Book Chapter

Alternative currencies and quality of life in Late Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-century Marseille: Negotiating labour in times of turmoil

  • Francine Michaud

In late medieval Marseille, a commercial hub where market forces largely determined labourers’ income, a significant segment of the workforce was paid partly or fully in non-monetized currencies. Hard bargained between employees and employers, these alternative salaries shed light on labour relations in a time of monetary volatility, demographic collapse, and inflationary trends. If apprentices and young workers depended almost exclusively on goods and services for their livelihood, skilled artisans’ earnings, especially after the Black Death, could favourably benefit from non-monetary compensation. Work agreements clearly demonstrate that victuals, clothing, artisanal training, and health care were held by both servants and masters as the most valued, necessary means of cashless payment.

  • Keywords:
  • apprenticeship,
  • Black Death,
  • health care,
  • education,
  • victuals,
+ Show More

Francine Michaud

University of Calgary, Canada

  1. Baratier, Édouard. 1951. “La décadence du commerce de Marseille de 1291 à 1423.” In Histoire du commerce de Marseille, publiée par la Chambre de Commerce de Marseille. Vol. II. De 1291 à 1423, ed. Gaston Rambert, 23-62. Paris: Plon.
  2. Baratier, Édouard, Félix Reynaud, and André Villard. 1951. “Les poids et mesures, les monnaies, les impôts.” In Histoire du commerce de Marseille, publiée par la Chambre de Commerce de Marseille. Vol. II. De 1291 à 1423, ed. Gaston Rambert, 901-15. Paris: Plon.
  3. Barceló Crespí, Maria, and Antoni Mas Forners. 2021. “Fishing in the Island of Majorca in the Middle Ages (1230-1521): State of the art and initial results of an ongoing research.” Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum XV: 119-47.
  4. Blancard, Louis. 1885. Documents notariés inédits sur le commerce de Marseille du Moyen Âge, édités intégralement ou analysés, vol. 2. Marseille: Barlatier-Feissart.
  5. Bourin, Monique, Sandro Carocci, François Menant, and Lluis To Figueras. 2011-13. “Les campagnes de la Méditerranée occidentale autour de 1300: tensions destructrices, tensions novatrices.” Annales. Histoire, Sciences sociales 66: 663-704.
  6. Bresc, Henri. 2000. “Pêche et commerce du corail en Méditerranée de l’Antiquité au Moyen Âge.” In Corallo di ieri corallo di oggi, ed. Jean-Paul Morel, Cecilia Rondi-Costanzo, and Daniela Ugolini, 41-53. Bari: Edipuglia.
  7. Bresc, Henri. 1986. Un monde méditerranéen. Économie et société en Sicile, 1300-1450. Vol. I. Rome: École française de Rome.
  8. Buti, Gilbert. 2003. “La traite des blés et la construction de l’espace portuaire de Marseille (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle).” In Nourrir les cités de Méditerranée. Antiquité - Temps modernes, ed. Brigitte Marin and Catherine Viroulet, 769-99. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose.
  9. Coulet, Noël. 1988. Aix-en-Provence: espace et relations d’une capitale (milieu XIVe s. - milieu XVe s.). Vol. 1. Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence.
  10. Drendel, John. 2011. “Les disettes en Provence.” In Les disettes dans la conjoncture de 1300 en Méditerranée occidentale, ed. Monique Bourin, John Drendel, and François Menant. Collection française de Rome 450, 263-75. Rome: École française de Rome.
  11. Fontaine, Laurence. 2008. L’économie morale. Pauvreté, crédit et confiance dans l’Europe préinstrustrielle. Paris: Gallimard.
  12. Fournial, Étienne. 1970. Histoire monétaire de l’Occident. Paris: Nathan.
  13. Frangioni, Luciana. 2010. “Avignon: the beginnings.” In Francesco di Marco Datini, ed. Giampiero Nigro, 249-79. Firenze: Firenze University Press.
  14. Gérard-Marchand, Laurence, ed. 2013. Graghi rossi e querce azzure. Elenchi descrittivi di abiti di lusso (Firenze 1343-1345). Memoria Scripturarum 6, Testi Latini 4. Firenze: Sismel Edizioni Galluzzo.
