Ora et Guberna. The Economic Impact of the Rule of St Benedict in Medieval England
92 Pages Posted: 2 Oct 2019 Last revised: 21 Mar 2024
Date Written: May 17, 2019
Abstract
Within the turmoil of the Norman Conquest, did religious institutions affect the economic outcomes of their land? Exploiting historical data about the changes of holdings’ lordship occurred after the Conquest, we compare the economic performance of estates controlled by different types of lords. Holdings controlled by Benedictine Monasteries (vis-à-vis secular lords) experienced a better performance, although, once accounting for the unchanging upper level of the feudal structure, we cannot fully disentangle this effect from the persistence of Benedictine overlordship. A comparison with Celtic monasteries, with a different organisational structure, suggests a role for the governance structure of Benedictine monasteries.
Keywords: Institutions, Growth, Religion, Monasteries, Norman Conquest, Medieval England
JEL Classification: N33 O43 Z12 D70
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation