Landscape and Change in Early Medieval Italy: Chestnuts, Economy, and Culture

ISBN-13: 9781316633205 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 252 str.

Paolo Squatriti

Opis

An innovative environmental history of the chestnut tree and what it can tell us about the medieval history of Italy.

Recenzje

'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, Early Medieval Europe

Spis treści

Introduction: trees, woods, and chestnuts in early medieval Italy; 1. A natural history of the chestnut; 2. The triumph of a tree; 3. The poetics of the chestnut in the early Middle Ages; 4. Chestnuts in medieval Campania; 5. Chestnuts in the Po valley; Conclusion: Giovanni Pascoli and the old chestnut; Bibliography.