Our Daily Bread: Christian Economies in the Early Medieval West

如果不承认教会作为合法的、广泛的和成熟的机构的作用，就不能理解早期的中世纪经济，也不能在不考虑散布在欧洲各地的许多教堂、修道院和宗教当局所在地的周围经济基础设施的情况下，正确地评价教会对中世纪社会形成的贡献。基督教的社会经济和政治影响远远超出了其明显的宗教重要性：事实上，它是区分罗马帝国和后罗马时代的一个相当重要的因素。在罗马帝国中，宗教以一种实质性的、但结构上不同的方式为经济生活做出贡献，而在后罗马时代，教堂在财富的积累和分配过程中发挥了重要作用。在这个联合项目中，我们设想从7世纪到9世纪初的基督教经济与其在4世纪帝国的萌芽阶段有本质上的不同。此外，在从600到900年的三个世纪里，基督教经济也容易在其自己的边界内发生变化，取决于地区和时间，从而反映了彼得·布朗所定义的微型基督教的社会多样性。

Early medieval economy cannot be understood without acknowledging the role of the churches as rightful, widespread and fully fledged institutions, nor indeed can the churches contribution to the formation of medieval society be properly appreciated without considering the surrounding economic infrastructures of the many churches, abbeys and seats of religious authorities scattered all over Europe. Christianity had a socioeconomic and political impact that stretched far beyond its obvious religious importance: it was in fact a rather significant factor in remarking the distinction between the Roman Empire, in which religion contributed to the economic life in a substantial, but structurally different way, and the post-Roman period, in which churches played a major part in the processes of wealth accumulation and distribution. In this joint-project, we envisage Christian economy from the seventh to the early ninth century to be inherently different when compared to its germinal phase in the fourth-century Empire. Moreover, Christian economy was also susceptible to change within its own boundaries, depending on region and time, in the three centuries from 600 to 900, thus reflecting what Peter Brown has defined as the social variety of Micro-Christendoms.