Wielen van goud? Dorpsambachten en dienstverleners in een commerciële landbouwzone, een detailstudie van een achttiende-eeuwse wagenmaker in Doel

Abstract

The commercialization of the early modern countryside has been studied mostly from the perspective of the agrarian producers, who increased their income through product specialization or by income pooling with additional activities in the secondary or tertiary sector. Only recently European scholars more attention has been paid to the non-agrarian rural population, who did not possess large land properties and had to rely on their craftsmanship and the provisioning of goods and services as their primary source of income. Similar studies on the existence and social and economic strategies of the non-agrarian rural population on the Flemish countryside are still lacking. The aim of this paper is to contribute to our general understanding of the economics ot village artisans, retailers and service providers by looking at a specific case-study. An micro-analysis of the account book of a cartwright in the 18th-century Doelpolder reveals his revenue, production regime, and customers and therefore provides insights in his social-economic activities and relationships.