Mediterranean economies in the late Middle Ages (1350-1500): crises, reconstruction, restructuring – ECOMED

ECOMED’s approach involves breaking down barriers between disciplines, historiographies, and geographic regions through complementary methods: an inventory in the form of an open-access database and comprehensive monographs.

1) The first core consists of developing a typology and a mapping of written archives and archaeological remains from the three geographical areas of the Mediterranean between 1350 and 1500, in the form of a bibliographic, historical, and archaeological database covering all the themes under consideration. This database – designed and updated by the two ECOMED postdocs – will be accessible online, open, and collaborative, designed for both manual consultation and for the export and processing of datasets via queries. It comprises two interconnected subsets. On the one hand, a thematic bibliographic database created using ZoteroGroup and updated throughout the project. It currently contains 2,630 references. Second, a relational, georeferenced historical and archaeological database created using Heurist. This database aims to compile, structure, and connect particularly significant and discriminating indicators in order to identify underlying correlations. Its architecture is based on a collection of “places” (regions and localities, which can be overlaid), characterized according to a standardized nomenclature and uniform variables. In addition to places, a number of subsidiary blocks and connections describe relational or cross-cutting phenomena (trade flows and treaties, monetary production and circulation, unrest and conflicts, etc.).

In this way, we will eventually have a critical inventory of sources and data, methodologies, and research projects to be carried out on an interdisciplinary basis.

2) The second pillar is built on collective syntheses covering ECOMED’s five main themes (Work Packages = WP): WP1 – The typology of sources; WP2 – Environmental challenges and social resilience; WP3 – Production and markets: intensification and diversification of resources; WP4 – State adaptation in the face of crises; WP5 – Societies that adapt and reorganize. Each WP is the subject of a workshop at the end of the academic year. Drawing on entries from the database and a historiographic compilation on a regional basis, a pair of researchers—one working on the Latins, the other on the Byzantine or Muslim worlds—is tasked with delivering an initial synthesis. This version, discussed in a session and then expanded, is subsequently finalized during a writing workshop and will form a chapter of a comprehensive monograph. Particular attention is paid to certain regions (the Maghreb, Egypt, the Balkans, communal Italy, the Crown of Aragon, Provence, and Languedoc). Repeating this process four times allows for the preparation of two monographs.

The planned deliverables include an open-access geolocated database, two overview publications, and two conference proceedings on more specific topics.

A discussion on data and methodology took place during the kick-off meeting (Milan, June 2024, ecomed.hypotheses.org/274). The cross-cutting themes of WP2 (environmental challenges and social resilience) were addressed during a meeting in Madrid (April 2025; ecomed.hypotheses.org/366) and subsequently at a writing workshop (October 13–14, 2025). These topics presented a historiographical and methodological challenge, as no recent synthesis exists on demographic and environmental changes from the late Middle Ages across the Mediterranean basin. A third meeting in Zaragoza (WP3, June 1–4, 2026) and another in Aubervilliers (on southern France between 1350 and 1500, November 3–5, 2026) are planned.

Collaborative work on data collection and entry into the database has progressed (https://ecomed.hypotheses.org/600). As of April 1, 2026, the ECOMED database contains nearly 7,000 data points for nearly 873 localities. These consist primarily of demographic estimates, epidemic episodes, and famines. Their statistical and cartographic analysis highlights the complexity of population trends in the Mediterranean world during the late Middle Ages. These initial datasets confirm the methodological challenges raised by the ECOMED project. Relied on scientific literature and existing sources, they illustrate the great heterogeneity of the available data: 1) spatially, as data that is abundant in the West is less numerous for the Balkans, Anatolia, and the Levant, and even scarce for Egypt and the Maghreb; 2) chronologically, as the 14th and first half of the 15th centuries are less well-documented for the Eastern Mediterranean; 3) depending on the type of available documentation, due to difficulties in interpreting Ottoman defters and the lack of quantitative data in the Maghreb, whereas Western serial documentation allows for relatively reliable estimates.

