The gender division of labour: The case of Tuscan smallholders

Continuity and Change

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 117-137

  Emigh, Rebecca Jean ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GENDER RELATIONS; LABOR DIVISION; RURAL SOCIETY; SMALLHOLDER;

ITALY;

EID: 0033947080     PISSN: 02684160     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0268416099003501     Document Type: Article

References (94)

1. See Jack Goody, Production and reproduction: a comparative study of the domestic domain (Cambridge, 1976).
2. See Maxine Berg, The age of manufactures: industry, innovation and work in Britain 1700-1820 (Oxford, 1985), 129-75. Barbara A. Hanawalt, The ties that bound: peasant families in medieval England (Oxford, 1986), 144-6. Martha C. Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy in late medieval cities (Chicago, 1986), 10-11.
3. See Maxine Berg, The age of manufactures: industry, innovation and work in Britain 1700-1820 (Oxford, 1985), 129-75. Barbara A. Hanawalt, The ties that bound: peasant families in medieval England (Oxford, 1986), 144-6. Martha C. Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy in late medieval cities (Chicago, 1986), 10-11.
4. See Maxine Berg, The age of manufactures: industry, innovation and work in Britain 1700-1820 (Oxford, 1985), 129-75. Barbara A. Hanawalt, The ties that bound: peasant families in medieval England (Oxford, 1986), 144-6. Martha C. Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy in late medieval cities (Chicago, 1986), 10-11.
5. See Berg, The age of manufactures, Hanawalt, The ties that bound, Tamara K. Hareven, Family time and industrial time: the relationship between the family and work in a New England industrial community (Cambridge, 1982), Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and Mary Jo Maynes eds., German women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: a social and literary history (Bloomington, 1986), R. E. Pahl, Divisions of labour (Oxford, 1984), and Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott, Women, work, and family (New York, 1978).
6. See Berg, The age of manufactures, Hanawalt, The ties that bound, Tamara K. Hareven, Family time and industrial time: the relationship between the family and work in a New England industrial community (Cambridge, 1982), Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and Mary Jo Maynes eds., German women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: a social and literary history (Bloomington, 1986), R. E. Pahl, Divisions of labour (Oxford, 1984), and Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott, Women, work, and family (New York, 1978).
7. See Berg, The age of manufactures, Hanawalt, The ties that bound, Tamara K. Hareven, Family time and industrial time: the relationship between the family and work in a New England industrial community (Cambridge, 1982), Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and Mary Jo Maynes eds., German women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: a social and literary history (Bloomington, 1986), R. E. Pahl, Divisions of labour (Oxford, 1984), and Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott, Women, work, and family (New York, 1978).
8. See Berg, The age of manufactures, Hanawalt, The ties that bound, Tamara K. Hareven, Family time and industrial time: the relationship between the family and work in a New England industrial community (Cambridge, 1982), Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and Mary Jo Maynes eds., German women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: a social and literary history (Bloomington, 1986), R. E. Pahl, Divisions of labour (Oxford, 1984), and Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott, Women, work, and family (New York, 1978).
9. See Berg, The age of manufactures, Hanawalt, The ties that bound, Tamara K. Hareven, Family time and industrial time: the relationship between the family and work in a New England industrial community (Cambridge, 1982), Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and Mary Jo Maynes eds., German women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: a social and literary history (Bloomington, 1986), R. E. Pahl, Divisions of labour (Oxford, 1984), and Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott, Women, work, and family (New York, 1978).
10. See Berg, The age of manufactures, Hanawalt, The ties that bound, Tamara K. Hareven, Family time and industrial time: the relationship between the family and work in a New England industrial community (Cambridge, 1982), Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and Mary Jo Maynes eds., German women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: a social and literary history (Bloomington, 1986), R. E. Pahl, Divisions of labour (Oxford, 1984), and Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott, Women, work, and family (New York, 1978).
