German Business in the Premodern Age, 1350–1800

Abstract

Germany’s business history from the High Middle Ages to the modern age may be conveniently grouped into three distinct periods of roughly 150 years each. Selected characteristics of each era are shown in Table 7.1. The first period runs from 1350 to 1500. It coincides with the end of feudalism and the first great town-building period. The second, from 1500 to 1650, may be seen as a transition period separating the Middle Ages from early modern times. Its key characteristics were the Reformation, which brought an end to Christian unity in Europe, and the Thirty Years’ War. This period was one of severe economic retrenchment, war, pestilence, and final collapse of the unifying force once represented by the Holy Roman Empire: from 20 to 30 percent of Germany’s population died from the war or disease, towns and cities lost their freedom, political fragmentation reached its zenith, and the Hanseatic League withered away to irrelevance. Estimates of the dead from this European war, most of whom were Germans, range from 3 to 7.5 million (Parker 1997, 188).