Commons in Context: Contested Resources and Dynamics of Exclusion in the Entlebuch Valley, 1600–1800

Abstract

abstract: This article analyzes the conflicts between enfranchised members of cooperatives ( Landleute ) and disadvantaged groups and nonmembers of cooperatives ( Hintersassen ) in the Swiss Entlebuch valley. In the 1680s, the Landleute petitioned the council of Lucerne to exclude the Hintersassen from the forest pastures and to weaken their property rights. This article contextualizes these attempts and investigates the conflict's impact on social and economic dynamics in the Entlebuch valley. The history of legal inequality in the Entlebuch valley allows us to engage with received narratives about commons and to reflect about the importance of contextualizing the commons in order to understand their historical function and wider consequences.