Le campagne bolognesi attraverso le carte dei Memoriali

This paper examines three registers of the Memoriali of the commune of Bologna, relating to the second half of the years 1265, 1287 and 1348, in order to explore the research perspectives offered by this archival series on the Bolognese countryside. Although the thirteenth-century registers lack deeds drawn up in the countryside, they still allow for an investigation into the evolution of contracts for the lease of draft animals drawn up in the city, which became increasingly favorable to the lessors and led to growing indebtedness among the peasantry. The 1348 register, particularly rich in wills, makes instead possible to study the last wishes of rural inhabitants, shedding light on social differences, the condition of women – thanks also to dowry contracts – and the disparity with the much wealthier city. The political decision to exclude by statute the ad laborandum land leases from being recorded in the Memoriali prevents the study of land management and agricultural labour, but it reinforces the hypothesis that agrarian agreements were not, as a rule, drawn up by a notary in late medieval Bologna.