The Establishment of New Units of Production in Carolingian Times: Making Early Medieval Sources Relevant for Environmental History

Abstract

Medievalists have been arguing for decades about the consequences of changes in agrarian structures as they can be seen in documents from the early Middle Ages. This article approaches the topic from the point of view of environmental history. Processes of transformation referring to land organization and land use between 700 and 900 in continental Europe are the focus of this study. Identifying the role of the Carolingians in the purported processes of changing agro-ecosystems is another. Two regions which were integrated into the Carolingian empire in the course of the eighth century, Bavaria and Provence, form the basis of a comparative approach to find out more about the relation between society and nature. A closer look at the sources, source criticism, and terminological analysis make it possible to recognize a more direct influence of the Carolingians on changes in agrarian structures of production than seen in recent years.