CHAPTER III. 



AGRICULTURE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, OR FROM THE FIFTH 

 TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



IN the ages of anarchy and barbarism, which succeeded the 

 fall of the Roman power in Europe, agriculture appears to have 

 been abandoned, or at least extremely neglected. Pasturage, 

 in troublesome times, is always preferred to tillage, because 

 sheep or cattle may be concealed from an enemy, or driven 

 away on his approach ; but who would sow without a certainty 

 of being able to reap ? Happily, the weaknesses of mankind 

 sometimes serve to mitigate the effects of their vices. Thus, 

 the credulity of the barbarians of those times led them to respect 

 the religious establishments, and in these were preserved such 

 remains of letters and of arts as have escaped utter destruction. 

 These institutions were at first very limited, both in their build- 

 ings and possessions, and the inhabitants were frugal and virtu- 

 ous in their habits ; but in a very few years, by the grants of 

 the rich warriors, they acquired extensive possessions, erected 

 the most magnificent buildings, and lived in abundance and 

 luxury. Their lands were cultivated by servants, under the 

 direction of the priests, who would have recourse for information 

 to the Roman agricultural writers, which, in common with such 

 other books as then existed, were to be found almost exclusively 

 in their libraries. We know little of the progress of agriculture, 

 under these circumstances, for nearly ten centuries, when it 

 began to revive throughout Europe, among the lay proprietors. 



Agriculture in Italy during the Middle Ages. Little is 

 known of the agriculture of Italy from the time of Pliny till that 

 of Crescenzio, a senator from Bologna, whose work, " In Commo- 

 dum Ruralium," written in 1300, was first printed at Florence, 

 in 1478. From some records, however, it appears that irrigation 

 had been practised in Italy before the year 1037. The monks 

 of Chiarevalle had formed extensive works of this kind, and 

 had become so celebrated as to be consulted and employed as 



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