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,
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Francine Michaud

University of Calgary, Canada

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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

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