11. See Berg, The age of manufactures, Hanawalt, The ties that bound, Tamara K. Hareven, Family time and industrial time: the relationship between the family and work in a New England industrial community (Cambridge, 1982), Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and Mary Jo Maynes eds., German women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: a social and literary history (Bloomington, 1986), R. E. Pahl, Divisions of labour (Oxford, 1984), and Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott, Women, work, and family (New York, 1978).
12. See Isabelle Chabot, 'Widowhood and poverty in late medieval Florence', Continuity and Change 3 (1988), 291-311, Charles de La Roncière, 'Tuscan notables on the eve of the Renaissance', in Georges Duby ed., A history of private life: revelations of the medieval world (Cambridge, 1988), and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Women, family, and ritual in Renaissance Italy, trans. Lydia Cochrane (Chicago, 1985).
13. See Isabelle Chabot, 'Widowhood and poverty in late medieval Florence', Continuity and Change 3 (1988), 291-311, Charles de La Roncière, 'Tuscan notables on the eve of the Renaissance', in Georges Duby ed., A history of private life: revelations of the medieval world (Cambridge, 1988), and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Women, family, and ritual in Renaissance Italy, trans. Lydia Cochrane (Chicago, 1985).
14. See Isabelle Chabot, 'Widowhood and poverty in late medieval Florence', Continuity and Change 3 (1988), 291-311, Charles de La Roncière, 'Tuscan notables on the eve of the Renaissance', in Georges Duby ed., A history of private life: revelations of the medieval world (Cambridge, 1988), and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Women, family, and ritual in Renaissance Italy, trans. Lydia Cochrane (Chicago, 1985).
15. Gabriella Piccinni, 'Le donne nella mezzadria Toscana delle origini: materiali per la definizione del ruolo femminile nelle campagne', Ricerche Storiche 15 (1985), 127-82.
16. Maria Serena Mazzi and Sergio Raveggi, Gli uomini e le cose nelle campagne florentine del Quattrocento (Florence, 1983), 199-201.
17. Tilly and Scott, Women, work, and family.
18. Pahl, Divisions of labour.
19. See also Hareven, Family time and industrial time, 189-217.
20. Berg, The age of manufactures, 129-75, and Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, 178-81.
21. Berg, The age of manufactures, 129-75, and Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, 178-81.
22. Alice Clark, Working life of women in the seventeenth century (London, 1919), 293, and Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, 170-1, 182.
23. Alice Clark, Working life of women in the seventeenth century (London, 1919), 293, and Howell, Women, production, and patriarchy, 170-1, 182.
24. See Ivan Szelényi, 'Social inequalities in state socialist redistributive economies', International Journal of Comparative Sociology 19 (1978), 63-87, and George Konrád and Iván Szelényi, The intellectuals on the road to class power (New York, 1979), 47-60.
25. See Ivan Szelényi, 'Social inequalities in state socialist redistributive economies', International Journal of Comparative Sociology 19 (1978), 63-87, and George Konrád and Iván Szelényi, The intellectuals on the road to class power (New York, 1979), 47-60.
26. See Karl Polanyi, The great transformation (Boston, [1944] 1957), 43-55, and Karl Polanyi, 'The economy as instituted process', in Karl Polanyi, Conrad M. Arensberg and Harry W. Pearson eds, Trade and market in the early empires: economies in history and theory (New York, 1957).
27. See Karl Polanyi, The great transformation (Boston, [1944] 1957), 43-55, and Karl Polanyi, 'The economy as instituted process', in Karl Polanyi, Conrad M. Arensberg and Harry W. Pearson eds, Trade and market in the early empires: economies in history and theory (New York, 1957).
28. Ivan Szelényi, Socialist entrepreneurs: embourgeoisement in rural Hungary (Madison, 1988).
29. Gary S. Becker, A treatise on the family (Cambridge, 1991), 30.
30. See also Becker's discussion (ibid., pp. 342-61) about how economic theories of the household explain long-term historical trends in family history for another example of how he attempts to develop theories that apply to both preindustrial and industrial contexts.
