Our understanding of the economic foundations of rural society in early medieval north-western Iberia remains wedded to explanations that emphasize the structural limitations that framed human activity while seeking to attenuate the economic agency of non-elite groups and individuals. This article argues that the early medieval peasantry of north-western Iberia was not the staid caricature presented by much of the historiography, but a much more economically dynamic section of society. To demonstrate this dynamism, it uses charters to analyse peasant productive strategies that went beyond subsistence. These reveal that peasants not only dabbled in the land market but invested in non-movable capital goods, with the result that some peasants produced surpluses for the express purpose of exchange by the tenth century, fundamentally altering the contours of their communities from within. By examining the evidence concerning peasant ownership of watermills, the article sheds new light on causal explanations for phenomena as diverse as social mobility, the possibilities of commercial integration, and the logic of market exchange. It concludes by contending that narratives focused on uncovering the beginnings of growth must more readily concede that its origins are to be found both beyond as well as within seigneurial contexts.

中文翻译：

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伊比利亚西北部的农民、市场交易和经济机构，c.850–c.1050

我们对中世纪早期伊比利亚西北部农村社会的经济基础的理解仍然倾向于强调人类活动的结构性限制，同时试图削弱非精英群体和个人的经济机构。本文认为，伊比利亚西北部的早期中世纪农民并不是大部分史学所呈现的古板漫画，而是社会中经济上更具活力的部分。为了展示这种活力，它使用章程来分析超越维持生计的农民生产策略。这些表明，农民不仅涉足土地市场，而且投资于非流动资本品，结果到 10 世纪，一些农民为明确的交换目的生产了剩余，从根本上改变了他们社区的轮廓。通过研究有关农民拥有水车的证据，本文对社会流动性、商业整合的可能性和市场交换逻辑等多种现象的因果解释提供了新的视角。最后，它争辩说，专注于揭示增长开始的叙述必须更容易地承认，它的起源既可以在领主的背景下也可以在领主的背景下找到。