Manors and markets in Rhineland, Westphalia and Lippe, 1650-1850

该项目分析了1650年至1850年间北莱茵-威斯特伐利亚五到六个庄园的粮食销售情况。推动这项研究的想法是，区域市场经济和市场社会在庄园粮食储备的日常管理框架内发展到相当大的一部分，其中粮食租金是主要的收入来源。该项目主要有四条调查路线：第一，跟踪销售量和价格，主要是评估区域市场一体化进程。其次，从庄园合同类型和交易伙伴的角度对当地市场进行微观分析。预计这将提供有关市场制度演变的信息，以及当地与区域网络在当地粮食市场运作中的相对重要性。第三，研究了谷物销售的季节性模式，以及谷物库存的额外信息，以检验庄园对其谷物收入的使用是否符合理性投资者的模型。此外，关于拖欠租金和向当地农民出售粮食的资料将用于探索另一种家长式模式，其特点是市场相互联系，精英一方有义务文化。与庄园经济有关的当代手册（主要是所谓的Hausväter-Literatur）将被视为潜在的规范背景，以指导这两种不同模式之间的实际行为。第四，也是最后，探讨了庄园粮食销售管理中的委托代理问题。由于庄园主的所有权不在庄园主的管辖范围内，庄园主负责庄园主的日常管理。这意味着信息不对称，并为管理员的投机行为创造了空间。由于谷物销售必须得到业主的批准，因此这些问题的圆满解决是庄园持续市场行为的先决条件。就方法而言，该项目主要基于两个支柱。一方面，它开发了一个个人粮食销售及其属性的关系数据库，然后可以使用统计工具对其进行分析。另一方面，通过协议、信函等形式对粮租、储销管理进行定性分析，支持和扩展定量分析。对来自不同背景的大约六处庄园进行比较，预计将对粮食市场的演变与区域发展模式之间的关系产生深刻的见解。

The project analyses grain sales of five to six manors in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia during the period c. 1650-1850. The idea motivating this research is that regional market economies and market societies developed to a substantial part within the framework of the everyday administration of grain stocks of manors, for which grain rents consisted a major source of income. The project pursues four main lines of inquiry: First, it tracks sales volumes and prices, mainly to assess processes of regional market integration. Second, it carries out a micro-analysis of local markets with respect to types of contracts and transaction partners of manors. This is expected to yield information on the evolution of market institutions and the relative importance of local vs. regional networks in the operation of local grain markets. Third, seasonal patterns of grain sales, together with additional information on grain stocks are studied in view of testing whether the use that manors made with their grain income conformed to the model of the rational investor. In addition, information concerning arrears on rents and grain sales to local peasants will be used to explore an alternative paternalist model characterized by interlocking markets and a culture of obligation on the side of elites. Contemporary manuals relating to the manorial economy (mainly so-called Hausväter-Literatur) will be considered as a potential normative background orienting actual behaviour between these two contrasting models. Fourth and finally, the project explores principal-agent issues in the management of grain sales by manors. Since absentee ownership was the rule, day-to-day operations were led by administrators residing on the manor. This implied information asymmetries and created room for opportunistic behaviour on the side of the administrator. Since grain sales had to be ratified by owners, satisfactory resolution of these issues formed a prerequisite for consistent market behaviour of the manor. With respect to method the project rests on essentially two pillars. On the one hand, it develops a relational database of individual grain sales and their attributes, which can then be analysed using statistical tools. On the other hand, the quantitative analysis is supported and extended by a qualitative analysis by protocols, letters etc. concerning the management of grain rents, stocks and sales. The comparison of about half a dozen of manors from different contexts is expected to yield insights concerning the relationships between the evolution of grain markets and regional patterns of development.