ABSTRACT
Agriculture moved into high gear in the early twelfth century and continued expanding through the thirteenth century, accompanied by an improvement in traction, the spread of water field system. Growth was especially marked on the frontiers from Spain to Slavdom. Although agrarian growth was slowing, that population increased after a drop in the early fourteenth century until the disaster of the plague makes it probable that contemporaries were unaware of it. The medieval town reached its apogee in the 1320s. It was not large, a population of 5,000 being substantial. A hub of communications and a manufacturing centre, a town's relations to the countryside were many faceted and included government, defence, education and transportation. By 1300, commercial growth and the revival of the centralized state had created a pattern of expanding capitals, while middling towns stabilized or shrank, villages amalgamated and small hamlets withered.
