Table Of ContentEarly Modern History: Society and Culture
General Editors: Rab Houston, Professor of Early Modern History, University
of St Andrews, Scotland, and Edward Muir, Professor of History, Northwestern
University, Illinois
This series encompasses all aspects of early modern international history from 1400 to
c.1800. The editors seek fresh and adventurous monographs, especially those with a
comparative and theoretical approach, from both new and established scholars.
Titles include:
Guido Alfani
CALAMITIES AND THE ECONOMY IN RENAISSANCE ITALY
The Grand Tour of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Robert C. Davis
CHRISTIAN SLAVES, MUSLIM MASTERS
White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500–1800
Rudolf Dekker
CHILDHOOD, MEMORY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN HOLLAND
From the Golden Age to Romanticism
Caroline Dodds Pennock
BONDS OF BLOOD
Gender, Lifecycle and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture
Steve Hindle
THE STATE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND, 1550–1640
Katharine Hodgkin
MADNESS IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Craig M. Koslofsky
THE REFORMATION OF THE DEAD
Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450–1700
Beat Kümin
DRINKING MATTERS
Public Houses and Social Exchange in Early Modern Central Europe
John Jeffries Martin
MYTHS OF RENAISSANCE INDIVIDUALISM
A. Lynn Martin
ALCOHOL, SEX AND GENDER IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE
Laura J. McGough
GENDER, SEXUALITY AND SYPHILIS IN EARLY MODERN VENICE
The Disease that Came to Stay
Samantha A. Meigs
THE REFORMATIONS IN IRELAND
Tradition and Confessionalism, 1400–1690
Craig Muldrew
THE ECONOMY OF OBLIGATION
The Culture of Credit and Social Relations in Early Modern England
Niall Ó Ciosáin
PRINT AND POPULAR CULTURE IN IRELAND, 1750–1850
H. Eric R. Olsen
THE CALABRIAN CHARLATAN, 1598–1603
Messianic Nationalism in Early Modern Europe
Thomas Max Safley
MATHEUS MILLER’S MEMOIR
A Merchant’s Life in the Seventeenth Century
Clodagh Tait
DEATH, BURIAL AND COMMEMORATION IN IRELAND, 1550–1650
B. Ann Tlusty
THE MARTIAL ETHIC IN EARLY MODERN GERMANY
Civic Duty and the Right of Arms
Richard W. Unger
SHIPS ON MAPS
Pictures of Power in Renaissance Europe
Johan Verberckmoes
LAUGHTER, JESTBOOKS AND SOCIETY IN THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS
Claire Walker
GENDER AND POLITICS IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE
English Convents in France and the Low Countries
Johannes C. Wolfart
RELIGION, GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN EARLY MODERN
GERMANY
Lindau, 1520–1628
Melinda Zook
PROTESTANTISM, POLITICS, AND WOMEN IN BRITAIN, 1660–1714
Forthcoming titles:
Caroline Dodds
LIVING WITH SACRIFICE
Early Modern History: Society and Culture
Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–333–71194–1 (Hardback)
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Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Calamities and the Economy
in Renaissance Italy
The Grand Tour of the Horsemen of the
Apocalypse
Guido Alfani
Associate Professor of Economic History, Bocconi University, Italy
Translated by
Christine Calvert
© Guido Alfani 2013
Guido Alfani, Il Grand Tour dei Cavalieri dell’Apocalisse. L’Italia del ‘lungo
Cinquecento’ (1494–1629) (Venice: Marsilio, 2010)
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-28976-6
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
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Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-45027-5 ISBN 978-1-137-28977-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137289773
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managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alfani, Guido, 1976–
[Il grand tour dei cavalieri dell’Apocalisse. English]
Calamities and the economy in renaissance Italy: the grand tour of
the horsemen of the apocalypse / Guido Alfani, Associate Professor
of Economic History, Bocconi University, Italy.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Italy—History—16th century. 2. Italy—Social conditions—
16th century. 3. Italy—Economic conditions—16th century. I. Title.
