The Feudal Origins of Manorial Prosperity: Social Interactions in Eleventh-Century England

Abstract

Does the prosperity of medieval manors depend on their position in the feudal system? How large are these effects? And what are the underlying economic mechanisms? Using Domesday Book, a unique country-wide survey conducted by William the Conqueror, we reinterpret the eleventh-century English feudal system as a network in which manors are linked to one another based on their common ownership structure. Both a reduced-form and a more structural approach reveal the existence of external economies of scale: manorial prosperity was closely intertwined with the fortune of feudal peers. Our findings quantitatively establish the existence of feudal coordination in High-Medieval agricultural activities, revealing how institutionalized interactions could serve to mitigate transaction costs.

Summaries of Doctoral Dissertations

“…The second chapter of my dissertation is a joint work with Sebastiaan Maes (University of Antwerp) and was published in this Journal (Delabastita and Maes 2023). This chapter focuses on the institutional drivers of inequalities in factor markets, and it does so by examining one of the most striking and pervasive examples of institutional interference in economic life in European economic history: the feudal system.…”

Analisis Peran Perdagangan Maritim Terhadap Sejarah Perekonomian ASEAN

“…Hal ini termasuk mengangkut barang melalui laut menggunakan kapal kargo dan kontainer. Pelabuhan besar di seluruh dunia berfungsi sebagai pusat perdagangan internasional salah satunya yaitu ekspor dan impor (Delabastita & Maes, 2023). Jaringan sosial, ekonomi dan politik memainkan peran dalam sejarah ekonomi.…”