Page 57 - 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. 57
peasant income integration in early modern slovenia: a historiographical review
nevertheless grew significantly as a result of peasants becoming involved in
the trade of the townsfolk.
In the process, peasant trade acquired a few new characteristics.
In addition to the peasant now trading in the goods of the pro-
fessional, urban trade more than in the previous period […] and
consequently shattering the existing social division of labour even
more, the peasants also intensified the reselling of various produce
and products of others. […] The third characteristic of the peas-
ant trade of that time was that the subject, also on account of the
raising of commercial and transport taxes, began to resort more
and more to smuggling as the 16th century neared its end (Gestrin
1973a, 74–5).
Gestrin believes there were several reasons why the peasant popula-
tion became engaged in commercial activities. The first reason was necessi-
ty, which stemmed from the desires of the landlords to receive payment of
the feudal rent in money and the raising of taxes by the provincial admin-
istration and the state. Furthermore, he sees an additional reason in the
small-sized farms, which were not profitable enough to pay off the growing
taxes and feudal rent (Gestrin 1991, 248).
However, Gestrin believes that the small-sized farms and the need for
an additional source of income in money were not the only reasons for ex-
panding the peasant trade. He assumes that the involvement of peasants in
commercial activities was a result of their desire to earn money and of their
commercial entrepreneurship. He views transport in particular as an im-
portant supplementary economic activity of subjects, which demonstrat-
ed “success, profitability and partly even the assertion of an entrepreneur-
ial spirit.” He states that “individual peasants sold 500–1000 tovor [Vienna
Saum = 168 kg] and entire herds of livestock per year. Moreover, there are
known cases of peasants selling their farms (which they held under heredi-
tary tenancy) and becoming professional merchants” (Gestrin 1962, 17). Ac-
cording to Gestrin’s findings, around the year 1600 “the involvement of the
countryside in market economy and the dependence of a major part of the
peasant population on it was such that the process of commercialisation
could not be stopped.” In his opinion, peasant trade and transport great-
ly influenced all socioeconomic and other events in Slovenian lands. “They
generated a not exactly small income for the peasant, had a favourable im-
pact on the development of the market economy and the expansion of the
55
nevertheless grew significantly as a result of peasants becoming involved in
the trade of the townsfolk.
In the process, peasant trade acquired a few new characteristics.
In addition to the peasant now trading in the goods of the pro-
fessional, urban trade more than in the previous period […] and
consequently shattering the existing social division of labour even
more, the peasants also intensified the reselling of various produce
and products of others. […] The third characteristic of the peas-
ant trade of that time was that the subject, also on account of the
raising of commercial and transport taxes, began to resort more
and more to smuggling as the 16th century neared its end (Gestrin
1973a, 74–5).
Gestrin believes there were several reasons why the peasant popula-
tion became engaged in commercial activities. The first reason was necessi-
ty, which stemmed from the desires of the landlords to receive payment of
the feudal rent in money and the raising of taxes by the provincial admin-
istration and the state. Furthermore, he sees an additional reason in the
small-sized farms, which were not profitable enough to pay off the growing
taxes and feudal rent (Gestrin 1991, 248).
However, Gestrin believes that the small-sized farms and the need for
an additional source of income in money were not the only reasons for ex-
panding the peasant trade. He assumes that the involvement of peasants in
commercial activities was a result of their desire to earn money and of their
commercial entrepreneurship. He views transport in particular as an im-
portant supplementary economic activity of subjects, which demonstrat-
ed “success, profitability and partly even the assertion of an entrepreneur-
ial spirit.” He states that “individual peasants sold 500–1000 tovor [Vienna
Saum = 168 kg] and entire herds of livestock per year. Moreover, there are
known cases of peasants selling their farms (which they held under heredi-
tary tenancy) and becoming professional merchants” (Gestrin 1962, 17). Ac-
cording to Gestrin’s findings, around the year 1600 “the involvement of the
countryside in market economy and the dependence of a major part of the
peasant population on it was such that the process of commercialisation
could not be stopped.” In his opinion, peasant trade and transport great-
ly influenced all socioeconomic and other events in Slovenian lands. “They
generated a not exactly small income for the peasant, had a favourable im-
pact on the development of the market economy and the expansion of the
55
