| Popis: |
The south Italian agrarian economy in the central Middle Ages was based upon a system in which lords leased lands to peasants in return for rent, and largely upon the mezzadria—rents in kind of a proportion of the crops. Under such a system issues such as serfdom were largely irrelevant. However, this chapter calls attention to instances in southern Italy, and especially in the Campania region, where labour services were still exacted, often in addition to rents in kind or cash, and asks what these may tell us about the structure of the countryside and the status of south Italian peasants. |
