An agent-based model for exploring the combined effects of social and demographic changes on the concentration and hierarchy of rural settlement patterns in North-Western Europe during the Middle Ages (800–1200 CE)

•In North-Western Europe (800–1200 CE) settlement patterns had changed dramatically.•An agent-based model is built to simulate these changes.•Simulation results show the emergence of enduring hierarchical population clusters.•Demographic growth is not the primary cause of increasing settlement hierarchy.•Yet with demographic growth, simulation results better match the empirical data.