Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2017

 

The Origins of Industrialization in Medieval Western Europe

(Abstract)

 

Xu Hao

 

Research on industrialization in Western Europe should focus not only on how it was perfected, but also on its origins and development. This helps to restore and interpret the historical process concerned and enables us to fully understand the characteristics of this transformation and the laws of its development. The industrialization of Western Europe originated in the market-oriented production activities of urban and rural craftsmen in the middle period of the Middle Ages. With the expansion of the market, industry embarked on the road to industrialization through technology and the evolution of production organization. Thereafter, the production activities of individual urban and rural craftsman for local sales and markets attained unprecedented coverage. Milling, cloth rinsing, metallurgy and other industrial sectors became mechanized to different degrees, and rural industry based on domestic spinning and weaving suddenly appeared on the scene. These three areas constituted the main contents of the origins of industrialization in Western Europe in the mid and late Middle Ages and prevailed until the Industrial Revolution. The origins of late medieval industrialization, the growth of early modern industrialization and the completion of late modern industrialization are essential parts of the process of industrialization in Western Europe and are important elements of research on this subject.