Alternative Food Supplies, Alternative Currencies? Food deliveries by tenant farmers in the late medieval Low Countries

Abstract

Why did landlords and farmers in commercialized, monetized economies prefer in-kind payments over cash? In the urbanized core regions of late medieval Europe, urban households and institutions often managed extensive estates in the countryside. This phenomenon, primarily viewed as a capital investment – termed "La trahison de la Bourgeoisie" by Fernand Braudel in 1949 – has been predominantly analyzed in terms of monetary returns, impact on wealth inequality, and agrarian development. However, urban landownership also entailed the potential for direct food deliveries to city dwellers. This paper examines the differing roles of land for urban households in two key medieval Low Countries cities, Ghent and Antwerp, investigating the circumstances and agents behind the use of rents-in-kind as an alternative form of currency. We argue that rents-in-kind were not merely converted into cash as cities expanded. For instance, while Antwerp's population grew in the fifteenth century, so did the significance of cereals as currency in lease contracts. Given the volatile and unpredictable nature of grain markets, having a stable, market-independent access to cereals remained a potent symbol of social status and privilege.