Page 77 - Mocarelli, Luca, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2020. Maize to the People! Cultivation, Consumption and Trade in the North-Eastern Mediterranean (Sixteenth-Nineteenth Century). Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 77
innovations in agr icultur e and population growth in fr iuli ...
century, but it is difficult to think only of short-term causes. After reaching
one of its lows, the population began to rise. In 1606, there were fewer than
190,000 inhabitants; in 1628, about 200,000. The following year, the terri-
tory faced the greatest early-modern demographic crisis. Contrary to what
had occurred in much of northern Italy, the crisis was not brought about by
the plague, which only marginally affected Friuli in 1630, but by a terrible
famine that plagued the territory in 1629. We do not know the quantitative
outcome of the mortality crisis of that year, although it could have caused a
decrease of about 20% of the population.
Many poor people, driven from the countryside, sought refuge and
salvation in urban centres, e.g. in Udine, the capital of Friuli, and also in
Venice. According to the Venetian chronicles of the time, 1629 was long re-
membered as “the year of the Friulians” (Ulvioni 1989, 39). Although we do
not know how serious the decline in the population was from the year be-
fore the crisis to 1656, the population there reached only 210,000 inhabit-
ants. From 1656 to 1725 we observe a further increase which saw the popu-
lation reach 300,000 by the end of the period.
The period investigated in this paper belongs to the phase of popu-
lation growth that extends from the crisis of 1629 to the mid-seventeenth
century. The analysis is based on two documents, one drawn up at the end
of 1629 or at the beginning of 1630, and the other in 1656. Like all the cen-
suses carried out by the Republic until the second half of the eighteenth
century, the territorial unit of reference for the collection of information
was the community, and the trackers were the village heads (Fornasin and
Veronese 1999; Fornasin 2001; Fornasin and Lorenzini 2019).
The first survey considered was directly promoted by the Venetian
government following the crisis of 1629. The authorities wanted to know
the quantitative results of the famine to predict with reasonable approx-
imation what might happen in the near future, in particular with regard
to population flows. As I have already noted, the crisis led to a very strong
rise in mortality, but it also gave rise to important migration towards cer-
tain urban centres, in particular Venice. It was, therefore, important to un-
derstand what the consequences would be for the consumption of cereals
in the city. One of the objectives, therefore, was to establish what quanti-
ties of grains Venice should bring together from the other provinces of the
domain to deal with the emergency. The census results consisted of a list of
628 villages, for each of which the inhabitants are divided between home-
ni, done and putti (men, women and children). Then there are two further
75
century, but it is difficult to think only of short-term causes. After reaching
one of its lows, the population began to rise. In 1606, there were fewer than
190,000 inhabitants; in 1628, about 200,000. The following year, the terri-
tory faced the greatest early-modern demographic crisis. Contrary to what
had occurred in much of northern Italy, the crisis was not brought about by
the plague, which only marginally affected Friuli in 1630, but by a terrible
famine that plagued the territory in 1629. We do not know the quantitative
outcome of the mortality crisis of that year, although it could have caused a
decrease of about 20% of the population.
Many poor people, driven from the countryside, sought refuge and
salvation in urban centres, e.g. in Udine, the capital of Friuli, and also in
Venice. According to the Venetian chronicles of the time, 1629 was long re-
membered as “the year of the Friulians” (Ulvioni 1989, 39). Although we do
not know how serious the decline in the population was from the year be-
fore the crisis to 1656, the population there reached only 210,000 inhabit-
ants. From 1656 to 1725 we observe a further increase which saw the popu-
lation reach 300,000 by the end of the period.
The period investigated in this paper belongs to the phase of popu-
lation growth that extends from the crisis of 1629 to the mid-seventeenth
century. The analysis is based on two documents, one drawn up at the end
of 1629 or at the beginning of 1630, and the other in 1656. Like all the cen-
suses carried out by the Republic until the second half of the eighteenth
century, the territorial unit of reference for the collection of information
was the community, and the trackers were the village heads (Fornasin and
Veronese 1999; Fornasin 2001; Fornasin and Lorenzini 2019).
The first survey considered was directly promoted by the Venetian
government following the crisis of 1629. The authorities wanted to know
the quantitative results of the famine to predict with reasonable approx-
imation what might happen in the near future, in particular with regard
to population flows. As I have already noted, the crisis led to a very strong
rise in mortality, but it also gave rise to important migration towards cer-
tain urban centres, in particular Venice. It was, therefore, important to un-
derstand what the consequences would be for the consumption of cereals
in the city. One of the objectives, therefore, was to establish what quanti-
ties of grains Venice should bring together from the other provinces of the
domain to deal with the emergency. The census results consisted of a list of
628 villages, for each of which the inhabitants are divided between home-
ni, done and putti (men, women and children). Then there are two further
75
