The paper deals with the link between ‘seigniorial mutation’ (or feudal revolution) and economic transformations, with specific focus to the Tuscany. At the heart of this issue is the question of whether 11th-century economic growth may have been a fundamental precondition of ‘seigniorial mutation’. Focusing on the fate of fiscal estates in the region, the paper shows their patterns of circulation and redistribution, their slow and incomplete processes of appropriation and privatization, and the enduring ability of kings and marquises to control aristocracies through them into the late 11th century. This is a decisive key in explaining why the severe political crises marking the history of Tuscany in the 10th and 11th centuries did not give rise to a ‘seigniorial mutation’ until the clash between Henry IV and Gregory VII. Given the large population size achieved by the major fiscal centers and their complex economic articulation, it is finally suggested that the economic growth that occurred during the 11th century provided aristocracies and major churches with the economic and relational resources necessary to act outside the traditional circuit of the marquis’ court, aiming for a local, more intense, and long-lasting power: in short, to initiate the ‘feudal revolution’.
Il saggio affronta, con particolare riferimento alla realtà toscana, la questione del nesso tra ‘mutazione signorile’ e trasformazioni economiche. Al centro dell’interesse sta la domanda se la crescita economica di XI secolo possa aver costituito una precondizione fondamentale della ‘mutazione signorile’. Concentrandosi sulle vicende dei beni fiscali nella regione, il saggio mostra le loro forme di circolazione e ridistribuzione, i loro lenti e imperfetti processi di appropriazione e privatizzazione, la perdurante capacità del potere regio e marchionale di controllare le aristocrazie attraverso di essi fino all’XI secolo inoltrato. È questa una chiave decisiva per spiegare perché le gravi crisi politiche che costellano la storia della regione nel X e XI secolo non abbiano dato origine a una ‘mutazione signorile’ fino allo scontro tra Enrico IV e Gregorio VII. Considerate le ampie dimensioni demografiche raggiunte dai maggiori centri fiscali e la loro complessa articolazione economica, si suggerisce infine che la crescita economica intervenuta durante il secolo XI abbia fornito ad aristocratici e chiese maggiori le risorse economiche e relazionali necessarie ad agire al di fuori del tradizionale circuito della corte marchionale, mirando a un potere locale, più intenso e duraturo, insomma avviando il processo di signorilizzazione del potere.
‘Mutazione signorile’ e trasformazioni economiche. Considerazioni a partire dal destino dei beni fiscali in Toscana
Simone Maria Collavini
2023-01-01
Abstract
The paper deals with the link between ‘seigniorial mutation’ (or feudal revolution) and economic transformations, with specific focus to the Tuscany. At the heart of this issue is the question of whether 11th-century economic growth may have been a fundamental precondition of ‘seigniorial mutation’. Focusing on the fate of fiscal estates in the region, the paper shows their patterns of circulation and redistribution, their slow and incomplete processes of appropriation and privatization, and the enduring ability of kings and marquises to control aristocracies through them into the late 11th century. This is a decisive key in explaining why the severe political crises marking the history of Tuscany in the 10th and 11th centuries did not give rise to a ‘seigniorial mutation’ until the clash between Henry IV and Gregory VII. Given the large population size achieved by the major fiscal centers and their complex economic articulation, it is finally suggested that the economic growth that occurred during the 11th century provided aristocracies and major churches with the economic and relational resources necessary to act outside the traditional circuit of the marquis’ court, aiming for a local, more intense, and long-lasting power: in short, to initiate the ‘feudal revolution’.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
