Altopascio
A Study in Tuscan Rural Society, 1587-1784

The aim of the book is to gauge the impact of the general European crisis upon a regional society, and to assess the contribution of agrarian economic and social trends towards that crisis.

Frank McArdle (Author)

9780521023078, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 November 2005

240 pages
22.9 x 15.4 x 1.6 cm, 0.363 kg

This is an interdisciplinary study of a large Italian estate which belonged to the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The Medici administrators kept detailed records of the activities of their subjects and these have been used by the author to analyse the demographic, social, economic and political history of the village. The records cover two centuries, which span a harsh economic depression and the 'general crisis' of the seventeenth century. An aim of the book is to gauge the impact of the general European crisis upon a regional society, and to assess the contribution of agrarian economic and social trends towards that crisis. It analyses the broad issues of population change, economic performance and social organization within a rural community, demonstrating how the contractual relationships between landlord and tenant selectively distributed the effects of the economic crisis, and how the strong economic bonds that linked lord and peasant helped to control the dogged resistance for which the people of Altopascio were notorious.

Acknowledgments
Origins
1. The estate of Altopascio: village and villagers
2. Population
3. The economic organization
4. The economic performance, part 1, 5. The economic performance, part 11, 6. Familial organization
7. Class divisions
8. The local authority
9. The expression of grievance
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History [HB]