31. Ibid., 31.
32. Ibid., 32.
33. Ibid., 3.
34. Ibid., 37-48.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid., 27.
37. Ibid., 50.
38. Archivio di Stato of Florence, Italy, Archivio del Catasto (hereafter AC) [Volume] 241, fos. 1r-105r, 1035r-1224r; AC 272, fos. 17r-56v, 467r-554v.
39. Archivio di Stato of Florence, Italy, Archivio del Catasto (hereafter AC) [Volume] 241, fos. 1r-105r, 1035r-1224r; AC 272, fos. 17r-56v, 467r-554v.
40. David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families: a study of the Florentine Catasto of 1427 (New Haven, 1985), 350-1.
41. See Judith C. Brown, In the shadow of Florence:provincial society in Renaissance Pescia (New York, 1982), 14-21; and Emanuele Repetti, Dizionario geografico fisico, storico della Toscana, contenente la descrizione di tutti i luoghi del Granducato, Ducato di Lucca, Garfagnana e Lunigiana, Volume 3 (Rome, [1839] 1969), 354-6.
42. See Judith C. Brown, In the shadow of Florence:provincial society in Renaissance Pescia (New York, 1982), 14-21; and Emanuele Repetti, Dizionario geografico fisico, storico della Toscana, contenente la descrizione di tutti i luoghi del Granducato, Ducato di Lucca, Garfagnana e Lunigiana, Volume 3 (Rome, [1839] 1969), 354-6.
43. AC 237, fos. 1r-478r; AC 270, fos. 1r-157v.
44. AC 237, fos. 1r-478r; AC 270, fos. 1r-157v.
45. Polanyi, The great transformation, 57-64.
46. See Iván Szelényi and Eric Kostello, 'The market transition debate: toward a synthesis?', American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996), 1082-96.
47. Polanyi, The great transformation, 53.
48. In The great transformation, Polanyi (pp. 43-55) seemed to suggest that householding was different from reciprocity, but in his essay 'The economy as instituted process', which was a later work, householding seems to have been subsumed under the category of reciprocity. In the later work, he may have recognized that householding can be treated as one specific form of reciprocity.
49. For example, see Archivio di Stato, Florence, Italy, Notarile antecosimiano, [Volume] 11269.
50. Buying and selling plots of land is common in regions of partible inheritance. For examples from different regions and time periods, see Levi (Inheriting power: the story of an exorcist (Chicago: 1988), 66-99) and Sabean (Property, production, and family in Neckarhausen, 1700-1870 (Cambridge, 1990), 16).
51. Buying and selling plots of land is common in regions of partible inheritance. For examples from different regions and time periods, see Levi (Inheriting power: the story of an exorcist (Chicago: 1988), 66-99) and Sabean (Property, production, and family in Neckarhausen, 1700-1870 (Cambridge, 1990), 16).
52. See Elio Conti, I catasti agrari della Repubblica fiorentina e il catasto particellare toscano (secoli XIV-XIX) (Rome, 1966); David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Census and property survey of Florentine domains in the province of Tuscany, 1427-1480: machine readable data file (Madison, 1981), and Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families.
53. See Elio Conti, I catasti agrari della Repubblica fiorentina e il catasto particellare toscano (secoli XIV-XIX) (Rome, 1966); David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Census and property survey of Florentine domains in the province of Tuscany, 1427-1480: machine readable data file (Madison, 1981), and Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families.
54. See Elio Conti, I catasti agrari della Repubblica fiorentina e il catasto particellare toscano (secoli XIV-XIX) (Rome, 1966); David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Census and property survey of Florentine domains in the province of Tuscany, 1427-1480: machine readable data file (Madison, 1981), and Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families.
55. Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Census and property surrey, and Tuscans and their families,
56. It is not always possible to distinguish between land that was worked by the owner and land worked by wage labourers because the amount of tax assessed was identical for both. Many owners did indicate, however, when the land was worked by wage labourers.
