Production relations on the island of Rab in the 16th century

Abstract

This article is a review and an analysis of contracts between feudal lords and agricultural bondsmen and shepherds and also a review of culrures and agricultural methods. The analysis of contracts reveals of differences between the feudal systems of Rab and of other parts of Dalmatian Croatia late in the 15th c., which was the period of decay. After the crisis agriculture was renewed in mid-sixteenth century. At this time the contracts present a variety of possibilites and reveal the mentality of the bondsmen. In Dalmatia the form of feudalism is the colonato. It means that an agricultural worker obliges himself to cultivate lite land and to give his lord part of the crops. He is a free man and his lord does not collaborate with him, he is a lazy lord, mostly absent. The agricultural producer of Rab s a conductor which means that he cultivates the land of his lord, giving him part of the crop. He is obliged to live on this ground with his family for the period of the conrtracl. The lord collaborated wit!) him giving him seeds, animals lor agricltural work, tols Tor Lite crop of vineyards, etc. This is a close collaboration wich presents more and more variety. The feudal estate is a federation of a number of conductores, all linked to the lord and his infrastructrc. The communal pastures were divided in a number of “flocks" where sheep and goals pastured. One or more shepherds looked after these flocks, which were owned by a number of owners who were shareholders of this Bock. This article reviews the chalk kilns, the mills, their construction and acting. Finally, the social and juridic situation of male and female workers and their economic problems are analysed, too.