The abandonment of the long-term agricultural contracts, practically lifelong and hereditary, characteristic of the early Middle Ages, and the emergence of short-term mezzadria (sharecropping), the expression of a different relationship between landlords and peasants, characterized by greater control of work and a greater burden of impositions and levies, took place between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries in a progressive and laborious way, given the tenacity of custom and traditional use. The demographic collapse of the fourteenth century led to a general revision of economic and social relations, which favoured and accelerated this transition. This phenomenon was supported by urban legislation that protected the interests of the landowners. The example of Romagna, analyzed here, was common to several areas of central-northern Italy.
University of Bologna, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-6181-5287
Chapter Title
Crisi demografica e rapporti di lavoro: la modificazione dei contratti agrari e della vita contadina nella Romagna del XIV-XV secolo
Authors
Massimo Montanari
Language
Italian
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0705-8.17
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Socio-Economic Inequalities during the Conjuncture of the Fourteenth Century
Book Subtitle
Sources and Methods, Dynamics and Representations (Italy and Europe, c. 1270 - c. 1350)
Editors
Davide Cristoferi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
458
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0705-8
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0699-0
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0705-8
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0707-2
Series Title
Reti Medievali E-Book
Series ISSN
2704-6362
Series E-ISSN
2704-6079