William James Ashley (1899 biography) taught a course on the mediaeval economic history of Europe that required reading knowledge of Latin that was indeed tested as can be seen in his examination questions transcribed below.
Earlier posts with material from Ashley’s economic history courses:
University of Toronto Economic History Exams (1891)
Economic History Module in Introductory Economics Course (1896)
Modern Economic History (1899-1900)
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Course Enrollment
[Economics] 10. Professor Ashley. — The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. 2 hours.
Total 14: 7 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 2 Juniors.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1895-96, p. 63.
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Course Description
[10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Tu., Th., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.]
Omitted in 1897-98.
The object of this course is to give a general view of the economic development of society during the Middle Ages. It will deal, among others, with the following topics:— the manorial system in its relation to mediaeval agriculture and serfdom; the merchant gilds and the beginnings of town life and of trade; the craft gild and the gild-system of industry, compared with earlier and later forms; the commercial supremacy of the Hanseatic and Italian merchants; the trade routes of the Middle Ages and of the sixteenth century; the merchant adventurers and the great trading companies; the agrarian changes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the break-up of the mediaeval organization of social classes; the appearance of new manufactures and of the domestic industry.
Special attention will be devoted to England, but that country will be treated as illustrating the broader features of the economic evolution of the whole of western Europe; and attention will be called to the chief peculiarities of the economic history of France, Germany and Italy.
Students will be introduced in this course to the use of the original sources, and they will need to be able to translate easy Latin.
It is desirable that they should already possess some general acquaintance with mediaeval history, and those who are deficient in this respect will be expected to read one or two supplementary books, to be suggested by the instructor. The course is conveniently taken after, before, or in conjunction with History 9; and it will be of especial use to those who intend to study the law of Real Property.
Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (1897-98), pp. 31-32.
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1895-96
ECONOMICS 10.
Mid-year examination
I.
To be first attempted by all.
Translate, and comment, on the following passages: —
- Totius terrae descriptio diligens facta est, tam in nemoribus quam in pascuis et pratis, nec non in agriculturis, et verbis communibus annotata in librum redacta est.
- In Tineguella…sunt iiii hidae et dimidia ad geldum Regis. Et de istis tenet xx homines xx virgas terrae. Et xiii homines tenent vi virgas et dimidiam.
- Sicut traditum habemus a patribus, in primitivo regni statu post conquisitionem, regibus de fundis suis non auri vel argenti pondera sed sola victualia solvebantur.
- Plerique, cum aut aere alieno aut magnitudine tributorum aut injuria potentiorum premuntur, sese in servitutem dicunt nobilibus, quibus in hos eadem omnia sunt jura quae dominis in servos.
- Ceteris servis non in nostrum morem, descriptis per familiam ministeriis, utuntur. Suam quisque sedem, suos penates regit.
II.
Write on four only of the following subjects.
- The importance of the yardland in the rural economy of the Middle Ages.
- A history of the mark theory, from its first promulgation to its general acceptance.
- A comparison of the life of a mediaeval English village with that of a New England village of today.
- The Roman colonate.
- An account and criticism of Mr. Seebohm’s “Tribal System in Wales.”
Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume: Examination Papers. Mid-Years, 1895-96.
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1895-96
ECONOMICS 10.
Final Examination
I.
To be first attempted by all.
Comment on the following passages, and translate those in Latin and French: —
- If a man agree for a yard of land, or more, at a fixed rent, and plough it; if the lord desire to raise the land to him to service and to rent, he need not take it upon him, if the lord do not give him a dwelling.
- Ego Eadward…rex…dedi X manentes in illo loco qui dicitur aet Stoce be Hysseburnam, cum omnibus hominibus qui in illa terra errant qando AElfred rex viam universae carnis adiit.
- Magnates regni et alii minores domini qui tenentes habebant perdonarunt redditum de redditu ne tenentes abirent prae defectu servorum et caristia rerum.
- Whan Adam dalf and Eve span,
Wo was thane a gentilman? - Nul ne deit rien achater a revendre en la vile meyme, fors yl serra Gildeyn.
- Cives Londoniae debent LX marcas pro Gilda telaria delenda ita ut de cetero non suscitetur.
- No one of the trade of Spurriers shall work longer than from the beginning of the day until curfew rings out at the church of St. Sepulchre.
II.
Write on four only of the following subjects:
- The economic and constitutional questions involved in recent discussions as to the beginnings of town life in mediaeval Europe.
- A comparison of a mediaeval merchant gild with a modern “trust,” and of a craft gild with a modern trade union.
- The extent and character of the public regulation of prices and wages in the later middle ages.
- The cause of the Peasant Revolt in 1381.
- The relation of the English Reformation to the origin of the Poor Laws.
- A criticism of Cunningham and McArthur’s Outlines of English Industrial History.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1896-97. Section: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government, Economics, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1896), pp. 45-46.