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1. Limiting social mobilityThe three main forms of social mobility are (1) intergenerational mobility, (2) intragenerational mobility (occupational or career mobility), and (3) marital mobility (Social mobility). In all three, the main indicators are profession, possession (Possession [law]), and social prestige [7]; [9].During the early modern period, social status at birth was of paramount importance and acted as a brake on all three forms of social mobility (Estates, society of). It was particularly important among the nobility, w…

1. Global trade Before the advent of refrigerators, fresh foods were subject to rapid spoilage, which put narrow constraints on trade. As a result, highly perishable items such as fish had to be rendered shelf stable for trade through mass production by means of fermentation, drying,  smoking, and pickling (with smoke, salt, or acid) (Foodstuffs, conservation of). Herring and cod became internationally traded commodities and fed the populations of Europe (Food). 1.1. Herring fishing and preservingIn the Middle Ages, there were vast quantities of herring in the Sound…

1. Introduction 1.1. Definition“A world economy,” wrote Fernand Braudel, “always has an urban pole, a city at the logistical hub of its trade. Information, goods, capital, credit, people, orders, and commercial correspondence flow into it and out from it. Great merchants, often rich to excess, call the shots there” (“Une économie-monde possède toujours un pôle urbain, une ville au centre de la logistique de ses affaires; les informations, les marchandises, les capitaux, les crédits, les ho…

1. DefinitionSocial mobility is usually seen as movement between different socio-economic strata of a society, that is, a change between social classes. Social mobility – rise or decline – may be studied in three aspects of life: in comparison to one’s parents (intergenerational mobility), over the course of one’s lifetime (Curriculum vitae; intragenerational mobility), or change of class through matrimony (exogamy or marital mobility). The so-called class system of the first centuries of the ear…

1. IntroductionWhale is the common name for marine mammals of the order Cetacea. They are divided into two sub-orders. The baleen whales ( Mysticeti) are characterized by a sieve-like structure (“baleen”) in the mouth, which is used to filter plankton from the seawater. Toothed whales ( Odontoceti) feed on various species of squid. They also include the narwhals, the tusks of which were traded in the Middle Ages and early modern period, when they were believed to come from unicorns. Baleen whales, especially the Bowhead or Greenland right whale ( Balaena mysticetus), were hunted for a…