This chapter examines the main stages of economic growth and structural change in the Portuguese and Spanish economies and explains the main differences between them and the core European countries. Besides presenting these stages, the chapter also measures the contribution of structural change to economic growth in the long term. Then, the chapter disaggregates further within the three sectors to determine the leading industries at each stage of economic transformation. Finally, the contribution of these sectors to economic growth is studied. Both Iberian countries were latecomers in industrialization and also in agricultural success. With a late start in the mid-nineteenth century in relation to the core European countries, due to both poor factor endowments and institutions, they advanced in terms of structural change during the interwar period and experienced post-1950 growth miracles. Major changes took place when technological change and foreign markets were adapted to their factor endowments. The main differences were the slow path of Portugal in relation to Spain, structural change was less important, with agriculture having a lower (higher) and services a higher (lower) share of GDP and employment during the nineteenth century with the opposite being the case in the twentieth century respectively.

This chapter deals with the konungasögur, the sagas of the Norwegian and Danish kings. Taking a chronological approach, it outlines the development of the genre from the Icelandic, Danish and Norwegian histories of the twelfth century through to the major compilations of the thirteenth century (Morkinskinna, Fagrskinna and Heimskringla) and the substantial manuscript collections of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, such as Flateyjarbók. It stresses the diversity of the sources which the authors of the kings’ sagas incorporated within their works, emphasizing the fundamentally intertextual nature of the konungasaga genre. In discussing the growth of the genre, it highlights the variety of voices, sources and modes contained within these sagas, exemplified in their different approaches to the skaldic verses quoted within their prosimetric structure. Placing Old Norse-Icelandic historiography within the context of historical writing in medieval Europe, the chapter argues that the kings’ sagas offer a polyphonic history of the medieval north, and in doing so explore the process of history-writing itself.

This chapter analyses the reasons behind changes in the intensity with which inventions and other changes in production took place in early modern Iberian polities. Rather than quantifying the impact of science on the economy and determine the direction of causality – two processes that were interconnected – this chapter studies the developments in science, knowledge and technology in relation to what is known about the economic performance of the Iberian economy. It analyses first the improvements in the agrarian sector, before showing some technological advances in the non-agrarian part of the economy. The chapter describes especially the innovations in specific areas of manufacturing like shipbuilding, textiles (woollens, silk and cotton) and mining. The last section discusses the role played by the institutional framework, and it explains how the Iberian monarchies promoted technology and knowledge in different ways.

This chapter presents the evolution of the main demographic variables: population growth and its sources, occupational structure, territorial distribution, and educational levels. Each of these four variables are taken separately to provide a long-run, quantitative description and an analysis based on bibliography. The overall image resulting from overlaps and interactions between the variables suggests three distinct “structural periods”. The first period, which covers most of the nineteenth century, featured remarkably stable structures. In contrast, the second period, from around 1890 to 1980, was an era of major transformations, such as the demographic transition, de-agrarianization, urbanization and mass literacy. After 1980 a third period is found in which demographic change has shifted to a different path involving low population growth, tertiarization, new trends in population geography, and longer schooling periods. The new challenges associated with this last period call for active public policies.

The focus of this chapter is the samtíðarsögur (contemporary sagas) included in the compendium Sturlunga saga, compiled around the beginning of the fourteenth century, which contains narratives dealing largely with the history of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Iceland. The chapter opens by placing Sturlunga saga in the context of other Old Norse-Icelandic historical writing, considering why the distant past of the saga age attracted more attention from Icelandic writers than the period of relatively recent history covered by Sturlunga saga. It outlines what is known of Þórðr Narfason, often identified as the compiler of Sturlunga saga, and describes his interaction with Sturla Þórðarson in 1271−2, considering the possible role of Sturla in the compilation and offering a brief discussion of Sturlu þáttr. The content, structure and themes of the narratives within the compilation are then discussed in turn. The chapter closes with a brief outline of the compilation’s manuscript history, modern editions and critical reception.

This chapter analyses foreign trade and trade routes in the Iberian Peninsula between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries. It overviews the dual circumstances of the Christian kingdoms and of the Muslim al-Andalus over the long term, although it focuses especially on the period between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries, and on events taking place in Castile, Aragon and Portugal. The study tries to answer questions like how were the Iberian trade ties forged, how did the Iberian economies integrate with the Mediterranean and north-European markets, and what role did Iberian and foreign traders play in the commercial gamble. For this purpose, the Iberian trade is examined from three different angles. First, from the routes and the goods traded among the Iberian kingdoms as well as outside Iberia. Second, from the role of agents and institutions. This will involve an analysis of the distinction between local and foreign traders, as well as the influence of institutional frameworks on foreign trade. Finally, the chapter clarifies the reasons why Iberia achieved a leading position in European trade during the later middle ages, and why it spearheaded foreign trade at the dawn of the sixteenth century and the so-called “First Global Age”.

