Le libertà dei servi : Reinterpretare il villanaggio meridionale

This essay examines the conditions of Italian peasants in the South and Sicily (1050-1250). Historians have for some time maintained that tha majority of peasants were Villeins deprived of freedom. The analysis of the obbligations imposed by the lords, of social representation, and of the legislation of the Norman monarchy istead demonsstrates how the notion of Serfdom obscures a much more complex reality. Peasant dependency appears to be characterized by multiple conditions, differing by region and in continuous evolution. Local communitis, monarchical politics and the nobility elaborated complex represntations of peasant dependence that cannot be adequately formulated und the labels of Serfdom or Servitude.