The Tudor Monarchs’ Investigation into Concealed Estates and the Reshaping of English Land Rights
JI Zhe（4）
The Tudor investigation into concealed estates was a historically distinctive phenomenon of the period. It focused on two types of land: those held by knight service and those belonging to chantries. Through sustained inquiry, the Tudor crown reasserted its claims to knight-service tenures and their associated feudal incidents, thereby achieving a more precise legal articulation of the land rights relationship between lord and tenant. At the same time, the crown transformed chantry lands into freeholds characterized by free alienation. Consequently, although feudal land tenure persisted in form, land gradually broke free from personal dependency and status-based obligations, evolving toward modern property rights defined by clear ownership.
Trajectory and Driving Forces of Dutch Agricultural Development, 1348–1800
CAO Junhao（20）
Drawing on existing scholarship, this article examines and revises estimates of agricultural output and productivity in Holland, thereby revealing the long-term trajectory and phase-specific characteristics of Dutch agricultural development between 1348 and 1800. In the late Middle Ages, Holland’s agriculture underwent a transition from grain cultivation to livestock husbandry as the dominant sector. This transition was triggered by ecological crisis and consolidated by international grain imports. From 1514 to 1800, the overall value of agricultural output in Holland exhibited a long term upward trend, characterized by a period of significant growth from 1514 to 1670, a decline from 1670 to 1750, and a renewed phase of rapid growth from 1750 to 1800. Land productivity followed a similar pattern, whereas labor productivity showed only modest growth and experienced phase-specific fluctuations. The status of land property rights was a key factor in Dutch agricultural development from the early sixteenth century to the mid-eighteenth century: the clarification of tenant rights in the early sixteenth century promoted urban investment in land and efficient water management, thereby driving agricultural growth; by contrast, the high land taxes levied over several decades around 1700 weakened the incentive effects of property rights and constrained agricultural development. In addition, factors such as policy, markets, ecology, and urban-rural interaction also significantly influenced agricultural development.
Summons and Consent to Taxation in Medieval England
XU Yetong（40）
The institution that negotiated taxation constituted the organizational origin of representative forms. The principles underlying taxation, namely, tax doctrines, drove the development of representative ideas, which in turn facilitated the formation of representative institutions. As the mechanism of representative forms matured, taxation underwent a transformation from a royal prerogative to a parliamentary public authority, thereby achieving “procedural justice” through representative process. Specifically, this article first examines how, in medieval England, the necessity of negotiating taxation gave rise to the organizational mechanisms of representative forms, explaining how these forms emerged from fiscal practice. It then analyses the tax doctrines of the period to identify the logical starting point from which representative ideas evolved, and explores the conceptual common ground between tax doctrines and representative ideas. Finally, from the perspective of the mutual influence and mutual reinforcement between representative institutions and the tax system, the article investigates how taxation achieved “procedural justice” through the representative process. Here, “procedural justice” in taxation refers to the institutionalized mechanism by which taxpayers, through Parliament, voted on royal tax requests, thereby safeguarding the property rights of taxpayers.
Christianity and Charlemagne’s Promotion of Imperial Integration: Centered on the Council of 813
DANG Jiayu（58）
In 813, Charlemagne leveraged the organizational structure of Christianity to further the political integration of the Carolingian Empire. Christianity possessed a hierarchically ordered ecclesiastical system within the empire’s territories, which Charlemagne incorporated into his governance framework, thereby enabling the Church, under the auspices of secular authority, to assume the function of advancing the empire’s political integration. That year, Charlemagne first convened nearly simultaneous church councils in five imperial cities, where discussions were conducted by region, and subsequently held a centralized deliberation at Aachen. Charlemagne set the agenda and meticulously selected the conveners of the councils. During the meetings, the episcopal body deliberated on the designated issues, drafted the council decrees, reached collective decisions, formulated capitularies, and ensured the transmission of these rulings down the hierarchical chain to the local level. The decrees emphasized that they were issued under the authority of both God and the emperor, reflecting the collaborative efforts of Christianity and the monarchy to establish imperial order. The collective councils of 813 epitomize Charlemagne’s drive for imperial integration, demonstrating that even in the later years of his reign he retained effective control over the empire. They also indicate that Christianity played a pivotal role in the formation of European civilization during the early Middle Ages.
The Early Modernization of Finland（1809–1855）
LIU Xin（79）
In the first half of the 19th century, following the political reorganization of the Baltic region, the Grand Duchy of Finland embarked on early economic modernization under Russian rule. Through the development of “non-industrial forms” of economic activity, namely trade, finance, and shipping, Finland’s economy became embedded within the imperial Russian system and engaged in institutional co-construction. The reorientation of trade under Russian auspices integrated Finland’s economy with that of the Russian Empire, facilitated the market transformation of agriculture and handicrafts, and fostered the development of inland waterways. Finland also actively leveraged imperial reforms to build its own financial system, thereby achieving an initial stage of financial modernization. In the fields of navigation and shipbuilding, Finland’s existing strengths complemented the military needs of the Russian Empire, resulting in mutual economic reinforcement and a symbiosis of interests. It was by drawing on the political and economic advantages of the Baltic region that Finland was able to embark on its early path to modernization within the imperial framework.
The Anglo-French Commercial Rivalry in India from the 17th Century to the Early 19th Century
QI Yufeng（96）
Since the 17th century, as European demand for Asian commodities continued to grow, India gradually became a strategic linchpin in the overseas trade systems of both England and France. In pursuit of profit, both nations established their own East India Companies, expanding into the Indian market, particularly in textiles, in a bid to secure trade monopolies and high returns. During this period, the commercial rivalry between England and France intensified, manifesting in conflicts over trade, regional management, and ultimately a series of military confrontations. Over the course of this century-long commercial war, the English East India Company initially obtained its charter. In 1813, the British Parliament abolished the Company’s trade monopoly, thereby promoting the prosperity of British trade in India. In contrast, France, still under the ancien régime, remained unable to break free from a state-controlled model, which ultimately rendered the French East India Company unsustainable.
The Interaction between the Late Ming Taizhou School and the Jesuits
DONG Baomin（110）
During the Wanli period, Taizhou scholars represented by Wang Gen and He Xinyin initiated a movement of “popular Confucianism” with proto-Enlightenment characteristics, operating through an extensive network of lectures (jianghui) spread across cities and countryside. This dissolution of orthodox Confucian ritual norms and the concomitant development of social networks provided an initial cognitive buffer zone and interpersonal framework that enabled the Jesuits, led by Matteo Ricci, to embed themselves in late Ming society through their strategy of “cultural accommodation”. However, because the Taizhou scholars ultimately failed to break free from the constraints of traditional autocratic monarchy and patriarchal ethics, and lacked a unified political program, their horizontal social mobilization rapidly disintegrated under the political suppression of the Zhang Juzheng era. From the perspective of economic and social history, this article examines the process by which unofficial networks in the late Ming received and engaged with Western learning, revealing that in the absence of modern conceptions of rights and legal safeguards, mere moral subjectivity, however awakened, could not accomplish genuine knowledge transformation or social change.
