The fifth biennial conference of the European Rural History Organisation (EURHO), Rural History 2021
Uppsala (Sweden), June 20 – 23, 2022 (www.ruralhistory2021.se)
Formazzo morlacco: the cheese that became an identity feature.
Aspects of the Morlach commerce with shepherding products (15th to 16th centuries)
The Morlachs of Dalmatia, as referred to in Venetian documents from the 15th century onwards, are usually defined as heterogeneous and extremely mobile population of Vlach origin. The most popular feature attributed to them is their shepherding lifestyle, which is closely connected with the ‘Vlach identity’, as far as this term can be used for this extremely mobile group that rarely identifies itself in an ethnical manner. Nevertheless, the products resulted from the sheep breeding became a trade mark for the Morlachs on the markets of the Venetian Dalmatia. Together with different quantities of wool, meat and animals (sheep, rams, lambs, etc.) the cheese found an interesting place among the rural products sold to the merchants that crossed the Adriatic toward Venice, but not only.
My paper aims to emphasize few aspects of this commerce with Morlach cheese. Firstly, I will shortly present some of the specifics of its production and also its connection with the Vlach cheese, very appreciated at the noble tables of Byzantium. Secondly, I will present the terms of its inclusion on the Dalmatian markets and the regulations for its sale. Thirdly, the presentation will suggest some of the ways in which the Morlach cheese left Dalmatia, stressing over the fact that it was a product sold by the Dalmatian merchants and that it differentiated from the cheese produced by the other shepherds of Dalmatia. The paper will also discuss one register from the State archives of Zadar, Croatia, containing the export permits (licentia) issued during the years 1576 and 1576, pointing out the Morlachs cheese, its buyers, the quantities and its destination. Like many other features and aspects specific for the Morlachs the cheese commerce contributes to their identification and to the understanding of the changes met by these people during the centuries.
The panel, Cheese and dairy products in the Mediterranean area (13th – 16th centurie) was organized by Frederic Aparisi (Universitat de València, Spain) and Fabian Kümmeler (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria). Papers were presented by: Nicola Carotenuto (University of Oxford, UK), The cheese market in medieval Venice, and Frederic Aparisi, Cheese production and trade in Medieval Valencia. The discussion was carried by Fabian Kümmeler and supported vividly by the audience.
