Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qs9v7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-09T05:53:16.512Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - The expression of grievance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2009

Frank McArdle
Affiliation:
Hewitt Associates
Get access

Summary

The bond between the villagers and the grand-ducal estate of Altopascio was comparable to that which might exist in a small industrial town where a single corporation dominates the lives of the residents. An idea of the community's identity can be drawn from its expression of grievance because therein lay the autonomous feelings of the community – independent reactions of groups and individuals which even this most powerful of landlords and the ruler of the state was unable to repress.

During these centuries of grand-ducal administration, three broad categories of expression most clearly articulated the grievances of the community: crime, violence, and out-right resistance.

Practically all the crime in this society was directly linked to the material condition of the criminal. The correspondence between Florence and Altopascio was very specific on this point. On 20 June 1716, for example, the Superintendent of the Royal Possessions in Florence wrote to the estate manager of Altopascio: ‘It does not surprise us that theft is continually on the rise in that part of the countryside, because the same is happening elsewhere, and the cause of it is the common misery.’

The prevalent crime was theft, which was difficult to prevent on the vast expanse of this estate, especially when the thieves were impoverished individuals acting out of desperation. In February 1695 the Royal Possessions reluctantly ordered the incarceration of Domenico Baccetti, who could not otherwise be stopped from stealing sticks and timber from the forest.

Type
Chapter
Information
Altopascio
A Study in Tuscan Rural Society, 1587-1784
, pp. 195 - 213
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×