Page 110 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 110
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
Graph 4.1: Two demographic crises in Friuli, 1605–1645
Source: Fornasin (forthcoming).
The choice of the period was made in order to compare two mortali-
ty crises of different natures. The first, in 1616–17, was due to an epidemic
contemporary to the Gradisca war (Fornasin and Panjek 2008); the second,
in 1629, was due to a severe famine (Fornasin 2001b). The evidence of the
graph conforms to the theoretical expectations. In fact, whenever a mortal-
ity crisis is due to a subsistence crisis, the territory which is better suited to
adapt is the mountains, as it is characterised by a more favourable environ-
ment to the integrated peasant economy. In the same way there are no rel-
evant differences between the plain and the mountains, when the mortali-
ty crisis is due to epidemic factors.
It remains to demonstrate which mechanisms allow a mountainous
context to better overcome an unfavourable economic conjuncture. To this
regard we present Graph 4.2, where we outline the seasonality of concep-
tions in the three different contexts already explored in Graph 4.1.
We can find an indirect check of this adaptation in the data on bap-
tisms recorded in the mountains villages. One of the demographic char-
acteristics of the mountains population in Friuli was the presence of sea-
sonal migrations, which kept men away from their villages for most of the
year. Migrants returned home during the summer. Since they stayed home
108
Graph 4.1: Two demographic crises in Friuli, 1605–1645
Source: Fornasin (forthcoming).
The choice of the period was made in order to compare two mortali-
ty crises of different natures. The first, in 1616–17, was due to an epidemic
contemporary to the Gradisca war (Fornasin and Panjek 2008); the second,
in 1629, was due to a severe famine (Fornasin 2001b). The evidence of the
graph conforms to the theoretical expectations. In fact, whenever a mortal-
ity crisis is due to a subsistence crisis, the territory which is better suited to
adapt is the mountains, as it is characterised by a more favourable environ-
ment to the integrated peasant economy. In the same way there are no rel-
evant differences between the plain and the mountains, when the mortali-
ty crisis is due to epidemic factors.
It remains to demonstrate which mechanisms allow a mountainous
context to better overcome an unfavourable economic conjuncture. To this
regard we present Graph 4.2, where we outline the seasonality of concep-
tions in the three different contexts already explored in Graph 4.1.
We can find an indirect check of this adaptation in the data on bap-
tisms recorded in the mountains villages. One of the demographic char-
acteristics of the mountains population in Friuli was the presence of sea-
sonal migrations, which kept men away from their villages for most of the
year. Migrants returned home during the summer. Since they stayed home
108
