Papers by Mathieu Harsch
The paper studies the patterns of clothing consumption of the Florentines in the late 13th centur... more The paper studies the patterns of clothing consumption of the Florentines in the late 13th century from a corpus of domestic accounts, previously published, but never analyzed from the perspective of clothing. It highlights the prevalence of some types of clothing (gonnella, guarnacca, etc.) and the low degree of differentiation between men’s and women’s clothing or between the clothing of the city and that of the contado (etc.), and shows that the criteria of distinction and hierarchy was not perceived at the level of clothing but at the level of the fabric. Moreover, it stresses the wide distribution of woolen cloths originating from the Realm of France (Flanders, Artois, Normandy, and Île-de-France) and, conversely, the sparse presence of Florentine and Italian cloths in the wardrobe of the business class, and then examines the market for woolen cloths in Florence around 1300. Finally, the last part of the article connects the results obtained from the corpus with a series of related themes, such as the history of consumption, the history of sumptuary laws, the social and political history of Florence and the history of gender.
The author aims to examine and categorize the range of dyeing materials used in the Florentine wo... more The author aims to examine and categorize the range of dyeing materials used in the Florentine wool and silk textile industries in the late Middle Ages, focusing mainly on those produced within the regional space in order to evaluate the impact of the Florentine dyeing activity on the natural environment and the productive landscape of the Tuscan countryside. In particular, the author establishes a line of demarcation between cultivated and uncultivated resources in order to verify which constitutes an indication of the level of industrial development of medieval textile production. This further focuses on how the transition from the exploitation of wild resources to the exploitation of cultivated resources could reflect a greater degree of economic integration between the countryside and the city, and contribute to the formation of a regional economic space.
The book published by French medievalist Catherine Verna L’industrie au village (2017) raises a d... more The book published by French medievalist Catherine Verna L’industrie au village (2017) raises a double question: on the one hand because it uses the term industry in reference to the Middle Ages, and on the other because it associates the same term with the village, i.e. rurality, whereas medieval industry – at least for those who think it is possible to talk about industry during these times – is traditionally associated with cities rather than the countryside. In the introduction of the book, Verna conducts a historiographical review of the concept of industry, limited to only French medievalists. This paper endeavors a similar review but focused on Italian historiography, illustrating how the concept of industry appears no clearer to Italian medievalists than it does to French ones. In addition, it discusses the definition of industry proposed by Verna – in order to determine whether it is appropriate or not to talk about “industry in the pre-industrial times” – and analyzes what the author means by the expression “industry in the village”. In particular, it pays attention to the concepts of small town and industrial district developed by Verna within her case study (the Pyrenean village of Arles-sur-Tech and the Vallespir localities in the 14th and 15th centuries), i.e. two concepts that constitute valuable interpretive keys for the history of medieval and modern Italy.
The Libro discepoli e pigione (1341-1346) of the Rucellai’s Arte della Lana dyeing workshop is th... more The Libro discepoli e pigione (1341-1346) of the Rucellai’s Arte della Lana dyeing workshop is the oldest payroll accounting book never discovered and the only one available for the period prior to the Black Death. Recently rediscovered, it allows a renewed reflection on the labour history in Florence. The account book testifies of a period in which the most diffused form of employment was characterised by the annual duration of hiring and a payment calculated on the working time, in opposition to the successive period characterised by the day labour and the piecework. This paper approaches this still little-known age of the labour history in Florence through some important issues as the form of payment, the frequency of payment, the credit dependency relationship or even the role of the accounting currency in the wages.
Books by Mathieu Harsch
Conference Presentations by Mathieu Harsch
Conference. Economic Issues of the Early Modern Period. Business, Enterprises, Spaces, Markets, F... more Conference. Economic Issues of the Early Modern Period. Business, Enterprises, Spaces, Markets, Fiesole, 2016.
Seminario di Ricerca. Una Questione di Tempo. Ritmi e cicli economici nell'Europa del Basso Medio... more Seminario di Ricerca. Una Questione di Tempo. Ritmi e cicli economici nell'Europa del Basso Medioevo (secc. XIII-XV), Padova 2018
Convegno internazionale. La Leadership delle associazioni professionali. Vicino Oriente Antico, M... more Convegno internazionale. La Leadership delle associazioni professionali. Vicino Oriente Antico, Mondo Antico, Età Medievale e Prima Età Moderna, Bologna 2018
Dressing The Early Modern Network Conference, Bologna 2016
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Papers by Mathieu Harsch
Books by Mathieu Harsch
Conference Presentations by Mathieu Harsch