For several decades, social historians have increasingly paid attention to the lower social classes during the Middle Ages and the early modern age. Poverty, hunger, legal abuse, violence, and other related topics have been addressed, especially since the major contributions by Michel Mollat and his colleagues since the 1970s established this scholarly field. It is not easy to engage with these issues because the data reflecting poverty, for instance, are not available in large numbers, and if so, then only in short supply. Nevertheless, there are enough account books by monasteries and churches regarding their effort to support the poor in their parishes, as recent research has amply demonstrated. Laurent Feller's introduction to the present volume, dedicated to the history of poverty in the late Middle Ages, outlines in an exemplary fashion what significant contributions scholars have been able to make up to now. But we need to discriminate more specifically between voluntary and involuntary poverty, i.e., religious motivations to lead a life in poverty (Franciscans and Dominicans, for example), versus economic factors that created poverty both in the countryside and the city, the primary focus of this volume.
It is unclear whether the papers presented here had been first delivered at a conference or whether the editors invited scholars to contribute to the volume by itself. The articles assembled here are written in French, Italian, and Spanish, all very closely related languages. Nevertheless, I still wonder whether the individual contributors communicated with each other since there are no cross-references. Moreover, there are no abstracts, no keywords, hardly any concluding remarks, and there is no index. At least there is a cumulative bibliography, whereas all notes are only abbreviated, which requires a lot of leafing back and forth, and it is not at all clear whether all references are contained in the long list. Spot checks confirmed that there are some problems in that regard. All primary sources are listed separately.
Apart from the introduction by Feller and the conclusion by Sandro Carocci, there are twenty-two chapters. Those are divided into the following thematic sections. 1. The Process of Pauperization; 2. Impoverished Workers; 3. The Responses of the Community and Institutions to Poverty; and 4. The Everyday Life Experience of those Suffering From Poverty.
Considering that almost all the authors originate from universities in France, Italy, and Spain, it does not come as a surprise that they focus on local sources in their countries, certainly a valid approach. Topics covered in each section focus on concrete conditions such as in Section one with articles focused on poverty in smaller Italian towns (Maria Ginatempo), the situation for textile workers in Pavia and Piacenza (Laura Bertoni), impoverished craftsmen in Vercelli (Beatrice Del Bo), the causes of poverty in Florence (Alessia Meneghin), work and debt in Paris, and poverty in the countryside in Vexin (northeast of Paris), both in the wake of the Hundred Years’ War (Julie Claustre and Anne-Laure Alard-Bonhoure, respectively).
In the second section, we begin with the situation for impoverished workers in Marseille during the fourteenth century (Francine Michaud), then we come to the workers involved in the construction of the cathedral of Milan (Paolo Grillo), whereupon Carlos Laliena Corbera examines the conditions for workers in late-medieval Zaragoza. Jesús García Díaz studies rural poverty in late medieval Castile, and Pau Viciano views salaried workers in rural Valencia during the fifteenth century.
The third section might be the most fascinating one because here the authors examine how the Church and other institutions responded to the problem of poverty. Alexis Wilkin focuses on the situation in the Carolingian Empire, which is far away from the temporal framework set by the editors, and also lacks in a close study of relevant sources. Pere Benito i Monclús and Joan Maltas i Montoro then return to the late Middle Ages with a study on food scarcity and even famine in fourteenth-century Barcelona. In contrast to most other studies in this volume, here we are confronted with concrete data, statistics (in the form of graphs), and a really close examination of the relevant sources. Considering the tough economic conditions for the lower masses already then, it does not come as a surprise that late medieval cities experienced riots quite regularly, which Alma Poloni studies with an eye toward Italian cities during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, highlighting, for instance, the riot led by Cola di Rienzo. Efforts to combat poverty and spiraling debt obligations in rural Aragon are the topic of the study by Guillermo Tomás Faci, who draws much information from a financial protocol in the cathedral of Lérida from 1345-1346. Massimo Della Misericordia examines the complex of tithes, the community, and the poor in northern Lombardy, taking us from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, which is also a bit beyond the chronological framework set by the editors.
In the final section, we come across studies investigating the concrete conditions for individuals suffering from poverty in the late Middle Ages, beginning with Lidia L. Zanetti Domingues’s analysis of the biography of Pietro Pettinaio (died in Siena in 1289), who was considered a lay saint by his community. Vittoria Bufanio returns to the economic conditions of construction workers in late medieval Piedmont during the early fourteenth century. Luis Almenar Fernández reflects on the material culture of the poor in late medieval Valencia, apparently without acknowledging the work by Pau Viciano (see above). How life was for the poor in fifteenth-century Treviso is the topic of Mathieu Scherman, and Didier Lett pursues the same topic in Macerata (south of Ancona near the Adria) during the same time period. Finally, Christopher Dyer discusses food supplies, nutrition, and hospices for the poor in medieval England. He examines the regulations and rules, meals served, and the religious rituals observed there.
Sandro Carocci, in his conclusion, highlights how many sources we have available to discuss this broad topic and underscores that the term “poverty” itself requires careful differentiation depending on the context or conditions, which makes it almost impossible to define specifically what we might mean with it. He lists various theories that have been marshaled to explain the phenomenon itself, but the reality often seems to be ignored, which the present volume tries hard to remedy. Other issues were the impoverishment of workers in medieval cities, the growth of debts, financial problems by the craftsmen, and hence the widespread misery of the lower classes.
This is certainly a rich volume shedding much light on the poor in the urban centers and in the countryside during the pre-modern period. The authors take us straight to many concrete cases and allow us to understand the economic conditions leading to local impoverishment. But this is a book that could have really profited from a stronger editorial hand. It is simply difficult to read, irrespective of the three languages used, because the authors tend to be rather verbose, do not clearly outline what sources they want to discuss, do not draw connections to other regions or cities, do not summarize sharply enough the results, and do not structure their papers more in a more reader friendly manner. The evidence presented altogether, however, constitutes a treasure trove and illustrates well how complex the topic of poverty had really been already in the late Middle Ages.