Landowning and Labour in the Rural Economy 283
continued to be exploited in the period. Quantification is impossible on the
basis of the existing evidence and we should once again be cautious about
equating the number of times they are mentioned in our legal sources with
their numerical importance in rural contexts. Nevertheless, the roles that
they are envisaged to play in rural contexts by our sources do not appear to be
markedly different from those of preceding centuries.89 Slaves are mentioned
as agents of their domini, as well as perhaps independent actors whose ille-
gal behaviour might or might not be the responsibility of their owner.90 They
appear alongside coloni on rural estates and seem also to have continued to
intermarry with some of the free poor, if the concerns of our legal sources to
ascribe a proper legal status to the offspring of such unions are any indication.91
We observe them also serving as bailiffs or farm managers at least at the begin-
ning of our period in the correspondence of Gelasius.92
Of course we should not expect that the definitional contortions of our
legal texts were the defining principles determining the nature of rural labour
in the period. Instead, we should imagine that rustici practised a multiplic-
ity of socio-economic strategies, which combined in a complex and multidi-
mensional manner, in order to manage the risk of a catastrophic subsistence
failure most effectively. We catch occasional glimpses of these multifaceted
socio-economic strategies. The existence of mixed agro-pastoral regimes and
multiple sowing seasons as well as mechanisms to take advantage of the repu-
tation of a powerful neighbour have already been noted. Marriage is likely also
to have been a useful strategy for managing risk, for it functions to expand the
pool of resources a family or household can call on at need. In several chapters
of the Edictum Theoderici we witness the possibility that originarii registered
on different estates might marry, although it is unclear what the geographical
range of such marriages might be.93
Diversification of a household’s economic portfolio is another strategy, and
as noted above another chapter of the Edictum Theoderici imposes a hefty fine
upon individuals who exploit the labour of a cow belonging to another. In the
process it offers hints that plough animals might be rented out or loaned by
an enterprising or financially fortunate farmer.94 The complaints of a certain
Nimfadius that his beasts of burden were stolen by countryfolk while he slept
89 See the more general discussion of Vera, “Proprietà terriera”, pp. 157–60.
90 Edictum Theoderici 63; 104; 109; 121.
91 On estates: Ranilio: P. Ital. 13. Mixed unions: Edictum Theoderici 65–7.
92 E.g. Gelasius Ep. 22. Vera, “Proprietà terriera”, p. 160, with fuller discussion and references.
93 Edictum Theoderici 67; 68.
94 Edictum Theoderici 150.