Straws In The Wind by Ronald E Zupko

Author:Ronald E Zupko [Zupko, Ronald E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9780813329710
Google: MR9MvgAACAAJ
Publisher: Avalon Publishing
Published: 1996-06-13T03:01:17+00:00

Food Supplies

The supply of grain and grain-fed livestock for the various urban populations was a persistent concern for communal officials. Population densities during this period were extremely high and, indeed, in some cases even surpassed modern population densities for the same areas. Pistoia had a population of about 44,000, of which about 10,000 lived in the city itself (about 49 persons per square kilometer, or about 0.386 square miles); Florence, in 1318, had a population of 116,200 in the city and 139,500 in its hinterland (about 65.5 persons per square kilometer), a total of 255,700. Although David Herlihy has argued convincingly that this population was declining in the century prior to the Black Death (1345–1350), the fact remains that this population was stretching, to its fullest extent, the capacity of the soil to produce plant and animal food— even after resorting to extensive land reclamation projects and the use of marginal land and highland areas for pasturage.13 The pressure on the commune officials thus was real and not merely the result of political action.

The Ferrarese authorities were especially concerned about the status of the food supply and, in particular, that of the meat supply. One law in the Ferrarese Statutes of 1287 required officials of the commune and dependent towns to make lists of all of the livestock in the area that included the condition and location of each animal. Based on these lists, which were to be submitted to the podesta, sureties were to be given by the owners to insure that these animals would not be taken outside of Ferrarese jurisdiction. Owners could also be fined for leaving their herds untended, the assumption being that untended herds not only could suffer losses but could also damage crops.14 The underlying cause for this concern was expressed in one of the rare prefaces to a Ferrarese law; it simply stated that the law was enacted “on behalf of the commune and for the evident utility of the commune of Ferrara, and so that a more bountiful supply of foodstuffs should be kept in the City of Ferrara and its District.”15 Other towns passed similar legislation designed to enable the local commune to maintain control over its supply of meat; this was especially true in those situations in which the livestock was taxed or the meat itself was subject to taxation.16

Part of the commune’s concern was necessarily related to land use. It is more expensive to raise meat for protein than to obtain protein from plant sources. Furthermore, animals generally require large amounts of pastureland to sustain themselves. Pastureland, like any other arable land in this period, was valuable, and commune officials were routinely faced with the problem of deciding whether the land should be used for crop production or pasturage.

Verona, for example, would not even allow animal owners to pasture animals in leas or grainfields without the permission of the appropriate communal authority.17 Ferrara officials spelled out the rationale for their concern very clearly in this statute: “We decree and

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