Political Culture in Seventeenth-Century Italian Villages

Between the 1640s and the 1680s, the inhabitants of a village in the Roman countryside disputed the claim of their lord to a monopoly on hunting and fishing rights. The conflict provides a rare glimpse into peasant political culture, and demonstrates the role of the village consiglio (assembly) in formulating political ideas. While the papal government and the nobles attempted to extend their power in the Roman countryside, villagers remained remarkably autonomous, reserving their greatest political allegiance for the consiglio. Their level of political sophistication and free-spirited attitude toward both the state and the nobility underscores the importance of studying peasant political ideology beyond the moments of violent rural rebellion.