57. There is little doubt that Tuscans misrepresented their assets and income to try to lower their tax assessments. In particular, they tended to under-report output slightly. There is little reason, however, to suspect that men and women had different incentives to under-report their output, making it possible to compare men and women's declarations. Furthermore, previous work illustrates that landlords' and tenants' declarations frequently matched, suggesting that the Catasto declarations provide reasonably consistent information (Rebecca Jean Emigh, 'Loans and livestock: comparing landlords' and tenants' declarations from the Catasto of 1427', The Journal of European Economic History 25 (1996), 705-23).
58. Catasto declarations represent fiscal households. It is generally assumed that all of the individuals listed in the same declaration physically lived together, though this was not necessarily true. Thus, it is possible that the individuals discussed in this article formed single-person households for the purposes of taxation, but physically lived with other people. Unfortunately, there is no systematic way to determine the difference between physical, as opposed to fiscal, households. Regardless of the difficulties of residence, however, the documents can still be used to compare empirically the labour of widows and widowers, since the attribution of activities to individuals is unambiguous in the case of these households.
59. Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families, 298. Of course, the number of cases is small, making it difficult to make draw definitive conclusions. It is difficult to obtain a large number of cases, because the percentage of solitary households in any given community is small and because identifying rental property is particularly time-consuming given the nature of the archival sources.
60. Federigo Melis, 'Vini medievali delle colline lucchesi e della Valdinievole che ritornano alla ribalta', I vini italiani nel medioevo (Florence, 1984), 150-1.
61. It is somewhat difficult to compare, in strict terms, the prices the Catasto officials used for crops in different locations. The price varied depending on the distance from Florence and on the quality of the produce. Conti (I catasti agrari, 46-7) gives the prices for wine in the Catasto, which range from 12 soldi a barile to 40 soldi a barile for speciality wines. Although the 26 soldi assessed for each barile of wine from Montecatini is midway between these two extremes, Montecatini di Valdinievole was relatively far from Florence, so the assessed price would have been lower for wine from Montecatini than from regions closer to Florence, regardless of the quality of the wine. There is also the additional difficulty of the variability of local measures. A barile of wine from Montecatini may have been slightly smaller than a barile of wine in Florence, about 0.9 of the Florentine measure (Tavole di ragguaglio per la riduzione dei pesi e misure che si usano in diversi luoghi del Granducato di Toscana al peso e misura vegliante a Firenze (Florence, 1782), 305), which may have increased the price of a barile of wine from Montecatini, regardless of its quality.
62. It is somewhat difficult to compare, in strict terms, the prices the Catasto officials used for crops in different locations. The price varied depending on the distance from Florence and on the quality of the produce. Conti (I catasti agrari, 46-7) gives the prices for wine in the Catasto, which range from 12 soldi a barile to 40 soldi a barile for speciality wines. Although the 26 soldi assessed for each barile of wine from Montecatini is midway between these two extremes, Montecatini di Valdinievole was relatively far from Florence, so the assessed price would have been lower for wine from Montecatini than from regions closer to Florence, regardless of the quality of the wine. There is also the additional difficulty of the variability of local measures. A barile of wine from Montecatini may have been slightly smaller than a barile of wine in Florence, about 0.9 of the Florentine measure (Tavole di ragguaglio per la riduzione dei pesi e misure che si usano in diversi luoghi del Granducato di Toscana al peso e misura vegliante a Firenze (Florence, 1782), 305), which may have increased the price of a barile of wine from Montecatini, regardless of its quality.
63. Brown, In the shadow of Florence, 78-9.
64. 'Mona' was the title used for all Tuscan adult women.
65. AC 270, fo. 30v.
66. All ages reflect the age declared in the Catasto, which was not necessarily the same as biological age in terms of the number of elapsed years. The Catasto exhibits substantial age rounding, especially at ages that are multiples of five (Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families, 170-83). Tuscans also altered their ages for a number of social and fiscal reasons (see Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families, 168-70 and 257-60, and Anthony Molho, 'Deception and marriage strategy in Renaissance Florence: the case of women's ages', Renaissance Quarterly 41 (1988), 193-217).
