Page 16 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 16
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
to recall his observation that demands and complaints regarding trade and
transport were a constant in all the major peasant uprisings in the Slove-
nian lands (Gestrin 1973a; also Grafenauer 1973, 27–9). This feature is ac-
knowledged also in a recent general history of Slovenia: “The specificity of
the peasants in the Slovene area was more in the fact that they – as carri-
ers and cart drivers, but also as middlemen-traders and craftsmen – com-
bined their work on the farms with non-agricultural economy” (Štih and
Simoniti 2010, 154).
There are numerous cases and descriptions regarding different typol-
ogies of non-agricultural activities, although for the Early Modern peri-
od the historiography concentrated in particular on the so called “peasant
trade” (kmečka trgovina).2 Jože Šorn pointed out that “such trading was a
general European phenomenon, but within the Alpine Habsburg lands it
was the peasant trading in Carniola to be famous for its width and depth.”
He added that the intensity of peasant trading was stronger in the western
half of Slovenian regions due to the opportunities offered by the proximity
of Adriatic port towns (Šorn 1984, 40, 43). The outstanding peasants’ role in
transport has been put in relation to the prevailing Early-Modern commu-
nication methods in the area. Sergij Vilfan pointed out how a great deal of
the trade within and throughout the Slovenian lands ran along the north-
east – south-west axis (from the central-eastern European inland to the
Adriatic coast and Italian regions), while the waterways headed in some-
how the opposite direction (from Slovenia the rivers flow towards the Black
Sea, that is to the south-east). For this reason the cheapest means of trans-
port was not available and transport had to be carried out on horseback,
and the consequent “relatively high share of transport costs did not favour
the involvement of merchants with goods of low specific value” (grain, salt,
etc.). This is how “economic opportunities were given for the peasants to
engage” in transport and trade, “since they could work with a relatively low
investment of money, while a great deal of the final price was represented
by costs of transport, that is exactly by their own input” in the whole pro-
cess. “That’s why they could be satisfied with a lower profit” from the sale
of goods (Vilfan 1978, 79).
A periodisation and typological definition of the different activities
comprised under the term “peasant trade” was proposed by Gestrin for the
centuries between the late Middle and the Early Modern Ages. He distin-
2 For a wider selection of examples see the contributions of Ines Beguš and Katja Hro-
bat Virloget to this book.
14
to recall his observation that demands and complaints regarding trade and
transport were a constant in all the major peasant uprisings in the Slove-
nian lands (Gestrin 1973a; also Grafenauer 1973, 27–9). This feature is ac-
knowledged also in a recent general history of Slovenia: “The specificity of
the peasants in the Slovene area was more in the fact that they – as carri-
ers and cart drivers, but also as middlemen-traders and craftsmen – com-
bined their work on the farms with non-agricultural economy” (Štih and
Simoniti 2010, 154).
There are numerous cases and descriptions regarding different typol-
ogies of non-agricultural activities, although for the Early Modern peri-
od the historiography concentrated in particular on the so called “peasant
trade” (kmečka trgovina).2 Jože Šorn pointed out that “such trading was a
general European phenomenon, but within the Alpine Habsburg lands it
was the peasant trading in Carniola to be famous for its width and depth.”
He added that the intensity of peasant trading was stronger in the western
half of Slovenian regions due to the opportunities offered by the proximity
of Adriatic port towns (Šorn 1984, 40, 43). The outstanding peasants’ role in
transport has been put in relation to the prevailing Early-Modern commu-
nication methods in the area. Sergij Vilfan pointed out how a great deal of
the trade within and throughout the Slovenian lands ran along the north-
east – south-west axis (from the central-eastern European inland to the
Adriatic coast and Italian regions), while the waterways headed in some-
how the opposite direction (from Slovenia the rivers flow towards the Black
Sea, that is to the south-east). For this reason the cheapest means of trans-
port was not available and transport had to be carried out on horseback,
and the consequent “relatively high share of transport costs did not favour
the involvement of merchants with goods of low specific value” (grain, salt,
etc.). This is how “economic opportunities were given for the peasants to
engage” in transport and trade, “since they could work with a relatively low
investment of money, while a great deal of the final price was represented
by costs of transport, that is exactly by their own input” in the whole pro-
cess. “That’s why they could be satisfied with a lower profit” from the sale
of goods (Vilfan 1978, 79).
A periodisation and typological definition of the different activities
comprised under the term “peasant trade” was proposed by Gestrin for the
centuries between the late Middle and the Early Modern Ages. He distin-
2 For a wider selection of examples see the contributions of Ines Beguš and Katja Hro-
bat Virloget to this book.
14
