>> They used to produce most of stuff by themselves, because functional market requires good roads and a lot of people Do you have any data that supports it?

>> They used to produce most of stuff by themselves, because functional market requires good roads and a lot of people Do you have any data that supports it? I think it is fair to say that at least in Europe both Western and Eastern from onset of Middle Ages people living in villages were actually able to travel to the adjacent towns and to yearly market fairs. That wasn't a daily trip of course but I do not see an issue of farmer exchanging some bags of flour for some clothes once in two years. >> And if course, if you are buing it, you need to produce a lot more food, so that you can sell it or exchange it. Well, yeah, that's generally an intention when you are a farmer :) Also farmers were serfs often and had to give up some part of what they gathered.