face of the early price revolution.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review of Economic History , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , August 2010 , pp. 179 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © European Historical Economics Society 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aerts, E. (2004). Economie, monnaie et société dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux de Charles Quint. In Blockmans, W. and Mout, N. (eds.), The World of Emperor Charles V. Amsterdam: Edita, pp. 201–2.Google Scholar
Allen, R. C. (2001). The great divergence in European wages and prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War. Explorations in Economic History 38 (4), pp. 411–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, R. C. (2003). Progress and poverty in early modern Europe. Economic History Review 46 (3), pp. 403–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, R. C., Bengtsson, T. and Dribe, M. (2005). Introduction. In Allen, R. C., Bengtsson, T. and Dribe, M. (eds.), Living Standards in the Past: New Perspectives on Well-being in Asia and Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angeles, L. (2008). GDP per capita or real wages? Making sense of conflicting views on pre-industrial Europe. Explorations in Economic History 45 (2), pp. 147–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blomme, J. and Van Der Wee, H. (1994). The Belgian economy in a long term historical perspective: economic development in Flanders and Brabant, 1500–1812. In Maddison, A. and Van der Wee, H. (eds.), Economic Growth and Structural Change: Comparative Approaches Over the Long Run. Milan: Bocconi University, pp. 77–96.Google Scholar
Blondé, B. (1987). De sociale structuren en economische dynamiek van 's-Hertogenbosch, 1500–1550. Tilburg: Stichting Zuidelijk Historisch Contact.Google Scholar
Blondé, B. (1990). Les tentatives d'assainissement des finances de la ville de bois-le-duc durant la première moitié du XVIe siècle: mirroir d'une réalité politique, sociale et économique. Bulletin timesteriel du Crédit Cummunal de Belgique 172, pp. 65–75.Google Scholar
Blondé, B. (2004). Bossche bouwvakkers en belastingen. Nadenken over economische groei, levensstandaard en sociale ongelijkheid in de zestiende eeuw. In Blondé, B., De Munck, B. and Vermeylen, F. (eds.), Doodgewoon. Mensen en hun dagelijkse leven in de geschiedenis. Liber amicorum Alfons K.L. Thijs. Herent, pp. 45–62.Google Scholar
Blondé, B. and Limberger, M. (1998). Van Bourgondische welvaart tot Antwerpse schaduw? Het bierverbruik te 's-Hertogenbosch in de vijftiende en de zestiende eeuw. Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis 81, pp. 71–98.Google Scholar
Blondé, B. and Limberger, M. (2004). De gebroken welvaart. In Van Uytven, R. (ed.), Geschiedenis van Brabant van het hertogdom tot heden. Zwolle: Waanders Uitgeverij, pp. 307–30.Google Scholar
Blondé, B. and Van Uytven, R. (1996). De smalle steden en het Brabantse stedelijke netwerk in de late middeleeuwen en de nieuwe tijd. Lira Elegans 6, pp. 129–82.Google Scholar
Blondé, B. and Vlieghe, H. (1987). The social position of Jheronimus Bosch. The Burlington Magazine 139, pp. 699–700.Google Scholar
Boonstra, O. W. A. and Mandemakers, C. A. (1995). ‘Ieder is het kind zijner eigene werken’. Sociale stratificatie en mobiliteit in Nederland in de achttiende en negentiende eeuw. In Dronkers, J. and Ultee, W. C. (eds.), Verschuivende ongelijkheid in Nederland. Sociale gelaagdheid en mobiliteit. Assen: van Gorcum, pp. 125–41.Google Scholar
Dambruyne, J. (2001). Mensen en centen. Het 16de-eeuwse Gent in demografisch en economisch perspectief. Ghent.Google Scholar
Dambruyne, J. (2002). Corporatieve middengroepen. Aspiraties, relaties en transformaties in de 16de-eeuwse Gentse ambachtswereld. Ghent: Academia Press.Google Scholar
