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  3. Landscape and Change in Early Medieval Italy
  • Cited by 29
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      05 June 2013
      16 May 2013
      ISBN:
      9781139540759
      9781107034488
      9781316633205
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139540759
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.51kg, 252 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (229 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.36kg, 252 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Environmental History, Area Studies, History, European Studies, European History 450-1000
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    • Selected: Digital
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    Subjects:
    Environmental History, Area Studies, History, European Studies, European History 450-1000
    Information

    Book description

    This innovative environmental history of the long-lived European chestnut tree and its woods offers valuable perspectives on the human transition from the Roman to the medieval world in Italy. Integrating evidence from botanical and literary sources, individual charters and case studies of specific communities, the book traces fluctuations in the size and location of Italian chestnut woods to expose how early medieval societies changed their land use between the fourth and eleventh centuries, and in the process changed themselves. As the chestnut tree gained popularity in late antiquity and became a valuable commodity by the end of the first millennium, this study brings to life the economic and cultural transition from a Roman Italy of cities, agricultural surpluses and markets to a medieval Italy of villages and subsistence farming.

    Awards

    Winner, 2013 Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Book Prize, American Association for Italian Studies

    Reviews

    '… densely laden as it is with relevant facts and observations, [this] book is a solid achievement, and its modestly presented thesis deserves to be appreciated beyond the niche of medieval arboreal history.'

    Jacob Wamberg Source: Speculum

    ‘This book is an absolute treat, delicious in its detail, surprising in just how much a tree’s view of medieval history can reveal about people. Paolo Squatriti’s research on the rise of the chestnut, a tree little cultivated in the Roman period yet a major crop for medieval Italy, identifies the convergences between the worlds of men and woodlands. It is written with humour and intelligence, and nearly each page contains a discovery about botany, biology, cuisine or legal practice.’

    Caroline Goodson Source: Early Medieval Europe

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