Page 255 - 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. 255
intangible and material evidence on the slovenian peasant economy ...
this way is most probably an underestimation of the number of purchas-
es and sales between family members, also considering that it excludes all
the married female relatives (mostly represented by their husbands in the
transactions) as well as the relatives living in different villages. The cases in
which two people from the same village with the same family name were
not relatives should then be outweighed by such excluded possibilities.
But let us turn to the figures. Based on the presented premises, we may
estimate that in the mid-18th century, at least 28% of the real estate pur-
chases and sales among peasants on the Karst were transactions within the
family. In case we comprise our calculation of the inheritances and endow-
ments, the family share of transfers rises to nearly one half at least (45%).
Even more so for being underestimated, these figures should be regarded
as a confirmation of the important role of the (wider) family in the real es-
tate market between peasants and in their strategies related to agricultur-
al land and infrastructure (houses, sheds, cellars, etc.). Would it be too dar-
ing to formulate the hypothesis that such a characteristic may be regarded
as symptomatic of the family’s relevance, also in the local peasant econo-
my as a whole?
Preliminary conclusions
The evidence and figures on the peasant land market and the dimension of
holdings we presented here are among the first of this kind and quantity in
the Slovenian rural and agrarian history of the Early Modern period. For
this reason some caution in their interpretation is not out of place. Consi-
dering the topic and comparative aim of this volume it nevertheless makes
sense to point out how the main characters of the agrarian land structu-
re (tiny plots and very little arable land), agricultural land prices (relatively
high), farmstead dimension (prevalence of small holdings), peasant land
market (quite lively with a relevant role of the wider family in it) that we
have encountered on the mid-18th century Karst, recall and quite closely re-
semble the traits that Alessio Fornasin (1998, 51–8) uncovered in the mou-
ntain economy and society of the nearly neighbouring Carnia, an Alpine
area in (Venetian) Friuli, and that are common to other Southern Alpi-
ne areas as well. It’s also relevant that in Carnia such features were fun-
ctionally connected with income integration (seasonal migration of skil-
led craftsmen and peddling in particular), the highly valued tiny plots of
agricultural land representing the basis to finance, through loans, the pe-
asant’s activities in the secondary and tertiary sectors (Fornasin 1998, 67–
253
this way is most probably an underestimation of the number of purchas-
es and sales between family members, also considering that it excludes all
the married female relatives (mostly represented by their husbands in the
transactions) as well as the relatives living in different villages. The cases in
which two people from the same village with the same family name were
not relatives should then be outweighed by such excluded possibilities.
But let us turn to the figures. Based on the presented premises, we may
estimate that in the mid-18th century, at least 28% of the real estate pur-
chases and sales among peasants on the Karst were transactions within the
family. In case we comprise our calculation of the inheritances and endow-
ments, the family share of transfers rises to nearly one half at least (45%).
Even more so for being underestimated, these figures should be regarded
as a confirmation of the important role of the (wider) family in the real es-
tate market between peasants and in their strategies related to agricultur-
al land and infrastructure (houses, sheds, cellars, etc.). Would it be too dar-
ing to formulate the hypothesis that such a characteristic may be regarded
as symptomatic of the family’s relevance, also in the local peasant econo-
my as a whole?
Preliminary conclusions
The evidence and figures on the peasant land market and the dimension of
holdings we presented here are among the first of this kind and quantity in
the Slovenian rural and agrarian history of the Early Modern period. For
this reason some caution in their interpretation is not out of place. Consi-
dering the topic and comparative aim of this volume it nevertheless makes
sense to point out how the main characters of the agrarian land structu-
re (tiny plots and very little arable land), agricultural land prices (relatively
high), farmstead dimension (prevalence of small holdings), peasant land
market (quite lively with a relevant role of the wider family in it) that we
have encountered on the mid-18th century Karst, recall and quite closely re-
semble the traits that Alessio Fornasin (1998, 51–8) uncovered in the mou-
ntain economy and society of the nearly neighbouring Carnia, an Alpine
area in (Venetian) Friuli, and that are common to other Southern Alpi-
ne areas as well. It’s also relevant that in Carnia such features were fun-
ctionally connected with income integration (seasonal migration of skil-
led craftsmen and peddling in particular), the highly valued tiny plots of
agricultural land representing the basis to finance, through loans, the pe-
asant’s activities in the secondary and tertiary sectors (Fornasin 1998, 67–
253
