The fourteenth century was a tumultuous period. Europe was disrupted by frequent uprisings. Historians attribute these events to rising inequality. Conversely, the impact of medieval revolts on inequality has remained understudied due to lack of sources. To address this, the chapter maps the differences in fiscal wealth for the top one per cent in Bruges, a major commercial hub in Northwestern Europe. Remarkably, it shows a stable trajectory thanks to the open character of the elite in terms of wealth, occupation, lineages, and office holding. I argue that gradual social transformations and frequent uprisings explain this. In both evolutions, craftsmen took centre stage. They seized new opportunities in the market and the government probably to the detriment of the lower classes.
University of Antwerp, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0001-9758-3182
Titolo del capitolo
Financing a rebellious city. Social change, revolts, and inequality among the fiscal elite in fourteenth-century Bruges
Autori
Sam Geens
Lingua
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0705-8.05
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2025
Copyright
© 2025 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Socio-Economic Inequalities during the Conjuncture of the Fourteenth Century
Sottotitolo del libro
Sources and Methods, Dynamics and Representations (Italy and Europe, c. 1270 - c. 1350)
Curatori
Davide Cristoferi
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
458
Anno di pubblicazione
2025
Copyright
© 2025 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
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
Collana
Reti Medievali E-Book
ISSN della collana
2704-6362
e-ISSN della collana
2704-6079