Project Gutenberg 2010-05-04 Public domain in the USA. 303 Pirenne, Henri 1862 1935 Pirenne, Jean Henri Otto Lucien Marie Pirenne, H. (Henri) The Stages in the Social History of Capitalism An Address Delivered at the International Congress of Historical Studies, London, April, 1913 E-text prepared by Fritz Ohrenschall, Martin Pettit, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team "The Stages in the Social History of Capitalism" by Henri Pirenne is a historical account written in the early 20th century. The book explores the evolution of capitalism from the Middle Ages to modern times, focusing on the characteristics and origins of different classes of capitalists throughout various economic epochs. It presents an analysis of how social transformations influenced the capitalist class, suggesting that at each significant change in economic organization, a new group of capitalists emerges, discontinuous with those of the previous era. In this work, Pirenne argues that capitalism has ancient roots, existing in varying forms during the Middle Ages, particularly in urban centers like Venetian, Genoan, and Tuscan city-states. He traces the transitions from early agricultural economies to the rise of commercial practices in medieval towns, highlighting figures like St. Godric of Finchale as examples of early capitalists who accumulated wealth through trade. As economic structures evolved into more complex systems, the nature of capitalists shifted, leading to the emergence of new classes influenced by changing conditions and regulations. The book concludes that each class of capitalists starts with an innovative spirit, but ultimately becomes conservative as they seek to maintain their status amid increasing regulations and competition, reflecting the cyclical nature of economic history. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 46.3 (College-level). Difficult to read. en Capitalism HB Text Category: History - Other Category: Economics 98734 2025-08-13T08:07:29.513886 text/html 97337 2010-05-04T11:48:35 text/html 2565615 2025-08-13T08:07:50.289290 application/epub+zip 2555399 2025-08-13T08:07:38.915817 application/epub+zip 95821 2025-08-13T08:07:31.581884 application/epub+zip 18303947 2025-08-13T08:07:54.648340 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 18284626 2025-08-13T08:07:42.837293 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 209785 2022-09-15T03:43:58.554911 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 83304 2025-08-13T08:07:29.138869 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 83137 2010-05-04T11:45:57 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 83166 2010-05-04T11:45:57 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 20469 2025-08-13T08:07:54.798238 application/rdf+xml 15947 2025-08-13T08:07:32.083857 image/jpeg 3600 2025-08-13T08:07:31.831898 image/jpeg 31750 2010-05-04T11:45:57 application/octet-stream application/zip 2496009 2010-05-04T11:53:46 application/octet-stream application/zip 31715 2010-05-04T11:45:57 application/octet-stream application/zip 2572095 2025-08-13T08:07:29.586921 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia