Images of Wretchedness

Living conditions for peasants were wretched in the extreme. Farmland was usually owned by feudal lords, and was rented out to poor peasants, allowing the former to exploit the latter in numerous ways. Thus although peasants were in theory free to sell their produce to anyone they wished, in practice the lords bought up their entire crop for a pittance.

Furthermore, the landowners often implemented arbitrary, exorbitant increases in the rent peasants had to pay to cultivate their land. Those unable to meet such obligations were even forced to abandon the houses they had built with their own hands and resettle elsewhere.

In addition, peasants were obliged to do forced labour in service of both the feudal lords and the state, in constructing and maintaining public works and fortresses. In a report to the Venetian Senate in 1561, the cittadini (burghers) of Chandax noted that the remuneration to which peasants on public statutory public labour were entitled was not being paid, and the workers were dying of hunger.