Water and Society in Early Medieval Italy, AD 400–1000

A discussion of the relationship between people and water in medieval Italy, first published in 1998.

Paolo Squatriti (Author)

9780521621922, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 July 1998

208 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.48 kg

'… a concise but penetrating study of the ecological, technological, institutional, and cultural factors that shaped the perceptions and use of water in early medieval Italy'. Economic History Review

This 1998 book offers an original discussion of an element - water - and its relationship with people. In particular it shows how early medieval Italian societies coped with the problems of having too much or too little water, and analyses their use of it. Such treatment illuminates the workings both of post-classical societies and of the environments in which these societies lived. Domestic usage, bathing, irrigation and drainage, fishing, and milling all receive full coverage. This is an original, interdisciplinary study which proves that even after the 'fall' of Rome, people continued a dialectical relationship with the natural resources that shaped their experiences just as decisively as their efforts redesigned the waterscape. It will be of interest not only to Italianists: historians of technology, agrarian, social, and cultural historians, and environmental historians will all find much that is stimulating.

Introduction
1. Water for everyday use
2. Water, baths, and corporeal washing
3. The wet and the dry: water in agriculture
4. Water, fish, and fishing
5. Water and milling in early medieval Italy
6. Conclusion: the hydrological cycle in the early Middle Ages.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]