Sowing the Seeds VIII
Keynote: Professor Oliver Volckart (London School of Economics)
How did medieval societies organize production, distribution, and exchange? What were the relationships between economic systems and political power? How did institutional frameworks shape individual agency and collective outcomes?
This two-day conference offers an exceptional opportunity for researchers to present their work, develop new collaborations, and engage with leading scholars in medieval economic and social history. We invite papers that explore the intersection of economic structures and political organization in medieval societies, broadly construed. Contributions might address labor coercion, fiscal systems, commercial regulation, property rights, governance, or any aspect of the medieval economy viewed through the lens of power, institutions, and political relationships. We particularly encourage submissions from researchers at all stages of doctoral and early postdoctoral careers.
The conference brings together two vibrant research communities: the UK-based Sowing the Seeds network and the Continental European Research Group for Late Medieval Economic History, creating a unique space for dialogue concerning the range of sources and methodologies used in medieval economic history. As a conference shared between LSE and KCL, we also aim to bridge generalist history departments and specialized economic history programs, to foster interdisciplinary conversation and support innovative (and collaborative) scholarship.
This conference will provide a supportive environment for presenting work-in-progress and workshopping new methodologies, where participants can receive constructive feedback from scholars working across diverse theoretical and methodological approaches. The event is designed to foster lasting research networks between UK and Continental European scholars, facilitating the kind of focused, cross-regional and interdisciplinary discussions that deepen our understanding of medieval economies and societies and build opportunities for collaboration.
We welcome papers engaging with medieval political economy but we define this broadly and invite proposals from researchers of all theoretical and methodological backgrounds on any aspect of medieval economic and social history. Regional and temporal boundaries are also broadly defined and we welcome papers from scholars working beyond medieval Europe.
The conference will take place over two days, with the first day at LSE and the second at KCL. Papers will be 20 minutes in length with time for discussion.
Subject to available funding, we expect to offer travel bursaries to support both UK-based and international PhD students and early career researchers. Details will be provided to successful applicants.
Please submit proposals of 300 words to Spike Gibbs (spike.gibbs@kcl.ac.uk) by 31st March 2026.
Thursday November 5th, LSE. Parish Hall (Room PAR 102)
Session 1: 10.00-11.00am - Conflict and Custom
Louis Henry (Stavanger): ‘Don’t Do the Crime If You Can’t Pay the Fine’: Amercements and Local Governance in Late Medieval English Leet Courts
Aviya Doron (LMU Munich): Private Affairs, Public Power: Economic Conflict and Urban Governance in Late Medieval German Towns
Gillian Hollebone (LSE): ‘And he shall clean the lord’s private chamber for two works’: Unfreedom and Obligation in English Custumals from 1155–1348
11.30-11.45am: Coffee
Session 2: 11.45am-1.15pm - Merchants and Trade
Hannah Cole (KCL): ‘Thynges not endurynge that we bye’: Luxury Non-Durable Goods and Anglo-Mediterranean Trading Networks
Karol Banach (Warsaw): Beyond Profit: Non-Commercial Factors in Merchant Careers and Decision-Making in Late Medieval Mazovia
Robin Wheeler (Freie Universität Berlin): Ports & Politics: Customs Duties as Tools of Governance in the Later Hundred Years’ War
1:15 – 2:15pm: Lunch
Session 3: 2.15-3.45pm - Money, Investment and Banking
Zoey Shen (LSE): Currencies in Contest: Monetary Decentralization and Financial Innovation in Song China
Bram Hilkens (Utrecht): Urban Investment, Rural Development, and Inequality in Early Modern Holland
Anna Molnar (Reading): Private Banking, Institutional Power and Female Religious Communities in Late Medieval Central Europe
3:45 – 4:00pm: Coffee
Keynote Lecture: 4.00-5.00pm
Professor Oliver Volckart, LSE
Grand narratives of German history and the political economy of the Holy Roman Empire
5.00-7.00pm: Reception
Friday November 6th, KCL
Session 4: 10.00-11.30am - Inclusion and Exclusion in Economic and Political Development
Carissa Tudor (Amsterdam): Monarchical Pragmatism: Women’s Inclusion in Institutionally Fragmented States
Andrea Aparicio Lozano (Basque Country University): Open-Access Regimes vs Enclosures: Land Appropriation and Rent Formation in Early Medieval North-Western Iberia
Leonardo Cherci (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore): The Feudal Origins of Economic Development: Evidence from Medieval Sicily
11:30 – 11:45am: Coffee
Session 5: 11.45am-1.15pm - Military Innovations and State Capacity
Anders Wieland (Gothenburg): The Medieval Military Revolution and State-Building in England, 1216–1399
Yuankai Jin (LSE) & Ningzhu Wu (LSE): From Military Innovation to Civilian Application: How Institutional Structures Shaped Gunpowder Technology Diffusion in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia
Lienhard Thaler (Vienna): Measly Manors or Capable Domains? Ground Rents and State Capacity of the 13th and 14th Century Counts of Tyrol
1:15 – 2:15pm: Lunch
Session 6: 2.15-3.45pm - Environmental Management and Plague
Arnoud Jensen (Antwerp): The First Green Transition? Forest-Management, Energy and Sustainability in the Late Medieval Southern Low Countries, 1280–1500
Antoni Ginot-Julià (KCL): Defending the Reefs: Jurisdiction, Authority and Coral Fishing in North-Western Mediterranean (14th–16th Centuries)
Maya Elmes Jenkinson (Stirling): Gendered Plague: Sex Selectivity in Plague Mortality in Tudor and Stuart Wales
To enquire about registration, please email: spike.gibbs@kcl.ac.uk
We Acknowledge the generous support of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King’s College London, Department of Economic History, LSE, the Economic History Society and the British Agricultural History Society.
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