TY - JOUR
T1 - Wealth distribution and litigation in the medieval Italian countryside:
T2 - Castel San Pietro, Bologna, 1385
AU - Dean, Trevor
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - The aim of this paper is to combine two types of source that are usually kept apart in the study of the Italian later Middle Ages direct tax assessments and local court records. The purpose of putting these two sources together is to discover more about the operation of the local vicariate courts (another neglected element of Italian states) and about wealth distribution and litigation in the Italian countryside. The tax assessments are first analysed for what they reveal of agriculture, migration and wealth, then the court records for the identity of plaintiffs and defendants, and the nature of pleas. To interpret the resulting pattern of debts and credit, cooperation and conflict, concepts from English medieval historiography are used to explore the relationship between debtors and creditors.
AB - The aim of this paper is to combine two types of source that are usually kept apart in the study of the Italian later Middle Ages direct tax assessments and local court records. The purpose of putting these two sources together is to discover more about the operation of the local vicariate courts (another neglected element of Italian states) and about wealth distribution and litigation in the Italian countryside. The tax assessments are first analysed for what they reveal of agriculture, migration and wealth, then the court records for the identity of plaintiffs and defendants, and the nature of pleas. To interpret the resulting pattern of debts and credit, cooperation and conflict, concepts from English medieval historiography are used to explore the relationship between debtors and creditors.
U2 - 10.1017/S0268416002004429
DO - 10.1017/S0268416002004429
M3 - Article
SN - 0268-4160
VL - 17
SP - 333
EP - 350
JO - CONTINUITY AND CHANGE
JF - CONTINUITY AND CHANGE
IS - 3
ER -