Volksreichtum

…In England, serfdom was virtually abolished by the 14th century, and by the 15th century feudal land ownership had disintegrated, with a significant portion of the population consisting of independent self-employed peasants (especially yeomen) with small freeholds of their own. In many cases, yeomen (the upper class of peasants) and gentlemen (small landowners) also became weavers in the development of the woolen textile industry, and these middle-class producers who were part farmer and part craftsman created Volksreichtum (people's wealth) as the bearers of new productive forces, and eventually began to form the starting point of industrial capital (manufacture) based on this wealth. In order for producers to rise to become modern capitalists in opposition to the natural economy and guilds of the Middle Ages, they had to be backed by a corresponding level of productive force, which presupposes the accumulation of wealth in the form of money, so the formation of people's wealth by these independent self-employed peasants was the starting point of modernization. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Volksreichtum" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…イギリスでは農奴制は14世紀には事実上なくなり，15世紀には封建的土地所有は分解して，人口のかなりの部分は自分たちの小さな自由保有地をもつ独立自営農民(とりわけヨーマン)から成っていた。多くの場合ヨーマン(農民上層)とジェントルマン(小地主層)は，毛織物工業の展開のなかで織元を兼ね，これら半農半工の中産的生産者層は新たな生産力の担い手として〈民富Volksreichtum〉を生み出し，やがてこの富に基づいて産業資本(マニュファクチュア)の出発点を形成しはじめた。生産者が中世の自然経済やギルドに対抗して近代的な資本家に上昇していくためには，それに見合うだけの生産力の裏づけをもたねばならず，貨幣形態をとった富の蓄積を前提とするから，彼ら独立自営農民による民富の形成が近代化の出発点であった。…

※「Volksreichtum」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報