ABSTRACT
Historians of technology have argued for decades that the development of medieval milling is of crucial importance to understanding how the transition from feudalism to modernity occurred. This chapter explores the issue of monastic philanthropy and innovation. It then moves onto an examination of the profitability of ecclesiastical milling for different orders and houses, followed by discussions of the differences in policy and orientation of the various houses with respect to mill management, the growth of non-seigneurial milling on ecclesiastical estates, mill acquisition through grant, purchase and construction, and ecclesiastical involvement in industrial milling. It discusses the range of factors which shaped the development of ecclesiastical milling in medieval England. A long-standing debate in medieval studies continues to focus on the extent to which class structure; commercialization or demographic factors were the main drivers of social and economic change in the Middle Ages, the various positions owing their pedigrees in turn to Marx, Pirenne, and Malthus and Ricardo.
