Page 17 - 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. 17
the integrated peasant economy as a concept in progress
guished two phases, connecting each of them to the developments in the
manorial economy, the first one coinciding with the dissolution of the me-
dieval demesne economy between the 13th and 14th centuries (referring to it
as “the first commercialisation level of the manor”), while he found that the
second, stronger development phase of “peasant trade” corresponded with
the feudal landlords’ rent crisis between the 15th and 16th centuries (“the sec-
ond commercialisation level of the manor”). In this second phase he point-
ed out a specificity of the Slovenian regions, consisting in landlords per-
ceiving rents composed of a good share of money, as an alternative way to
increase their land rent income in the Early Modern period. In fact the no-
bility of Carniola backed the peasants when their trade was challenged,
since “peasant trade” was where the peasants obtained the money to pay
the dues to their landlords. Peasants were further directed to the market
by the raising of state taxes, in order to be able to pay them (Gestrin 1973a,
45–6; 1973b, 74–5, 1991, 224–6, 235; see also Panjek 2011) (for the typologies,
see Table 1.1).
We owe another periodisation and systemisation of the relations be-
tween the agrarian and the non-agrarian peasant income, in this case ex-
tended to secondary sector activities, to Bogo Grafenauer (1970, 627–8). He
identified the “basic foundation of peasant trade” in the exchange in kind
of inland grain for sea-salt on the Adriatic coast dating back to the 13th cen-
tury. Later on, “peasant trade” included a large range of goods, therefore
arising protests from urban merchants through the Early Modern cen-
turies. Later still, in the 18th century, “along with the development of sea-
ports, peasant trade grew into cart transport” (prevozništvo). “The second
connection” of the peasant economy “with the non-agrarian activities was
the horseback transport [tovorništvo] of goods for the ironworks.” The third
one was, in his view, the inclusion of the “village population” in proto-in-
dustrial production networks “organized by big tradesmen” (založništvo,
domestic or putting-out system, Kauf or Verlagssystem).
The interpretation saying that “only such an economic development of
the village from the 15th century onwards explains the population structure
as well as the formation of tiny rural holdings” (Grafenauer 1970, 627–8), is
in line with our integrated peasant economy concept, in the part it stresses
the role of peasant initiative in influencing the market oriented activities:
the increasing social stratification in the villages and the growing number
of small holdings was more of a consequence of the existing market-derived
income opportunities (peasants could afford to live on small holdings be-
15
guished two phases, connecting each of them to the developments in the
manorial economy, the first one coinciding with the dissolution of the me-
dieval demesne economy between the 13th and 14th centuries (referring to it
as “the first commercialisation level of the manor”), while he found that the
second, stronger development phase of “peasant trade” corresponded with
the feudal landlords’ rent crisis between the 15th and 16th centuries (“the sec-
ond commercialisation level of the manor”). In this second phase he point-
ed out a specificity of the Slovenian regions, consisting in landlords per-
ceiving rents composed of a good share of money, as an alternative way to
increase their land rent income in the Early Modern period. In fact the no-
bility of Carniola backed the peasants when their trade was challenged,
since “peasant trade” was where the peasants obtained the money to pay
the dues to their landlords. Peasants were further directed to the market
by the raising of state taxes, in order to be able to pay them (Gestrin 1973a,
45–6; 1973b, 74–5, 1991, 224–6, 235; see also Panjek 2011) (for the typologies,
see Table 1.1).
We owe another periodisation and systemisation of the relations be-
tween the agrarian and the non-agrarian peasant income, in this case ex-
tended to secondary sector activities, to Bogo Grafenauer (1970, 627–8). He
identified the “basic foundation of peasant trade” in the exchange in kind
of inland grain for sea-salt on the Adriatic coast dating back to the 13th cen-
tury. Later on, “peasant trade” included a large range of goods, therefore
arising protests from urban merchants through the Early Modern cen-
turies. Later still, in the 18th century, “along with the development of sea-
ports, peasant trade grew into cart transport” (prevozništvo). “The second
connection” of the peasant economy “with the non-agrarian activities was
the horseback transport [tovorništvo] of goods for the ironworks.” The third
one was, in his view, the inclusion of the “village population” in proto-in-
dustrial production networks “organized by big tradesmen” (založništvo,
domestic or putting-out system, Kauf or Verlagssystem).
The interpretation saying that “only such an economic development of
the village from the 15th century onwards explains the population structure
as well as the formation of tiny rural holdings” (Grafenauer 1970, 627–8), is
in line with our integrated peasant economy concept, in the part it stresses
the role of peasant initiative in influencing the market oriented activities:
the increasing social stratification in the villages and the growing number
of small holdings was more of a consequence of the existing market-derived
income opportunities (peasants could afford to live on small holdings be-
15