De Moor, T., Zuijderduijn, J. and Van Zanden, J. L. (2008). Micro-credit in late medieval Waterland: households and the efficiency of capital markets in Edam en de Zeevang, 1462–1563. Working paper, Utrecht University.Google Scholar
de Vries, J. and van der Woude, A. (1997). The First Modern Economy: Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500–1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Farr, J. R. (2000). Artisans in Europe, 1300–1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hanus, J. (2007). Tussen stad en eigen gewin. Stadsfinanciën, renteniers en kredietmarkten in 's-Hertogenbosch (begin zestiende eeuw). Amsterdam: Aksant.Google Scholar
Hanus, J., Ryckbosch, W. and Blondé, B. (2008). Economic transformation and social inequality in the sixteenth-century Netherlands. The case of 's-Hertogenbosch, 1500–1550. Working paper, Universiteit Antwerpen.Google Scholar
Hoffman, P. T., Jacks, D., Levin, P. and Lindert, P. H. (2002). Real inequality in western Europe since 1500. Journal of Economic History 62 (2), pp. 322–55.Google Scholar
Hoffman, P. T., Jacks, D., Levin, P. and Lindert, P. H. (2005). Sketching the rise of real inequality in early modern Europe. In Allen, R. C., Bengtsson, T. and Dribe, M. (eds.), Living Standards in the Past: New Perspectives on Well-being in Asia and Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 131–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaelble, H. and Thomas, M. (1991). Introduction. In Brenner, Y. S., Kaelble, H. and Thomas, M. (eds.), Income Distribution in Historical Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–56.Google Scholar
Lis, C. and Soly, H. (1979). Poverty and Capitalism in Pre-industrial Europe. Hassocks: Harvester Press.Google Scholar
Maddison, A. (2007). Contours of the World Economy, 1–1–2030 AD: Essays in Macro-Economic History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milanovic, B., Lindert, P. H. and Williamson, J. G. (2007). Measuring ancient inequality. Working paper, National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Munro, J. (1994). Urban wage structures in late-medieval England and the Low Countries: work-time and seasonal wages. In Blanchard, I. (ed.), Labour and Leisure in Historical Perspective, Thirteenth to Twentieth Centuries. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, pp. 65–78.Google Scholar
Munro, J. (2003a). Money, wages, and real incomes in the age of Erasmus: the purchasing power of coins and of building craftsmen's wages in England and the southern Low Countries, 1500–1540. In Dalzell, A. and Nauert, C. G. Jr (eds.), The Correspondence of Erasmus, vol. 12: Letters 1658–1801. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 592–4.Google Scholar
Munro, J. (2003b). Wage-stickiness, monetary changes, and real incomes in late-medieval England and the Low Countries, 1300–1500: did money matter? Research in Economic History 21, pp. 185–297.Google Scholar
Munro, J. (2005). Builders’ wages in southern England and the southern Low Countries, 1346–1500: a comparative study of trends in and levels of real incomes. In Caviociocchi, S. (ed.), L'edilizia prima della rivoluzione industriale secc. XIII–XVIII. Atti della ‘Trentaseiesima settimana di studi’ 26–30 aprile 2004, vol. 36. Florence: Le Monnier, pp. 1013–76.Google Scholar
Munro, J. (2006). Real wages and the ‘Malthusian problem’ in Antwerp and south-eastern England, 1400–1700: a regional comparison of levels and trends in real wages for building craftsmen. Working paper, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Munro, J. (2008a). Money, prices, wages, and ‘profit inflation’ in Spain, the Southern Netherlands, and England during the price revolution era: ca. 1520 — ca. 1650. História e Economia: Revista Interdisciplinar 4 (1), pp. 13–71.Google Scholar
