The Wealth of Communities: War, Resources and Cooperation in Renaissance Lombardy by Ashgate Farnham (review)

Matteo di Tullio describes this study as ‘a socioeconomic and local history of war’ (p. 7). His aim is to look in great detail at the economic impact of warfare on a specific set of local communities and to determine the mechanisms with which they coped, in a collective sense, with the exigencies of invasion and the forced billeting of troops. The chosen region is an area of Lombardy contested by Milan, Venice, and foreign powers during the devastating Italian wars of the early sixteenth century. In attempting the reconstruction of community practices during times of crisis, the author hopes to use his case studies to illuminate general principles in ‘microhistory’ fashion but also to point out what was unique about the region of the Geradadda to the east of Milan.

The research is based on extensive investigation in the State Archives of Milan, in particular, and similar local sources. These archives are not without their problems as reorganisation and partial destruction over the years have made the early modern material difficult to collate. The principal types of documentation used are therefore the comprehensive sets of notarial deeds that record judicial and commercial decisions at the local level. Part I, ‘Politicking’, attempts to describe the structure of economic and social networks, the nature of local governance, and interaction with larger neighbouring powers. Part II, ‘Managing Resources’, assumes a more economic tone by examining both the raising of revenue and the ways in which it was spent or redistributed. In contrast to traditional views linking war and crisis to the rise of individual despotisms in early modern Italy, di Tullio argues that, at the local level at least, periods of war reinforced community networks and cooperation by creating an urgent need for innovative solutions to economic problems.

The book contains numerous tables and figures, which aid in the clear presentation of a wide array of evidence. It also has a statistical appendix that collates fiscal information from documentary sources into several tables for easy consultation, a useful glossary of Italian economic terms, and a ‘metrological index’ which translates contemporary weights, measures, and currencies into modern equivalents.