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Capitalism, by Henri Pirenne

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Title: The Stages in the Social History of Capitalism
An Address Delivered at the International Congress of Historical Studies, London, April, 1913

Author: Henri Pirenne

Release Date: May 4, 2010 [eBook #32252]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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THE STAGES IN THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF CAPITALISM[1]

by

HENRI PIRENNE

In the pages that follow I wish only to develop a hypothesis. Perhaps
after having read them, the reader will find the evidence insufficient.
I do not hesitate to recognize that the scarcity of special studies
bearing upon my subject, at least for the period since the end of the
Middle Ages, is of a nature to discourage more than one cautious spirit.
But, on the one hand, I am convinced that every effort at synthesis,
however premature it may seem, cannot fail to react usefully on
investigations, provided one offers it in all frankness for what it is.
And, on the other hand, the kind reception which the ideas here
presented received at the International Congress of Historical Studies
held at London last April, and the desire which has been expressed to me
by scholars of widely differing tendencies to see them in print, have
induced me to publish them. Various objections which have been expressed
to me, as well as my own subsequent reflections, have caused me to
revise and complete on certain points my London address. In the
essential features, however, nothing has been changed.

A word first of all to indicate clearly the point of view which
characterizes the study. I shall