Page 197 - 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. 197
dlands as a source of income integration in peasant economies: the pontifical state
Through the analysis of the information that can be gathered by the
sentences, it is possible to reconstruct a sort of social “identikit” of the sub-
jects that most frequently appropriated the forest resource, breaching regu-
lations: the individual in question was a peasant who lived in the same area
where the offence was carried out and who tended to act with other mem-
bers of his social group.
2. Case study locations
In the sub-Apennine-mountain area near the town of Rieti there were some
interesting events in the middle of 19th century. The inhabitants of S. Elia
village, during the winter of 1847, went repeatedly in to the wood of a pri-
vate property, and cut down high-trunk trees with assessed losses amount-
ing to 167 scudi and 43 baiocchi,1 the proceeds of which would be sold in
Rieti.2 To have an idea of the amount, it is to be noted that the monthly
needs of a Roman family, composed of four people belonging to the work-
ing class during the 19th century, has been estimated between 6 scudi and
80 baiocchi and 14 scudi and 50 baiocchi, Fritz (1980, 319–21).3 Rieti, about
seven kilometres from S. Elia, was the capital of the homonymous prov-
ince. With a population of over 13,000 inhabitants, it constituted a market
to which country products could be addressed. On the contrary, S. Elia was
principally an agricultural centre with a population of 875 inhabitants, of
which only 320 lived in the village, while the remaining 555 were scattered
in the countryside (Ministero del commercio e lavori pubblici, 1857, 222).
The housing structure justifies the repeated appropriation of the resourc-
es available in the territory. In 1854 a group of S. Elia inhabitants cut down
an indefinite number of oaks in the wood belonging to the local church,
worth about 40 scudi; in the same year 15 “countrymen” (campagnoli) cut
down 134 oaks, worth 41 scudi, on a private property.4 The previous year 3
other “countrymen” were found guilty of a forest offence of more limited
1 The definition ‘wood value’ during trials, refers to the assigned value by the court’s
expert to the cut amount of wood, not to its commercial value on an eventual mar-
ket of destination.
2 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 806 o.n., 8th April 1856. The period for the sen-
tence was very long: 91 months.
3 The monetary system of the Pontifical States established the scudo as the unit, divid-
ed into 100 baiocchi. After the monetary reform of Gregory XVI, in 1835, the value of
a scudo corresponded to 24 grams of silver.
4 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 806 o.n., 1st February 1856, for the first of-
fence; b. 805, 13rd November 1855, for the second offence.
195
Through the analysis of the information that can be gathered by the
sentences, it is possible to reconstruct a sort of social “identikit” of the sub-
jects that most frequently appropriated the forest resource, breaching regu-
lations: the individual in question was a peasant who lived in the same area
where the offence was carried out and who tended to act with other mem-
bers of his social group.
2. Case study locations
In the sub-Apennine-mountain area near the town of Rieti there were some
interesting events in the middle of 19th century. The inhabitants of S. Elia
village, during the winter of 1847, went repeatedly in to the wood of a pri-
vate property, and cut down high-trunk trees with assessed losses amount-
ing to 167 scudi and 43 baiocchi,1 the proceeds of which would be sold in
Rieti.2 To have an idea of the amount, it is to be noted that the monthly
needs of a Roman family, composed of four people belonging to the work-
ing class during the 19th century, has been estimated between 6 scudi and
80 baiocchi and 14 scudi and 50 baiocchi, Fritz (1980, 319–21).3 Rieti, about
seven kilometres from S. Elia, was the capital of the homonymous prov-
ince. With a population of over 13,000 inhabitants, it constituted a market
to which country products could be addressed. On the contrary, S. Elia was
principally an agricultural centre with a population of 875 inhabitants, of
which only 320 lived in the village, while the remaining 555 were scattered
in the countryside (Ministero del commercio e lavori pubblici, 1857, 222).
The housing structure justifies the repeated appropriation of the resourc-
es available in the territory. In 1854 a group of S. Elia inhabitants cut down
an indefinite number of oaks in the wood belonging to the local church,
worth about 40 scudi; in the same year 15 “countrymen” (campagnoli) cut
down 134 oaks, worth 41 scudi, on a private property.4 The previous year 3
other “countrymen” were found guilty of a forest offence of more limited
1 The definition ‘wood value’ during trials, refers to the assigned value by the court’s
expert to the cut amount of wood, not to its commercial value on an eventual mar-
ket of destination.
2 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 806 o.n., 8th April 1856. The period for the sen-
tence was very long: 91 months.
3 The monetary system of the Pontifical States established the scudo as the unit, divid-
ed into 100 baiocchi. After the monetary reform of Gregory XVI, in 1835, the value of
a scudo corresponded to 24 grams of silver.
4 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 806 o.n., 1st February 1856, for the first of-
fence; b. 805, 13rd November 1855, for the second offence.
195