DG540.A4416 2013
363.340945’09031—dc23 2012045615
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
For Elisa, with love
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Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Acknowledgements x
Epigraph xii
Introduction 1
1 War 12
The Italian Wars, 1494–1559: an overview of the main events 13
Damage to human capital: battles and sieges 18
The tragedy of the ‘useless mouths’ 23
The sack of the cities 27
The long-term consequences of war: the case of Ivrea 29
Damage in rural areas 32
Who paid for the Italian Wars? Items for a balance sheet 34
2 Famine 42
The complex interaction between Famine, War and Plague 43
Dearth, hunger and famine: definitions and the development
of extreme hunger 46
Hunger and famine in the years of the Italian Wars 50
The great famine of the late sixteenth century, 1590–93 56
The famine in rural areas: the case of Nonantola 65
Provisioning of cereals, annone and the bread market:
successes, difficulties and institutional failures 70
3 Plague 79
The debate on the etiology of the plague and its implications 80
Plague and typhus from the Italian Wars to the Plague of
San Carlo of 1575–77 88
The intervention of the public health authorities from the
Plague of San Carlo to the epidemics at the end of the
sixteenth century 93
Damage to physical and to human capital 101
Consequences for aggregate demand and the labour market 107
An overall appraisal of the biological situation: new diseases
and the remission of the plague 109
4 Winners and Losers 112
Redistribution among states 114
Redistribution among communities: the role of institutions and
economic opportunities 124
vii
viii Contents
The famine of 1590–93 as a factor of rebalancing 130
Redistribution among socioeconomic groups and individual
opportunities 133
5 Population and the Economy: Underlying Trends 136
Lowland, mountain and coastal areas: physical environment
and demographic regimes 139
The Alps and Apennines 141
The cities 145
Cities and rural areas 148
A comparison between different rural areas: agrarian
innovation and Malthusian traps 150
Population theories put to the test: Malthus and Boserup 156
General demographic trends in northern Italy in the ‘long’
sixteenth century: a reconstruction 159
1595–1620: an Indian summer or a solid recovery? 165
Conclusion: Towards the Seventeenth Century 169
Appendices 176
Appendix 1 C hronology of the principal plagues and famines in Italy,
1470–1627 176
Appendix 2 Births and deaths per region and macro-region, 1550–1628 178
Notes 180
Manuscripts and Printed Sources 220
Bibliography 221
Index 244
Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 Main battles and sacks of cities during the Italian Wars 19
2.1 The alimentary and epidemic crisis of 1527–29 52
2.2 Famine in the 1590s: the decline in births 59
2.3 Famine in the 1590s: the increase in burials 59
2.4 Monthly burials in Nonantola, January 1591–December 1594 67
2.5 Annual wheat prices on Italian urban markets, 1494–1628 71
3.1 The Plague of San Carlo, 1575–77: the decline in births 92
4.1 A comparison between the generations of 1558–62 and 1585–89 119
4.2 Demoted capitals: Carpi and Sabbioneta 126
4.3 Cities promoted to capital: Turin, Modena and Parma 127
5.1 A comparison between lowland, mountain and coastal areas of
northern Italy, 1561–1627 139
5.2 A comparison between the Alps and Apennines, 1561–1627 144
5.3 The movement of births in the cities of northern Italy, 1561–1627 147
5.4 Births and deaths in urban and rural areas of northern Italy,
1561–1627 149
5.5 The movement of births in rural areas of northern Italy,
1561–1627 153
5.6 Reconstruction of the births in Lombardy, 1530–1628 160
5.7 Reconstruction of the births per region, 1550–1628 161
5.8 Reconstruction of births and deaths in northern Italy, 1550–1628 163
5.9 A comparison between the generations of 1604–08 and
1624–28 167
Tables
3.1 Urban mortality rates during the Plague of San Carlo, 1575–77 91
3.2 Expenditures of the city of Ivrea to manage the plague of 1585 97
5.1 Estimates of the Italian population per region and macro-region,
1550–1700 (millions) 162
ix
