The Medieval Mediterranean Webinar: Fields of Convergence – Rural Communities in Late Medieval Italy and Yemen
We are pleased to invite you to another event of the 4th research webinar series of The Medieval Mediterranean: Local and Global Perspectives, co-organised by the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean, the Woolf Institute (Cambridge), the IMF-CSIC (Barcelona), the The Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Ghent, and the Medieval Studies groups at the Universities of Exeter, Edinburgh, Liege and Lincoln:
Tuesday 28 January at 5pm (GMT):
The Medieval Mediterranean: Fields of Convergence – Rural Communities in Late Medieval Italy and Yemen
Our panelists are:
Dr Davide Cristoferi (Ghent University), Dr Zacharie Mochtari de Pierrepont (Ghent University), Prof. Jo Van Steenbergen (Ghent University)
Abstract:
This talk examines rural communities in late medieval Latin Christianity and the Islamic Middle East through a comparative lens, focusing specifically on Italy and Yemen. Recent scholarship has significantly advanced our understanding of rural societies in both contexts, challenging traditional narratives and revealing more complex socio-economic structures. We begin by presenting the current state of the art in our field, highlighting recent methodological shifts and new interpretative frameworks. For Islamic studies, the work of Yossef Rapoport has been instrumental in reshaping our understanding of rural Egypt, emphasizing the dynamic nature of tribal societies and their interaction with state structures. Élise Voguet’s research on Maghrebi rural communities has similarly highlighted the agency of peasants and the complexity of local power structures.
In European studies, scholars have increasingly focused on the diversity of agrarian systems and their impact on social inequality, as exemplified by recent work on late medieval Tuscany. Our discussion of primary sources will emphasize the importance of integrating textual and material evidence. For Islamic contexts, we will consider the value of documentary sources such as waqf records and tax registers, alongside narrative accounts. For Latin Christianity, we will examine the potential of fiscal surveys, notarial records, and archaeological data. The talk then focuses on four specific themes from a comparative perspective, to initiate a discussion:
Conflicts among rural communities: We analyze inter-village disputes, resource competition, and social tensions, drawing on Rapoport’s insights into tribal conflicts in rural Egypt and comparable studies in the Italian context.
Representations: We examine rural dwellers’ portrayals in elite discourses and popular narratives, considering how these representations shaped and were shaped by broader societal perceptions.
Inequalities: We investigate economic stratification and social hierarchies within rural societies, drawing on recent quantitative studies of wealth distribution in late medieval Tuscany (Cristoferi, 2022) and comparable data from Yemen.
Articulation of economic systems and local communities: We explore how diverse agrarian structures and market forces influenced rural life, considering the impact of different property regimes such as sharecropping and tenancy.
By engaging in this dual context, we hope to assess both the commonalities in rural experiences across cultural boundaries, contributing to a more global perspective on late medieval rural history.
Click here (https://theofed-cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KbY8np0PR62Vy6FUfgjSiA#/registration) to register for this webinar.
Please, share this information widely and we hope to see many of you there!
Story submitted by Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo
aliuzzoscorpo@lincoln.ac.uk