Paradoxes of Inequality in Renaissance Italy

Threatened by economic equality after the Black Death, elites turned to political and cultural spheres to preserve their distinctions.

Samuel K. Cohn, Jr. (Author)

9781108970389, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 5 August 2021

75 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 0.6 cm, 0.146 kg

This Element explores the longest spell that can be computed from quantifiable fiscal records when the gap between rich and poor narrowed. It was the post-Black-Death century, c. 1375 to c. 1475. Paradoxically, with economic equality and prosperity on the rise, peasants, artisans and shopkeepers suffered losses in political representation and status within cultural spheres. Threatened by growing economic equality after the Black Death, elites preserved and then enhanced their political, social, and cultural distinction predominantly through noneconomic means and within political and cultural spheres. By investigating the interactions between three 'elements'-economics, politics, and culture-this Element presents new facets in the emergence of early Renaissance society in Italy.

1. Economic Equality and Prosperity in the Post-Black Death Century
2. The Paradox of Political Inequality
3. Cultural Inequality.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]