By the year 1000 the Andalusian caliphate constituted a highly urbanized society, where the largest cities in Europe were located, while the economy of the Christian kingdoms of Iberia was characterized by a low level of urbanization and a poor market development. Five hundred years later, the territory of al-Andalus had disappeared and its economy had been absorbed and transformed into the Christian kingdoms. The latter’s territorial expansion was marked by the growth of cities, the impact of trade on the agrarian economy and an increase in rural stratification that, at different levels, made the market important for the satisfaction of needs and peasant consumption. In the Christian kingdoms, a strong increase in noble spending, emulated by urban elites, dedicated to the conspicuous consumption of products partially purchased on the international market, occurred throughout the period. After the Black Death, with the consolidation of a rural elite, important sectors of the population were attracted by the lifestyle of the urban elites. This evolution can also be detectable in the lifestyle of vast sectors of the population, in the cities as well as in the rural areas.

This chapter offers an analysis of the language, metres and forms of Old Norse poetry. It begins with a brief account of Old Norse language and related languages, and then considers the specialized language of Old Norse poetry, with its distinctive lexis and syntax, especially in skaldic verse. Compound words and kennings are discussed, followed by analysis of alliteration and rhyme in Old Norse poetry. The stanzaic form of eddic verse is described, with a detailed account of its main metres and scansions based on Sievers’s ‘five types’. Next, the forms of skaldic poetry are outlined, with an account of lausavísur or ‘loose stanzas’, and the different kinds of stanza sequences, such as the flokkr and the drápa. The primary metre of skaldic verse, dróttkvætt or ‘court metre’, is defined and illustrated, together with some of its many variations, and then attention turns to the rímur, a later form of rhyming and alliterative poetry in extended sequences of stanzas. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how metrical considerations may have affected scribal practice in the Middle Ages and have impacted editorial processes by modern scholars.

This chapter traces the history of Christian poetry in Old Norse-Icelandic from the tenth century to the fourteenth century. Beginning with Hallfreðr Óttarsson, it describes how poets began to incorporate Christian material into their verse during the conversion period in Norway, avoiding pagan imagery and developing new kennings for Christian concepts. It then discusses poetry composed by Icelandic skalds in praise of St Óláfr Haraldsson and his successors, including Einarr Skúlason’s twelfth-century poem Geisli. From the twelfth century onwards the body of Christian poetry is sizeable, and this chapter sets such important works as Harmsól, Sólarljóð and Lilja in the context of this developing poetic tradition. It also outlines the history of Old Norse-Icelandic poetry dealing with saints, including the Virgin Mary, apostles and virgin martyrs. It is suggested that the composition of poems on Christian subjects in praise of God, Christ and the saints was a continuation of the pre-Christian encomiastic tradition, with appropriate modifications of subjects, style and metres.

This chapter focuses on a major subgroup of Islendingasögur, the poets’ sagas or skalds’ sagas. While many Íslendingasögur include skaldic verses placed in the mouths of characters, in poets’ sagas the verses are attributed to and spoken by known poets, who were predominantly Icelanders. The role some of these Icelanders played as court poets to rulers of Norway is often depicted in short narratives or þættir, and is here argued to represent the beginnings of the development of poets’ sagas. Four sagas are concerned with the more personal aspects of the poets’ lives back in Iceland, and the narrative follows a distinct and repeated pattern of rivalry with another man, in some cases also a poet, who marries the object of the protagonist’s desire. These sagas, Kormáks saga, Hallfreðar saga, Bjarnar saga Hítdœkappa and Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, are analysed in detail to highlight the centrality and similarity of the love-triangle pattern, with Egils saga displaying a vestigial element of it. Themes of love, grief and insult (nið) are discussed, and the chapter concludes by contrasting the bitterness of the poets’ rivalries with the strength of their devotion to their patrons.

During the nineteenth century, Iberia entered the path towards modern economic growth. Although industrialization occurred later than in other Western European countries, economic progress ultimately led to an unprecedented improvement in the standards of living. This chapter aims to analyse the evolution of such advances and, when possible, compare Iberia with its Western European counterparts. In so doing, it presents several indicators capturing different dimensions of well-being, average income, consumption patterns, height, life expectancy, and a synthetic measure, the Human Development Index (HDI). Income distribution is examined by looking at alternative inequality indicators: Gini coefficient, the extraction ratio and top income shares. Based on this information the long-run evolution of economic inequality is assessed. All in all, the evidence presented shows that economic progress and well-being significantly improved in Iberia since mid-nineteenth century, although this happened at a slower pace than in Western Europe.