Decentring diligence. Time, work and the industrious revolution in early modern Italy (1570-1840).

More than two decades ago, Jan de Vries launched a controversial theory, that still echoes through economic, social, and even cultural history. According to his hypothesis of the Industrious Revolution time became money in the Dutch Republic. Mesmerized by and endless variety of fashionable and exotic consumer goods, Jan Modaal was keen to cut back on his leisure time. Labourers started a bit earlier at work or left somewhat later, they cut back on breaks, and pruned the dead wood of Feast- and Saint's Days. Moreover, the family-based income was further enhanced by putting women and children to work. Despite the boldness of the claim, the evidence on industriousness remained, at first, rather limited, as de Vries initially launched his hypothesis as a largely theoretical solution for a paradox. On the one hand, consumption was obviously on the march, as the list of chattels and goods in post-mortem inventories ever grew longer, while, on the other hand, (real) wages levelled out or took a plunge. Industriousness might have offered a way out of the conundrum. Nonetheless, the evidence to corroborate these claims remained limited until the economic historian Hans-Joachim Voth turned to a rather unexpected source. Drawing evidence from the proceedings of the Old Bailey, Voth traced some important evolutions in time-use, although his findings did not fit smoothly with de Vries' initial hypothesis. Except for his research, the empirical data on industriousness remains flimsy. Moreover, preliminary research has challenged its tenability for other parts of Europe. The lack of empirical data is especially problematic for Mediterranean Europe, as Vries' and Voth's data are sometimes used to flesh out the idea of a Little Divergence between the industrious North and the slothful South. Drawing new evidence from the Tribunale del governatore di Roma (Archivio di Stato), the project aims to move beyond this black-and-white stereotype. Was industriousness really a privilege of the "miracle economies" of the North or had it already struck root much earlier in the South? Was everyday time awareness and time-use radically reshuffled in early modern Rome, as it was in London, Amsterdam or Berlin?

Keywords:TIME BUDGET ANALYSIS, WORKING TIME, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY, CULTURAL HISTORY

Disciplines:Business and labour history, Cultural history, Early modern history