Paleoclimatic and seismic data vary in granularity and are unevenly distributed, due to differing levels of access to field sites and research equipment. While significant updates are underway, North Africa and parts of the Levant remain largely underrepresented. As of April 2025, a review of available catalogs had identified more than 950 seismic events (1325–1525).

These data also raise the issue of the difficult relationship between specific information drawn from archival sources (the ECOMED survey covers less than two centuries) and the longer timescale of archaeological or geological documentation (paleoclimatic data often span millennia).

The WP3 meeting will take place in Zaragoza (June 1–4, 2026), and meetings for WP4 (2027) and WP5 (2028) are planned.

However, we decided to reallocate our resources to add two academic events, the scientific co-direction of which has been entrusted to each of the postdoctoral researchers recruited by ECOMED. First, given the dynamism of Italian and Spanish economic history, it seemed necessary to raise the profile of the work carried out by young researchers. This is why we sought to bring together PhD graduates from the past 15 years who have worked on southern France between 1350 and 1500, so that they can present their work and discuss it with more experienced researchers (November 3–5, 2026). The publication of the proceedings from this conference is planned.

Furthermore, the issue of monetary circulation emerged as a fruitful area, allowing for the integration of contributions from archival and archaeological documentation. Indeed, the abundance of monetary data in an archaeological context (treasures and isolated finds), along with renewed research on precious metal mines and mint workshops, encourages the consolidation of currently disparate information into a database that would enable the creation of regional syntheses and the development of a comprehensive picture of the circulation of coins and precious metals throughout the Mediterranean (February 1–3, 2027). The aim is to determine the scale of circulation of various types of coins by fostering dialogue among previously compartmentalized historiographies. The conference will result in a sub-database dedicated to coins found in the Mediterranean, sites for the extraction and processing of ores (particularly silver), and mints in operation during the 14th and 15th centuries. The publication of the proceedings from the 2027 meeting is already being planned. Thus, we hope to reexamine the issue of the circulation of metals and coins, as well as episodes of monetary famine, their origins (shortage of materials, state failure), and their consequences (high prices, slowdown in trade, speculation, etc.).

Furthermore, with the symposium for WP5 scheduled for fall 2028, the final deliverable will be finalized after the conclusion of this ANR grant, and its results should be submitted for evaluation to the Publications de l’EFR.

Building on our collective work, several avenues can be explored, depending on the availability of resources. Submitting an ERC proposal would likely be complex, as the PRC instrument does not allow access to bridge funding without a new evaluation. However, the new five-year EFR contract (2029–2034) and the three-year contract for the Casa de Velázquez (2029–2034) could enable the submission of a proposal for a structuring program.

The ECOMED project (Economies of the Mediterranean at the end of the Middle Ages, 1350-1500) brings together some 41 researchers from Spain, France, Italy and Greece, all of whom are specialized in the study of the Mediterranean worlds and are particularly interested in questions related to interculturality and the interconnection between different societies. It starts from the observation that there is a divergence between historiographies concerning Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, the former being based on a body of research on climate, the effects of the plague and the economic situation, which is still largely lacking for the Mediterranean area.
The project considers the Mediterranean area as a unique space where the questions are posed in the same way. The heterogeneity of the documentary regime of the Byzantine, Muslim and Christian worlds has given rise to very different historiographies, although the problems encountered are similar: the presence and recurrence of the plague, the multiplication of famines and famines in a climate that had become unstable and tended to be wetter and colder at the beginning of the "Little Ice Age", the political instability manifested by incessant and devastating wars and state recompositions constitute facts that are common to the entire basin.
The relevance of a divergence in the 15th century between the South and the North must be examined, as must the differences between East and West, while all the evidence also points to practices favouring interculturality between the Muslim and Christian worlds. The ECOMED project will study the environmental challenges encountered on both sides of the sea; agricultural and artisanal production; the use and circulation of raw materials and merchandises; the institutions and conflicts structuring the period and the area; and social mobility and growth.