Blog

  • Danzig’s Great Mill and the renown of its master mill builder

    The city of Gdańsk has a historical centre with several striking buildings which can make any historian’s heart beat faster, even with the knowledge that they were partly rebuilt after the destructions of World War II. Most interesting from the perspective of early technology and industry are the magnificent fifteenth-century Crane along the River Motława, Read more

  • Project Conference: The Comparative History of the Grain Trade, c.1500-1800

    The Politics of the English Grain Trade Project are hosting a two-day conference, 9-10 June 2025 at All Souls College, Oxford, on the comparative history of the grain trade. The trade in grain and bread in early modern Europe has been studied from various perspectives. The international grain trade is one of them. From the late Read more

  • Local Milling Monopolies and the Lack of Milling Capacity in Early Modern Sweden

    The next in our series of guest blogs for 2024 which explore issues relating to the grain trade across Europe in the period 1315-1815. Mills were among the most important infrastructure in Early Modern Europe, as grain – which was the main source of calories for premodern populations – had to be ground before consumption. Read more

  • Mulling over the Millers: Insights on Guild and Governance in Eighteenth-Century Brussels.

    This blog is the first in a series of guest blogs planned for 2024 which explore issues relating to the grain trade across Europe in the period 1315-1815. The city of Brussels was, among others, home to the millers’ guild, a group which up until the second half of the eighteenth century held the privilege Read more

  • Eating hand to mouth: The domestic milling sector in England

    Bread has always been a dietary staple in England. Today bread is mass-produced and the majority of us in England buy our bread from the supermarkets. However, despite being a dietary staple, consumption of bread has decreased over the centuries. In the past bread, along with other grain-based staples such as ale and oatmeal, comprised Read more

  • Interventions in the food market: public grain stocks in pre-industrial Europe

    For the last seventy years or so people in western Europe have been able to rely on the free market to provide them with a great variety of foodstuffs at affordable prices.  Currently, however, food prices in the supermarkets of western European countries are rising dramatically and in some cases customers encountered empty shelves. Households Read more