Graulau Medieval Mining and Power in Thirteenth-Century Europe

Bishop Wanga’s Private Mine Drainage Works
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-3-031-99239-1
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 222 Seiten

Reihe: History

Studying mine-drainage works of a medieval principality living through times of war, social turmoil, and land reclamation, this book examines the relation between political power and mineral wealth. It argues that mine-drainage works in Monte Calisio, Trento emerged when violent economic warfare within the upper class created profit horizons that capital seized in the subsoil of the principality. From that moment forward, war against hydrogeological conditions justified the existence of private mining capital in the principality. This book shows that hegemonic powers striving to manage mineral wealth failed to monopolize the forces of economic change that sustained their ground as these forces shifted profit relations. Increased mining rents and profits placed a heavy burden on Prince Bishop Wanga, leading to explosive contradictions concealed in the rise of private mine-drainage works. The book offers an illuminating interpretation of the role mining played in the rise and fall of European resource hegemonies.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Graulau, Jeannette

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. An imperial city takes the audacious Auge River as its guide.- 2. The battle against surface waters.- 3. Fighting the bishop’s tax charges.- 4. Foreign miners battle pit waters.- 5. Bullion for the bishop.

Über Autor(innen)

Jeannette Graulau is Professor of Political Science at Lehman College, The City University of New York.