Munro, J. (2008b). The usury doctrine and urban public finances in late-medieval Flanders (1220 – 1550): Rentes (annuities), excise taxes, and income transfers from the poor to the rich. In Cavaciocchi, S. (ed.), La fiscalità nell'economia europea, secc. XIII–XVIII/ Fiscal Systems in the European Economy from the 13th to the 18th Centuries, Atti della ‘Trentanovesima settimana di studi’, 22–26 aprile 2007. Florence: Florence University Press, pp. 973–1026.Google Scholar
Noordegraaf, L. (1985). Hollands welvaren? Levensstandaard in Holland, 1450–1650. Bergen: Octavo.Google Scholar
Noordegraaf, L. and van Zanden, J. L. (1995). Early modern economic growth and the standard of living: did labour benefit from Holland's golden age? In Davids, K. and Lucassen, J. (eds.), A Miracle Mirrored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 410–37.Google Scholar
Pamuk, S. (2007). The Black Death and the origins of the ‘great divergence’ across Europe, 1300–1600. European Review of Economic History 11 (3), pp. 289–317.Google Scholar
Posthumus, N. W. (1964). Nederlandse prijsgeschiedenis. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Scholliers, E. (1960). De levensstandaard in de xve en XVIe eeuw te Antwerpen: Loonarbeid en honger. Antwerp: Uitgeverij de Sikkel.Google Scholar
Scholliers, E. (1975). Le pouvoir d'achat dans les Pays-Bas au XVIe siècle. Album aangeboden aan Charles Verlinden ter gelegenheid van zijn dertig jaar professoraat. Wetteren: Universa, pp. 305–30.Google Scholar
Schuttelaars, A. (1998). Heren van de raad. Bestuurlijke elite van 's-Hertogenbosch in de stedelijke samenleving, 1500–1580. Nijmegen: Nijmegen University Press.Google Scholar
Soltow, L. and van Zanden, J. L. (1998). Income and Wealth Inequality in the Netherlands, 16th-20th Century. Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis.Google Scholar
Soly, H. (1993). Social relations in Antwerp in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Van der Stock, J. (ed.) Antwerp. Story of a Metropolis 16th–17th Century. Ghent: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon, pp. 37–48.Google Scholar
Soly, H. and Thijs, A. K. L. (1979). Nijverheid in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden. Nieuwe algemene geschiedenis der Nederlanden, vol. 6. Brussels, pp. 27–58.Google Scholar
Sosson, J.-P. (2005). Le bâtiment: sources et historiographie, acquis et perspectives de recherches (moyen âge, débuts des temps modernes). L'edilizia prima della rivoluzione industriale secc. XIII-XVIII. Atti della ‘Trentaseiesima settimana di studi’ 26–30 aprile 2004 a cura di simonetta cavaciocchi, vol. 36. Florence: Le Monnier, pp. 49–107.Google Scholar
Stabel, P. and Vermeylen, F. (1997). Het fiscale vermogen in Brabant, Vlaanderen en in de heerlijkheid Mechelen: De honderste penning van de hertog van Alva (1569–1572). Brussels: Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis.Google Scholar
Tilly, C. (1984). Demographic origins of the European proletariat. In Levine, D. (ed.) Proletarianization and Family History. Orlando: Academic Press, pp. 1–85.Google Scholar
Van de Laar, J. A. (1979). De bevolking van 's-Hertogenbosch circa 1550. Een demografische en economische verkenning. Varia Historica Brabantica 8, pp. 59–113.Google Scholar
Van Den Berg, W. J. and van Zanden, J. L. (1993). Vier eeuwen welstandsongelijkheid in Alkmaar, ca. 1530–1930. Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 19, pp. 193–216.Google Scholar
Van Der Wee, H. (1963). The Growth of the Antwerp Market and the European Economy (Fourteenth–Sixteenth Centuries). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Van Der Wee, H. (1975). Prijzen en lonen als ontwikkelingsvariabelen. Een vergelijkend onderzoek tussen Engeland en de Zuidelijke Nederlanden, 1400–1700. Album aangeboden aan Charles Verlinden ter gelegenheid van zijn dertig jaar professoraat. Wetteren: Universa, pp. 413–47.Google Scholar
