ABSTRACT
The concept of a threshold between the medieval and modern period now seems to be fairly solidly established. It is based on a series of postulates which do not withstand much critical reflection. The first of these is the concept that the Middle Ages existed in its own right, that there was a well defined medieval time, as well as a medieval society. A second is the myth of a Renaissance which was victorious both in artistic and intellectual terms, and which in a superficial and almost inevitable way these same authors cheerfully amalgamate more or less explicitly with a renewal of economic activities, techniques and structures. In the most simple terms scholars describe the feudal economy as being subject to the feudal seigneurs, subject to their way of life, their preoccupations, their culture, to the ways in which they managed their estates, which were, they hold, so different from modern capitalism.
