Between Patronage and Social Mobility: The Brokers of the Labouring Poor in Late Medieval Rhineland
Final Report Abstract
For a long time, research into the lower social classes in the Middle Ages focused on the poor, such as beggars or other marginalized social groups, and on poverty eradication, primarily in the form of poor relief. However, a large proportion of the poor in the Middle Ages worked, even though these activities were not sufficient to build up a permanent and reliable existence beyond poverty. These laboring poor, like other members of society, were dependent on intermediaries. Although research has emphasized the importance of such official urban functionaries for the study of the working poor and late medieval economic life as a whole, there has been no comprehensive study of these brokers in the late Middle Ages. The project closed this research gap by focusing on the intermediaries employed by the authorities and thus investigating the diverse organizational forms and structures of the economic and social integration of the working lower social classes from the 14th to the 16th century. The starting point of the study was an analysis of the middle classes in four areas: 1. trade, 2. financial resources, 3. spaces, and 4. work and the labor market. The study revealed a great heterogeneity in the groups of brokers. Both women and men were able to carry out brokerage activities in different areas. Women were even favored by the cities in some areas, such as the placement of servants or seizures. This finding is relevant as it emphasizes the significance of women not only in the urban economy, but also in urban services. However, it was not only the gender-specific composition of these positions that was heterogeneous. The social milieus and ownership structures of individual groups of intermediaries differed considerably. Their business models were also diverse. Regional differences, documented by various regulations in the respective cities, as well as adaptations to economic or social changes, speak in favor of a high degree of flexibility on the part of the cities to shape the intermediary positions according to their own current needs. A look at the practice reveals an even more complex picture. Complaints about the misbehavior of intermediaries and the sometimes strict approach of the municipal authorities illustrate the relevance of these groups for the economy and society of the Middle Ages and the 16th century. The findings of the project show that the economic and social integration of the working poor - similar to that of other economic players - had a high degree of organization. By centering on those functionaries, the project shifted the focus from needy marginalized groups to a large, socially and economically relevant part of the population and the forms of their diverse integration. It thus contributes to a better understanding of the structures in which the late medieval working poor moved and operated.
