Quote:
Originally Posted by YGG-
yes there was, around AD 1300. Then we grew up  (cheap shot I confess).
As everywhere else --there has never been a culture without a structure of power (some say: to organize it) |
I believe my history reading said that assartage basically ended in 900 (or so) AD. Are you referring to the post Black Plague period?
But in a broader perspective, much of Europe was under Roman control in the 100-375 AD period, with organized and centralized political controls. As the Roman Empire disintergrated, local strongmen set up small areas of control, in the abandoned areas of Europe. One could say that there was then a frontier, as you could go into the forests, clear an area and it was your (that's assartage). But by 1000 AD, the easily usable land had been brought back into production, i.e. the "frontier" had closed. With the simultaneous rise of the stirrup, from then on it was a matter of who ran things from then on. At least that's what I picked up from my reading of history...