Van Der Wee, H. (1988). Industrial dynamics and the process of urbanization and deurbanization in the Low Countries from the late Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. A synthesis. In Van der Wee, H. (ed.) The Rise and Decline of Urban Industries in Italy and in the Low Countries (Late Middle Ages — Early Modern Times). Leuven: Leuven University Press, pp. 307–81.Google Scholar
Van Der Wee, H. (1993a). The economy as a factor in the revolt of the Southern Netherlands. In Van der Wee, H. (ed.) The Low Countries in the Early Modern World. Aldershot: Variorum, pp. 264–78.Google Scholar
Van Der Wee, H. (1993b). The Low Countries in transition: from the Middle Ages to early modern times. In Van der Wee, H. (ed.) The Low Countries in the Early Modern World. Aldershot: Variorum, pp. 3–28.Google Scholar
Van Der Wee, H. (1993c). Prices and wages as development variables: a comparison between England and the Southern Netherlands, 1400–1700. In Van der Wee, H. (ed.), The Low Countries in the Early Modern World. Aldershot: Variorum, pp. 223–41.Google Scholar
Van Uytven, R. (1972). Sociaal-economische evoluties in de Nederlanden vóór de revoluties (veertiende-zestiende eeuw). Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 87, pp. 60–93.Google Scholar
Van Uytven, R. (1974a). In de schaduw van de Antwerpse groei: het Hageland in de zestiende eeuw. Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis 57, pp. 171–88.Google Scholar
Van Uytven, R. (1974b). What is new socially and economically in the sixteenth-century Netherlands. Acta Historiae Neerlandicae, Studies on the History of the Netherlands 7, pp. 18–53.Google Scholar
Van Uytven, R. (2004). De triomf van Antwerpen en de grote steden. In Van Uytven, R., Bruneel, C., Koldeweij, A. M., van de Sande, A. W. F. M. and van Oudheusden, J. A. F. M. (eds.), Geschiedenis van Brabant van het hertogdom tot heden. Zwolle: Waanders Uitgeverij, pp. 241–51.Google Scholar
Van Uytven, R. and Blockmans, W. P. (1971). De noodzaak van een geïntegreerde sociale geschiedenis. Het voorbeeld van de Zuidnederlandse steden in de late middeleeuwen. Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 84, pp. 276–90.Google Scholar
Van Uytven, R. and Blondé, B. (1988). Consumptie en conjunctuur: het graanverbruik van 's-Hertogenbosch in de tweede helft van de zestiende eeuw. In Coopmans, J. P. A. and van der Veen, A. M. D. (eds.), Van blauwe stoep tot citadel. Varia historica brabantica nova ludovico pirenne dedicata. 's-Hertogenbosch: Stichting Brabantse Regionale Geschiedbeoefening, pp. 119–28.Google Scholar
van Zanden, J. L. (1995). Tracing the beginning of the Kuznets curve: Western Europe during the early modern period. Economic History Review 4, pp. 643–64.Google Scholar
van Zanden, J. L. (1999). Wages and the standard of living in Europe, 1500–1800. European Review of Economic History 3 (2), pp. 175–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Zanden, J. L. (2001). Early modern economic growth: a survey of the European economy 1500–1800. In Prak, M. (ed.) Early Modern Capitalism. Economic and Social Change in Europe 1400–1800. London: Routlegde, pp. 69–87.Google Scholar
van Zanden, J. L. (2005). What happened to the standard of living before the industrial revolution? New evidence from the western part of the Netherlands. In Allen, R. C., Bengtsson, T. and Dribe, M. (eds.), Living Standards in the Past. New Perspectives on Well-being in Asia and Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 173–94.Google Scholar
Verlinden, C., Craeybeckx, J. and Scholliers, E. (1972). Price and wage movements in Belgium in the sixteenth century. In Burke, P. (ed.), Economy and Society in Early Modern Europe. Essays from Annales. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 55–84.Google Scholar
Woodward, D. (1981). Wage rates and living standards in pre-industrial England. Past and Present 91, pp. 28–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, D. (1995). Men at Work: Labourers and Building Craftsmen in the Towns of Northern England, 1450–1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar