scholarly journals “I nostri contadini solevano istare molto meglio per lo addrieto che ora”: mezzadria, proprietà cittadina e disuguaglianza economica in Toscana, sec. XV-XVI

Author(s):  
Davide Cristoferi

This paper studies through a quantitative analysis at micro-scale (the pieve of San Giovanni in Petroio in Mugello) in 1427-1512 the relation between the growing economic inequality of the Florentine rural society found by recent research and a peculiar share-cropping system, the mezzadria. By focusing on the mechanisms of wealth redistribution of this system, the paper suggests the role of mezzadria whether in increasing in the long-run the concentration of land property and in providing for the poorest social layers of rural population at subsistence level. In this regard, the paper contributes to explore the role of institutions in increasing wealth concentration from Middle Ages to the Early Modern times.

1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen A. Allsop ◽  
Janette Brand Miller

In pre-industrial times, honey was the main source of concentrated sweetness in the diets of many peoples. There are no precise figures for per capita consumption during most periods in history because honey was part of either a hunter-gatherer or subsistence economy. Until now, historians and food writers have proposed that it was a scarce commodity available only to a wealthy few. We do know, however, that in a cash economy honey was sold in large units (gallons and even barrels) and it was present in such abundance that mead, made from honey, was a common alcoholic drink. A reappraisal of the evidence from the Stone Age, Antiquity, the Middle Ages and early Modern times suggests that ordinary people ate much larger quantities of honey than has previously been acknowledged. Intakes at various times during history may well have rivalled our current consumption of refined sugar. There are implications therefore for the role of sugar in modern diets. Refined sugar may not have displaced more nutrient-rich items from our present-day diets but only the nutritionally comparable food, honey.


1977 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Earl J. Hamilton

Wars in early modern times, although frequent, generated little price inflation because of their limited demands on real resources. The invention of paper currency and the resort to deficit financing to pay for wars changed that situation. In recent centuries wars have been the principal causes of inflation, although since World War II programs of social welfare unmatched by offsetting taxation have also fueled inflationary flames.


1990 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Jensen

One of the most remarkable changes to take place at German Protestant universities during the last decade of the sixteenth century and the first twenty years of the seventeenth century was the return of metaphysics after more than halfa century of absence. University metaphysics has acquired a reputation for sterile aridity which was strengthened rather than diminished by its survival in early modern times, when such disciplines are supposed deservedly to have vanished with the end of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, this survival has attracted some attention this century. For a long urne it was assumed that German Protestants needed a metaphysical defence against the intellectual vigour of the Jesuits. Lewalter has shown, however, that this was not the case.


Author(s):  
Ирина Семеновна Слепцова

Статья посвящена рассмотрению произведений литературы Древней и Средневековой Руси и раннего Нового времени, направленных против языческих верований и практик, как источника для описания игровой культуры. Привлекаются главным образом нормативные, канонические и дидактические сочинения, а также исповедные тексты, в которых содержатся сведения о развлечениях и играх. Основное внимание уделено играм в узком смысле слова (играм с правилами), как наименее изученному феномену культуры данного исторического периода. Это расширяет представления об игровом репертуаре, месте и статусе игры в празднично-обрядовой и повседневной жизни, а также дает возможность проследить процесс десакрализации игры, ее переход в сферу «мирского». Выявленные в письменных памятниках сведения об игровой культуре Средневековья и раннего Нового времени раскрывают их включенность в языческую обрядность и демонстрируют связь с магическими практиками, что было основанием для их преследования и запрещения. Это обстоятельство определяет ограниченность использования данных источников для реконструкции игрового репертуара. В список игр попадают только те, которые расценивались церковью как языческие или нарушавшие социальный порядок и нравственные правила. Упомянутые в древнерусских и средневековых источниках формы народного веселья обнаруживают истоки ряда народных игр, бытовавших в XIX–ХХ вв., и объясняют их включенность в календарную обрядность. The article is devoted to the consideration of the works of literature of Ancient and Medieval Russia and the early modern era, directed against pagan beliefs and practices, as a source for describing the game culture. Mainly normative, canonical and didactic compositions are used, as well as confessional texts, which contain information about entertainment and games. The main attention is paid to games in the narrow sense of the word (games with rules), as the least studied cultural phenomenon of this historical period. This expands the understanding of the game repertoire, the place and status of the game in festive and ceremonial and everyday life, and also makes it possible to trace the process of desacralization of the game, its transition into the sphere of the «worldly». The information about the gaming culture of the Middle Ages and the early modern times revealed in written monuments reveals their involvement in pagan rituals and demonstrates a connection with magical practices, which was the basis for their persecution and prohibition. This circumstance determines the limited use of these sources for the reconstruction of the playing repertoire. The list of games includes only those that were regarded by the church as pagan or violating social order and moral rules. The forms of folk fun mentioned in ancient Russian and medieval sources reveal the origins of a number of folk games that existed in the 19th – 20th centuries and explain their inclusion in calendar rituals.


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