  15. Gérard-Marchand, Laurence. 1995. “Compter et nommer l’étoffe à Florence au trecento (1343).” Médiévales 29: 87-104.
  16. Kucab, Anne. 2022. “Transmettre, donner, payer.” In Le vêtement au Moyen Âge. De l’atelier à la garde-robe, ed. Danièle Alexandre-Bidon, Nadège Gauffre Fayolle, Perrine Mane, and Mickaël Wilmart, 185-98. Culture et Société médiévales 38. Turnhout: Brepols.
  17. Lesage, Georges. 1950. Marseille angevine. Recherches sur son évolution administrative, économique et urbaine de la victoire de Charles d’Anjou à l’arrivée de Jeanne 1re (1264-1348). Paris: De Boccard.
  18. Michaud, Francine. 2023. “Agricultural workers and their contractual terms of employment in Marseille, 1349-1400.” In Labour laws in preindustrial Europe: the coercion and regulation of wage labour, c.1350-1850, ed. Jane Whittle, and Thijs Lambrecht, 55-77. Woodbridge [UK]: Boydell & Brewer.
  19. Michaud, Francine. 2016. Earning dignity. Labour conditions and relations during the century of the Black Death in Marseille. Studies in European Urban History, 38. Turnhout: Brepols.
  20. Michaud, Francine. 1994. Un signe des temps. Accroissment des crises familiales autour du patrimoine à Marseille à la fin du XIIIe siècle. Studies and Texts, 117. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
  21. Pansier, Pierre. 1927. Histoire de la langue Provençale à Avignon du XIe au XIXe siècle. Vol. 1. Lexique provençal-français. Avignon: Aubanel.
  22. Pastoureau, Michel. 2022. “La couleur des vêtements au Moyen Âge. Lexiques, teintures, décrets.” In Le vêtement au Moyen Âge. De l’atelier à la garde-robe, ed. Danièle Alexandre-Bidon, Nadège Gauffre Fayolle, Perrine Mane, et Mickaël Wilmart, 211-27. Culture et société médiévales 38. Turnhout: Brepols.
  23. Processus canonizationis et legendae varie Sancti Ludovici O.F.M. episcopi Tolosani. Vol. VII. Analecta franciscana. 1951. Quaracchi-Firenze: Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas.
  24. Thoen, Eric. 2010. “Carnivores ou herbivores?” In Le interazioni fra economia e ambiente biologico nell’ Europe preindustriale secc. XIII-XVIII. Economic and biological interactions in pre-industrial Europe from the 13th to the 18th centuries. Atti delle « Settimane di Studi, » e altri Convegni, ed. Simonetta Cavaciocchi, 483-515. Firenze: Firenze University Press.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2024
  • Pages: 171-189
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2024 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2024
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2024 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Alternative currencies and quality of life in Late Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-century Marseille: Negotiating labour in times of turmoil

Authors

Francine Michaud

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0.11

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2024

Copyright Information

© 2024 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Mezzi di scambio non monetari. Merci e servizi come monete alternative nelle economie dei secoli XIII-XVIII / Alternative currencies. Commodities and services as exchange currencies in the monetarized economies of the 13th to 18th centuries

Editors

Angela Orlandi

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

592

Publication Year

2024

Copyright Information

© 2024 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0346-3

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0347-0

eISBN (xml)

979-12-215-0348-7

Series Title

Datini Studies in Economic History

Series ISSN

2975-1241

Series E-ISSN

2975-1195

91

Fulltext
downloads

95

Views

Export Citation

1,339

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

2,191

Book Chapters

3,763,352

Fulltext
downloads

4,396

Authors

from 923 Research Institutions

of 65 Nations

64

scientific boards

from 348 Research Institutions

of 43 Nations

1,246

Referees

from 379 Research Institutions

of 38 Nations