Two obvious comments: what about the Mediterranean republics of Antiquity? Secondly, is there any comprehensive paper where this concept is developed? Regarding Netherlands, their society was extremely urbanized even in the Middle Ages; are you sure the Italian medieval republics shall not be here? In any case, thanks for the post!
Very little work that I know of discusses Free Peasant societies. That it is why it is hard to be specific about which societies apply to the term.
The only work that I know of is by Gerhard Lenski, who had a huge impact on my thinking. I believe that he used the term "Frontier society" and he focused on Biblical Israel. He saw them as a sub-type of Agrarian societies as I do.
"Frontier society" is briefly mentioned in these summaries from my online library of book summaries
I used to live in Denmark and I know that there has been alot written about the limited extent of feudalism in Scandinavia and its impact on modern egalitarianism. I don't think that this has been applied to other regions.
I have a post coming out on Thursday about Ancient Greece, so I will defer answering until then. I think the early Roman Republic might be an example of a Free Peasant society, but all the land and slaves from military conquests went to wealthy landowners, so I think that gradually overcame free peasants. It is clear that peasants losing their land to wealthy landowners was a key contributing cause of the frequent civil wars in the Late Republic. I have never seen a systematic study of land ownership in the Roman Republic, so at this point it is only speculation.
You are correct about urbanization in the Netherlands, but I am not sure that it applies for the period before 1500. I might be wrong, as I am not as familiar with that time period.
I think the Italian medieval republics were Commercial societies as they were heavily urbanized. This tended to make farmers far more commercialized than in a typical Free Peasant societies.
But again this concept is so underdeveloped that one good book about the subject could completely change my mind.
Two obvious comments: what about the Mediterranean republics of Antiquity? Secondly, is there any comprehensive paper where this concept is developed? Regarding Netherlands, their society was extremely urbanized even in the Middle Ages; are you sure the Italian medieval republics shall not be here? In any case, thanks for the post!
Thanks for the comment.
Very little work that I know of discusses Free Peasant societies. That it is why it is hard to be specific about which societies apply to the term.
The only work that I know of is by Gerhard Lenski, who had a huge impact on my thinking. I believe that he used the term "Frontier society" and he focused on Biblical Israel. He saw them as a sub-type of Agrarian societies as I do.
"Frontier society" is briefly mentioned in these summaries from my online library of book summaries
https://techratchet.com/2020/02/03/book-review-human-societies-an-introduction-to-macrosociology-by-nolan-lenski/
I used to live in Denmark and I know that there has been alot written about the limited extent of feudalism in Scandinavia and its impact on modern egalitarianism. I don't think that this has been applied to other regions.
I have a post coming out on Thursday about Ancient Greece, so I will defer answering until then. I think the early Roman Republic might be an example of a Free Peasant society, but all the land and slaves from military conquests went to wealthy landowners, so I think that gradually overcame free peasants. It is clear that peasants losing their land to wealthy landowners was a key contributing cause of the frequent civil wars in the Late Republic. I have never seen a systematic study of land ownership in the Roman Republic, so at this point it is only speculation.
You are correct about urbanization in the Netherlands, but I am not sure that it applies for the period before 1500. I might be wrong, as I am not as familiar with that time period.
I think the Italian medieval republics were Commercial societies as they were heavily urbanized. This tended to make farmers far more commercialized than in a typical Free Peasant societies.
But again this concept is so underdeveloped that one good book about the subject could completely change my mind.
The Agrarian History of Sweden, in 5 volumes (in Swedish) is widely considered definitive here in Sweden. English summary here.
https://www.academia.edu/31602764/The_Agrarian_History_of_Sweden_4000_bc_to_ad_2000
One important thing which was necessary for Swedish industrialisation was the abolishment of the Guild system.
Thanks for the link. I will check it out.