The closely knit Greco-Roman Empire had been
superseded in Europe by a sparsely inhabited, roadless wilderness,
largely bereft of trade, using waterways as the easiest means of
communication and transport. The economy was built around wood cutting,
charcoal burning, backward animal husbandry, hand-tool agriculture,
hand-craft industry, the rudiments of commerce and finance centered in
trading cities. The great houses of the aristocracy and the gentry,
scattered villages, towns and walled cities were preoccupied and
disrupted by endless feuding and between-seasons warfare.
Adding to the chaos of this dismembered society were the controversies
over dynastic succession. Intermittent incursions of migrating hordes
from central Asia pushed their way into central and southern Europe.
Covert and open conflicts between ecclesiastical and secular authority
added to the general lethargy, confusion and chaos.
Europe struggled for centuries to free itself from Asian invasion and
occupation. At the same time Europe was improving its agriculture,
restoring its trade and expanding its hand-craft industries and its
commerce. Towns grew in population and productivity. Life-standards rose
in the cities. Cities based on trade and commerce extended their
authority and became city-states. Commercial cities joined their forces
to form trading leagues.
Lords spiritual and temporal, who had ruled Europe for centuries, were
joined by lords commercial, enriched by the growth of trade, transport
and developing industry.
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