Page 99 - 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. 99
integr ated peasant economy in friuli (16th–18th centuries)
The property of the land was limited and it was often not enough to guar-
antee a family’s subsistence.
The most widespread agricultural contract in Friuli was affitto misto,
a sort of sharecropping, which entailed payments in kind. Part of the agri-
cultural production, the least valuable, was surrendered by peasant families
according to a fixed quota, while the products destined for the market were
provided based on a quota proportional to the harvest. Several were vari-
ables to the contract, however all of them included, together with the quota
from the harvest, some additional fees to be paid to the landowner. Among
these fees were always some days devoted to improving the soil and trans-
porting commodities in surplus to the urban market.
In most of the countryside the administration of justice was entrusted
to giusdicenti, that is to the aristocratic landowners themselves, who could
thus exercise direct control on rural communities and on individuals also
from a judicial point of view.
As far as the local administration was concerned, on the Friulian plain
the institution of the village community was widespread, however the mar-
gins for decision and autonomy of the assembly of the householders were
strongly limited and basically subordinate to aristocratic families.2
Every aspect of working life was thus subordinate to the needs of the
landowner and of his farmer. The activity of the settler (colono) was regu-
lated by agricultural contracts and obeyance was guaranteed by law, as su-
pervised by the giusdicente, that is, in most cases, the landowner himself or
a representative of the property. Consequently, from this perspective it was
hardly possible to sustain the integrated peasant economy. Also because of
these reasons, one of the characteristics of the economy centered on agri-
culture was the low degree of geographic mobility, especially long range.3
In such context, therefore, the non-agricultural activities carried
out by farmers needed to take place under the conductors’ strict supervi-
sion. According to this logic the working day was anyway dictated by the
rhythms of agriculture, and the exception to this routine was the activism
of the landowners themselves beyond the agricultural field, which was in
fact quite rare, although not strange in Friuli during the 18th century, as it is
2 On these aspects, in general, see Bianco 1994; Morassi 1997, 135–219. For more ju-
risdictional aspects in the Venetian mainland, see Zamperetti 1991 and Viggiano
1993.
3 This is a constant feature in the marriage market in Friuli; see. Fornasin and Marzo-
na (2009).
97
The property of the land was limited and it was often not enough to guar-
antee a family’s subsistence.
The most widespread agricultural contract in Friuli was affitto misto,
a sort of sharecropping, which entailed payments in kind. Part of the agri-
cultural production, the least valuable, was surrendered by peasant families
according to a fixed quota, while the products destined for the market were
provided based on a quota proportional to the harvest. Several were vari-
ables to the contract, however all of them included, together with the quota
from the harvest, some additional fees to be paid to the landowner. Among
these fees were always some days devoted to improving the soil and trans-
porting commodities in surplus to the urban market.
In most of the countryside the administration of justice was entrusted
to giusdicenti, that is to the aristocratic landowners themselves, who could
thus exercise direct control on rural communities and on individuals also
from a judicial point of view.
As far as the local administration was concerned, on the Friulian plain
the institution of the village community was widespread, however the mar-
gins for decision and autonomy of the assembly of the householders were
strongly limited and basically subordinate to aristocratic families.2
Every aspect of working life was thus subordinate to the needs of the
landowner and of his farmer. The activity of the settler (colono) was regu-
lated by agricultural contracts and obeyance was guaranteed by law, as su-
pervised by the giusdicente, that is, in most cases, the landowner himself or
a representative of the property. Consequently, from this perspective it was
hardly possible to sustain the integrated peasant economy. Also because of
these reasons, one of the characteristics of the economy centered on agri-
culture was the low degree of geographic mobility, especially long range.3
In such context, therefore, the non-agricultural activities carried
out by farmers needed to take place under the conductors’ strict supervi-
sion. According to this logic the working day was anyway dictated by the
rhythms of agriculture, and the exception to this routine was the activism
of the landowners themselves beyond the agricultural field, which was in
fact quite rare, although not strange in Friuli during the 18th century, as it is
2 On these aspects, in general, see Bianco 1994; Morassi 1997, 135–219. For more ju-
risdictional aspects in the Venetian mainland, see Zamperetti 1991 and Viggiano
1993.
3 This is a constant feature in the marriage market in Friuli; see. Fornasin and Marzo-
na (2009).
97