67. All ages reflect the age declared in the Catasto, which was not necessarily the same as biological age in terms of the number of elapsed years. The Catasto exhibits substantial age rounding, especially at ages that are multiples of five (Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families, 170-83). Tuscans also altered their ages for a number of social and fiscal reasons (see Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families, 168-70 and 257-60, and Anthony Molho, 'Deception and marriage strategy in Renaissance Florence: the case of women's ages', Renaissance Quarterly 41 (1988), 193-217).
68. All ages reflect the age declared in the Catasto, which was not necessarily the same as biological age in terms of the number of elapsed years. The Catasto exhibits substantial age rounding, especially at ages that are multiples of five (Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families, 170-83). Tuscans also altered their ages for a number of social and fiscal reasons (see Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and their families, 168-70 and 257-60, and Anthony Molho, 'Deception and marriage strategy in Renaissance Florence: the case of women's ages', Renaissance Quarterly 41 (1988), 193-217).
69. Throughout this article, I use the measures and units given in the original documents. The units of money used are florins, lire, soldi, and denari. In 1427, 4 lire were equal to 1 florin (fiorino), 20 soldi were equal to 1 lira, and 12 denari were equal to 1 soldo. The surface measure of land used in Montecatini was the coltra, which was divided into four quartieri. The measure of volume used for most varieties of grain was the staio (bushel). The quara was also used for grain. The measure of volume for wine was either the barile (barrel) or the soma (literally, 'load'; Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Lessico Universale Italiano, Umberto Bosco ed., Volume XXI (Rome, 1969), 323). The measure of volume for olive oil was the libbra (pound) or the panata. In this article, I have standardized the spelling of these measures given in the original documents.
70. AC 270, fo. 11r.
71. Of course, as is generally true, it is not entirely clear how to interpret the document, given that it suggests that an elderly, sickly woman was engaged directly in agricultural labour. She may have worked the property herself despite her age; she may have exaggerated her age or infirmity; or she may have hired a wage labourer to assist with the cultivation.
72. AC 270, fo. 10v.
73. AC 272, fo. 504v.
74. AC 270, fo. 26v.
75. Ibid., fo. 31v.
76. Ibid., fos. 15r-v.
77. Ibid., fos. 9v-10r.
78. AC 241, fo. 16r.
79. AC 270, fo. 51r.
80. Ibid., fos. 17r-v.
81. AC 237, fos. 59r-v. The Portale were the original versions of the Catasto of 1427, which households submitted to the tax officials; the scribes then recopied this information to the Campione, the official versions of the Catasto of 1427, and added the tax calculations.
82. AC 270, fos. 25r-26v.
83. AC 272, fos. 481r-v.
84. Terratico was supposedly fixed-term (Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Lessico Universale Italiano, Volume XXII, 697) although I found one variable-term lease (in eighths) from the Val di Cecina (Archivio di Stato, Florence, Italy, Diplomatico, Strozziane Galletti, December 6, 1421).
85. Terratico was supposedly fixed-term (Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Lessico Universale Italiano, Volume XXII, 697) although I found one variable-term lease (in eighths) from the Val di Cecina (Archivio di Stato, Florence, Italy, Diplomatico, Strozziane Galletti, December 6, 1421).
86. AC 270, fo. 41r.
87. AC 272, fos. 39v-40r.
88. AC 270, fo. 152v.
89. AC 81, fos. 148r-151v.
90. AC 270, fo. 39r.
91. AC 270, fo. 1r.
92. Chabot, 'Widowhood and poverty'.
93. Becker, A treatise on the family, 50.
94. Of course, differential male and female mortality rates also affected the number of widows and widowers in the population, irrespective of whether men or women were more likely to live alone or remarry.