ABSTRACT
It is widely accepted that in Byzantine Greece the 11th and 12th centuries were a period of economic expansion, marked by a growth in population, an intensification of agricultural production and an increase in the monetisation of the economy. This chapter will consider how these developments affected the economic decisions of peasant farmers and large landowners. The latter had much greater flexibility in decisions about marketing their produce. Some landowners had privileges allowing them to operate boats with exemptions from a range of state impositions. Peasant farmers were much more restricted by environmental constraints and their production was usually diversified to offer some protection against risks from fluctuations in harvest yields, but they were able to take advantage of local conditions to produce cash crops, such as oil and wine, to meet demands for rent and tax. It is likely that there was greater flexibility in decision-making where peasants rented from landowners. Our information about peasant-landowner relations is derived largely from documentation drawn up by state officials in a format that understated local variations. Landowners had the option of collecting payments in kind, whereas imperial tax collectors were concerned primarily with monetary payments. The chapter will emphasise flexibility in economic decision-making in response to environmental and economic conditions and social change.
