Page 95 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Poor Agriculture for Rich People?

labour in nature. Some examples follow. Between August 1738 and Febru-
ary 1740, Lorenzo Cos and his son Leonardo from Mena received from the
Billiani various quantities of provisions: wine, sorghum, cheese and ricot-
ta, meat (goat and cow). From February 1740 Lorenzo Cos paid for what
he received both in coin and with works of labour: cerpire (cleaning the
fields of weeds), segare (cutting hay), vendemare (grape harvesting) and
more (asu, ab, b. 4, f, c. 9). From June 16, 1693 to May 2, 1697, Ange-
lo Angeli received quantities of wine and cheese that he paid for in two
ways: with turnips (measured in panniers) and with days of labour occu-
pied in harvesting and sewing. In continuity with this record, the same
page indicates deliveries of goods such as flour, sorghum and rye to Ele-
na, widow of Antonio Angeli (possibly his sister–in–law), who continued
to deliver turnips to the Billiani until December 1702 (asu, ab, b. 3, a,
cc. 179v–80r). Between June 1781 and April 6, 1789, Nicolò Angeli and his
brothers provided various services to the Billiani: a sling for a horse, geld-
ing of a bull, transportation of wine and sorghum from Udine, transport-
ing lumber, and supplying a kid for the benefit of the village parish priest.
In return, the Billiani acknowledged payments in quantities of wine and
settledrentdues(asu, ab,b.6, n, c. 55).Between January1718and Ju-
ly 1722, the Billiani provided Candido Pillinini with various quantities of
commodities (sorghum, barley and flour), wine, meat (calves, pork), dairy
products (cheese, cottage cheese) and salt. During the same period he had
worked many days, assisted by his mother and daughter, in various agri-
cultural tasks: cutting vermene (tagliar venchi), pruning (cerpire), sawing
hay, killing a calf, working on the preparation of must for wine, reaping
(sesolare), harvesting buckwheat (batter sarasino), cutting bushes (making
barazzi), and proceeding to macerate (probably hemp: mazzolare)(asu, ab,
b. 4, d, cc. 67v–8r).
One could go on and on. These few examples are sufficient to provide an
initial picture of the Billiani activities, which were related to agricultural
production and transportation of commodities from the plains. The people
involved in the work were recognized for their labours not only with cash,
usually established by the value of the days’ work, but also with food goods:
grain, dairy products, and meat. The goods produced and imported thus
constituted bargaining chips for work on the fields, meadows, pastures,
and even in the Billiani wood.
These exchanges were not one–sided between the Billiani who provid-
ed goods and the customers/service providers who bought them and paid
for them in coin or days’ labour; sometimes it was the buyers themselves
who provided goods that the Billiani exchanged. Just one example, relat-
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