Editing Commercial revolution (section)

===Inflation===
{{Further|Price revolution}}
[[File:Potosì 8 reales 1768 131206.jpg|thumb|right|[[Potosí]] (Bolivia) silver 8 reales, Carlos III, 1768]]
[[File:doubloon.jpg|thumb|right|Spanish gold [[doubloon]] stamped as minted in 1798]]
[[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] legally amassed approximately 180 [[ton]]s of gold and 8200 tons of silver through its endeavors in the [[New World]], and another unknown amount through smuggling,<ref>{{cite book |author=Walton, Timothy R. |title=The Spanish Treasure Fleets |publisher=Pineapple Press (FL) |year= 1994|page=85 |isbn=1-56164-049-2 }}</ref> spending this money to finance wars and the arts. The spent silver, suddenly being spread throughout a previously cash starved Europe, caused widespread inflation.<ref>{{cite book |author=Tracy, James D. |title=Handbook of European History 1400–1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |location=Boston |year= 1994|page=655 |isbn=90-04-09762-7 }}</ref> The inflation was worsened by a growing population but a static production level, low employee salaries and a rising cost of living. This problem, combined with [[underpopulation]] (caused by the [[Black Death]]), affected the system of agriculture. The landholding aristocracy suffered under the inflation, since they depended on paying small, fixed wages to peasant tenants that were becoming able to demand higher wages.<ref name = "Cunningham">{{cite book | title=The Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times | url=https://archive.org/details/growthenglishin01cunngoog | author= Cunningham, William| page= [https://archive.org/details/growthenglishin01cunngoog/page/n35 15] | year=1892 | publisher = University Press}}</ref>  The aristocracy made failed attempts to counteract this situation by creating short-term leases of their lands to allow periodic revaluation of rent. The [[manorial system]] (manor system of lord and peasant tenant) eventually vanished, and the landholding [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocrats]] were forced to sell pieces of their land to maintain their style of living.<ref>{{cite book |author=Danbom, David B. |title=Born in the Country: A History of Rural America (Revisiting Rural America) |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=2006 |page=4 |isbn=0-8018-8459-4 }}</ref>  Such sales transferred ownership to wealthy commoners, who wanted to buy land and thereby increase their social status.  Former "common lands" were fenced by the landed gentry, a process known as "[[enclosure]]" which subsidized the cost of raising livestock (mainly sheep's wool for the [[textile industry]]). This "enclosure" forced the peasants out of rural areas and into the cities, resulting in urbanization.  The increase in the availability of silver coin allowed for commerce to expand in numerous ways.<ref>{{cite book |author=Weatherford, J. McIver |author-link=J. McIver Weatherford |title=Indian givers: how the Indians of the Americas transformed the world |publisher=Fawcett Columbine |location=New York |year=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/indiangivershow000weat/page/15 15] |isbn=0-449-90496-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/indiangivershow000weat/page/15 }}</ref>