Analysis Of Georges Duby's Rural Economy And Country Life In The Medieval West

In Georges Duby’s article, “Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West,” Duby intends to educate the reader on the economic lives of the peasants, or countrymen, during the ninth and tenth centuries, and also compares them to the modern rural Western world (Duby 161).

He effectively describes and compares the life of these countrymen to the modern world by topically organizing the details of their trade routes, village developments, and most importantly their agricultural style. “Europe of the ninth and tenth centuries was a rural civilization in which seasonal rhythms and patterns of cultivation determined the lifestyles of all…In contrast, today less than 20 percent of the population of the Western world live in rural areas, large-scaled mechanized agriculture is the norm, and television, automobiles, and computers link farmers to the outside world” (Duby 161)

Duby also uses other sources in the article to further validate his view of the countrymen being as skilled in hunting as they were with the plough (Duby 163). For example, Duby cites Alexander Neckham, who was an English teacher in Paris, which wrote Du Nom des Outils, or The Name of Tools. This book states, “…nets, lines and snares for trapping hares and deer amongst the ordinary tools of the peasant household” (Duby