History of Capitalism - Enclosures and The Transition From Feudalism

Enclosures and The Transition From Feudalism

The transition from the feudal organization of society to the earliest forms of capitalism happened in periods differing from country to country. The earliest phase appears to be in North Italy, according to Cambridge political philosopher and historian Quentin Skinner. This development was noticed in the 12th century by German bishop Otto of Freising, who recorded the growth of town life, the loyalty of landed nobility to town authorities, and the emergence of republicanism and belief in civic liberty.

In Scotland, during the 18th century, crofters were dispossessed of the land to which they were bonded and which allowed them to be self-sufficient. The Lairds confiscated the land which was property of the clan. Between 1773-4, 1500 people emigrated from the county of Sutherland to the Colonial America. Later in the 18th century, others were both driven from the land and forbidden to emigrate. In Sutherland, between 1814–20, the remaining 15,000 inhabitants, about 3000 families, were systematically hunted and rooted out. Their villages were pulled down and burnt, and their fields turned into pasturage. It was reported that "British soldiers enforced this eviction, and came to blows with the inhabitants. One old woman was burnt to death in the flames of the hut, which she refused to leave. Thus this fine lady appropriated 794,000 acres (3,210 km2) of land that had from time immemorial belonged to the clan ... In the year 1835 the 15,000 Scottish crofters were already replaced by 131,000 sheep. A similar disruptive transition took place in England, Germany, Poland and India, though mercantilism was the dominant economic system for many nations as they transitioned from a fully 'state' operated feudal system to capitalism.

For Paul Virilio, the transition from feudalism to capitalism was driven not primarily by the politics of wealth and production techniques but by the mechanics of war. Virilio argues that the traditional feudal fortified city disappeared because of the increasing sophistication of weapons and possibilities for warfare. For Virilio, the concept of siege warfare became rather a war of movement. In Speed and Politics, he argues that 'history progresses at the speed of its weapons systems'.