Economic Life and Trade Networks

Despite political fragmentation and periodic warfare, the Merovingian period witnessed considerable economic vitality. The Frankish kingdoms maintained and even expanded trade networks inherited from the Roman period, though the nature and scale of commerce evolved significantly. Mediterranean trade declined but never ceased entirely, with eastern merchants bringing luxury goods like silk, spices, and papyrus to Frankish courts. More significant for most of the population was regional trade in agricultural products, salt, metals, and craft goods.

The monetary system exemplified both continuity and change. Merovingian kings continued to mint gold coins (tremisses) modeled on Byzantine prototypes, maintaining the fiction of imperial authority by including the emperor's name and image. Over time, however, royal control over minting weakened, with churches, monasteries, and even private individuals producing coins. The proliferation of mints and the debasement of currency reflected political decentralization but also indicated widespread commercial activity requiring monetary exchange.

Agricultural production remained the foundation of economic life. The great estates (villae) of the Roman period evolved into the medieval manor system, with dependent cultivators working lands divided between the lord's demesne and tenant holdings. Frankish lords, like their Roman predecessors, extracted surplus through various mechanisms: labor services, shares of crops, and monetary rents. Technical innovations were limited, but the expansion of cultivation into previously marginal lands increased overall production.

Urban life, though diminished from Roman heights, persisted in modified form. Cities shrank within their walls, with substantial areas converted to gardens and orchards. Yet cities retained important functions as episcopal seats, administrative centers, and commercial nodes. Markets operated under royal or episcopal protection, attracting merchants from surrounding regions. Craft production continued, with archaeological evidence revealing workshops producing pottery, metalwork, glass, and textiles.