Jürgen Schlumbohm’s research while affiliated with European University Institute and other places

In early modern Europe, as in developing countries today, much of the population had to struggle to survive. Estimates for many parts of pre-industrial Europe, as for several countries in the so-called Third World, suggest that the majority of the inhabitants owned so little property that their livelihood was highly insecure. Basically, all those who lived by the work of their hands were at risk, and the reasons for their vulnerability were manifold. Economic cycles and seasonal fluctuations jeopardized the livelihood of the rural and urban masses. Warfare, taxation, and other decisions by the ruling elites sometimes had far-reaching direct and indirect repercussions on the lives of the poor. This is also true of natural factors, both catastrophes and the usual weather fluctuations, which were a major factor affecting harvest yields. Equal in importance were the risks and uncertainties inherent in life and family cycles: disease, old age, widowhood, or having many young children.

A l'appui d'une base de donnees nominative (reconstitution de familles, listes de menages, cadastres etc.), il a ete possible de reconstruire les parcours de vie dans la paroisse de Belm, pres d'Osnabruck. L'article examine le bien-fonde de l'hypothese selon laquelle le hasard regnait sur les evenements de la vie jusqu'au XIXe siecle et les parcours de vie ont ete standardises seulement depuis, avec des etapes plus ou moins egales pour tous, grâce au recul de la mortalite et a l'essor de l'Etat-providence (instruction obligatoire, pension/retraite etc.). Une hypothese alternative est avancee : s'il est vrai qu'il n'y avait pas un modele unique des parcours de vie, plusieurs modeles differents existaient selon les regions, les categories sociales, le sexe et l'ordre de naissance (heritiers - enfants dotes). Et si l'avenir n'etait pas previsible, les hommes et les femmes du passe pouvaient quand meme evaluer les risques et en tenir compte dans leurs strategies.

"Current models of the European demo-economic system in pre-industrial times are based on strong assumptions about the predominant patterns of individual life courses. Now recent micro-studies of individual communities make it possible to check whether the actual patterns of life fit these assumptions. The findings for Belm present an amazing blend of confirmations and contradictions. In particular, the connection between marriage and the formation of a new self-supporting household is subject to doubt. Together with the findings of other micro-studies, the evidence for Belm suggests that the assumptions about mechanisms linking marriage to economic resources should be reconsidered, and that there is need for a dialogue between macro-theories and micro-history."

Micro-History of Local Society : Construction of Social Ties in the Parish of Beim (17th- 19th Centuries). On the basis of family reconstitution, linked to census lists, cadasters and other records, it is possible to reconstruct the life courses, family histories and kinship networks for all the inhabitants of local society. The parish of Beim near the town of Osnabruck in Northwest Germany is marked by strong inequality between minority of peasants with large land holdings and the majority of landless peasants, who were labourers, tenants and linen producers at the same time. This article seeks to analyse the relations between the individual families of the two classes in detail by examining economic ties like land-lease, labour and credit, as well as social ties like kinship and godparenthood. Both mobility and stability can be assessed : the micro-historical approach helps to better understand both the coherence and the tensions in local society.

RésuméCet article tend à évaluer la riche moisson de recherches parues depuis une quinzaine d'années à propos de trois aspects importants des hypothéses originelles concernant la proto-industrialisation. Les auteurs proposent d'importantes modifications du modèle démographique de la proto-industrialisation. Puis ils se penchent sur des problèmes négligés jusqu'ici, concernant notamment les groupes engagés dans des activités proto-industrielles et l'interpénétration des activités agricoles et de l'industrie à domicile. Ils examinent enfin la coexistence et la rivalité simultanée entre proto-industrie ou industrie à domicile d'une part et industrie mécanisée d'autre part, situation qui a survécu jusqu'en plein vingtiéme siécle.AbstractDer Aufsatz versucht, die reichen Erträge der empirischen Forschungsliteratur der letzten fünfzehn Jahre im Hinblick auf die ursprünglichen Hypothesen der Protoindustrialisierung für drei wichtige Aspekte zu bilanzieren. Was das ‘demookonomische Modell‘ der Proto-Industrialisierung angeht, so werden hier wichtige Modifikationen vorgeschlagen. Auch die bisher zu wenig berücksichtigte Frage nach den sozialen Trägerschichten der Proto-Industrialisierung und die nach der wechselseitigen Verflechtung von Landwirtschaft und Hausindustrie wird einer systematischen Erörterung unterzogen. Im letzten Teil wird das bis weit in das 20. Jahrhundert hineinreichende Neben- und Gegeneinander von Proto-Industrie bzw. Hausindustrie einerseits und Fabrikindustrie andererseits diskutiert.

In the parish of Belm, Northwest Germany, population trebled between 1650 and 1830, but the number of peasant holdings remained stable. A new class of people without real property came into existence. Protoindustrialization in the form of linen production supplemented incomes from agriculture. This article outlines social differentials in demographic behavior and household structure. It looks at social mobility and the selection of mates. Furthermore, it explores the economic and non-economic ties that bound together propertied and propertyless families. Finally, it asks how important kinship was for propertied peasants and for landless people. It suggests that kin relationships across classes or within class may have been a factor relevant in the formation of classes.

Traducción de: Industrialisierung vor der industialisier "La aparición de este libro, que replanteó, enriqueciéndolo, el concepto de 'protoindustrialización', a dado lugar a uno de los debates más fecundos de la historiografía actual. Sus autores com -binaron aquí la agrícola y el estudio del origen de la industrialización moderna, y enriquecieron el análisis con planteamientos derivados de la historia socia de la familia, de la problemática marxista de la transición del feudalismo al de historia cultural. Así, permite ver bajo una nueva luz la 'revolución industrial', y reno -var el debate de la transición del feudalismo al capitalismo."