Page 185 - 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. 185
the equilibrium of the mountain economy in the apennines
penalties and collective action. The author has also noted that the societies
of the past had greater social capital compared with the contemporary age.
Her attention has particularly focused on two institutions: local communi-
ties and merchants’ associations (Ogilvie 2000).
We may well start precisely from this path in order to shake off the
stereotype of a southern Italy crushed by feudalism. The space available
here allows only some brief discussion of local communities. Regarding the
merchants’ associations, it may be useful to consider the literature on the
largest association present in the Abruzzo Mountains, namely the breed-
ers association (the Generalità dei Locati). Like other communities, it was
referred to as a Università, in this case that of the padroni di animali (mas-
ters of animals) and included all activities related to sheep transhumance
towards winter pastures, enjoying civil and fiscal privileges and transit and
pasture rights (Marino 1988, 159–211).
In the case of the Kingdom of Naples, it is necessary to underline the
importance of the village communities (universitates) as an institution with
an endogenous matrix. Nor should we forget the political nature of the feu-
dal monarchy in which the Kingdom was embedded. Monarchy had devel-
oped early and the feudal system wielded pervasive and extensive power
from which only a very small percentage of the population was free. How-
ever it should also be borne in mind that even a settlement made up of only
a small and informal group of families (minimum 10 hearths/households)
owning shared resources, acquired separate legal personality from its mem-
bers upon attaining the status of universitas and thus obtained self-govern-
ing powers. With them came the right to hold meetings, to make decisions,
to enact rules and sanctions, to have a representative body, to assign tasks,
to levy and collect taxes, to be party to legal proceedings and sometimes
to hand down judgments. Rules were written in the statutes, and the juris-
prudence of the Kingdom considered local customs superior to any oth-
er law. From the age of Frederick II of Swabia (13th century), and for about
six centuries afterwards, the term universitas remained in constant use and
the functions with which it was tasked were carried out. As an institution
it was anything but static, and was capable of showing flexibility in adapt-
ing rules to changes in the economic system (Bulgarelli Lukacs 2012, 34–
44). Written statutes fixing customary rules that had been passed down in
oral form, and agreements concluded with the feudal lord, main holder of
power in the locality, were milestones in the definition of community iden-
tity (Calasso 1929, 229–65; Caravale 1986, 191–211; Spagnoletti 2002, 25–40).
183
penalties and collective action. The author has also noted that the societies
of the past had greater social capital compared with the contemporary age.
Her attention has particularly focused on two institutions: local communi-
ties and merchants’ associations (Ogilvie 2000).
We may well start precisely from this path in order to shake off the
stereotype of a southern Italy crushed by feudalism. The space available
here allows only some brief discussion of local communities. Regarding the
merchants’ associations, it may be useful to consider the literature on the
largest association present in the Abruzzo Mountains, namely the breed-
ers association (the Generalità dei Locati). Like other communities, it was
referred to as a Università, in this case that of the padroni di animali (mas-
ters of animals) and included all activities related to sheep transhumance
towards winter pastures, enjoying civil and fiscal privileges and transit and
pasture rights (Marino 1988, 159–211).
In the case of the Kingdom of Naples, it is necessary to underline the
importance of the village communities (universitates) as an institution with
an endogenous matrix. Nor should we forget the political nature of the feu-
dal monarchy in which the Kingdom was embedded. Monarchy had devel-
oped early and the feudal system wielded pervasive and extensive power
from which only a very small percentage of the population was free. How-
ever it should also be borne in mind that even a settlement made up of only
a small and informal group of families (minimum 10 hearths/households)
owning shared resources, acquired separate legal personality from its mem-
bers upon attaining the status of universitas and thus obtained self-govern-
ing powers. With them came the right to hold meetings, to make decisions,
to enact rules and sanctions, to have a representative body, to assign tasks,
to levy and collect taxes, to be party to legal proceedings and sometimes
to hand down judgments. Rules were written in the statutes, and the juris-
prudence of the Kingdom considered local customs superior to any oth-
er law. From the age of Frederick II of Swabia (13th century), and for about
six centuries afterwards, the term universitas remained in constant use and
the functions with which it was tasked were carried out. As an institution
it was anything but static, and was capable of showing flexibility in adapt-
ing rules to changes in the economic system (Bulgarelli Lukacs 2012, 34–
44). Written statutes fixing customary rules that had been passed down in
oral form, and agreements concluded with the feudal lord, main holder of
power in the locality, were milestones in the definition of community iden-
tity (Calasso 1929, 229–65; Caravale 1986, 191–211; Spagnoletti 2002, 25–40).
183
