Peasant differentiation in late medieval Catalonia: a review of the case of the Vall d'Aro

Abstract

In the eighties, some researches about Vall d’Aro (Baix Empordà) created a paradigm in which it was said that the Catalan peasantry already suffered from tremendous internal inequalities during the Late Middle Ages. The present article intends to refute the idea that in the Late Middle Ages so exaggerated differences existed and that most of the peasants were miserly. The analysis of the juridical condition of the peasants living in Vall d’Aro, of their economical conditions and of their position in the rural community betrays that the internal inequalities were shallow, and that some of them had quite a comfortable standard of living.