Source Collection: Labor and Social Hierarchy 1450-1750
Document 1
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Author |
Jalal al-Din Davani (1426/7–1502) |
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Date and location |
1475, Iran |
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Source type |
Primary source – treatise |
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Description |
Jalal al-Din Davani was a noted Persian theologian, philosopher, judge, and poet. In this excerpt from his treatise on ethics, he discusses the different social classes and how they are connected to specific economic roles. He built his ideas on those of earlier Persian philosophers like Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, who also wrote a book on ethics in the thirteenth century, and brought in classical ideas about the balance of the four elements (fire, earth, air, and water). Jalali’s Ethics became very popular in the Mughal Empire, and it was used as a justification for social divisions. These ideas, among others, influenced Mughal social order. |
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Citation |
The Practical Philosophy of the Muhammadan People, translated by W. F. Thompson. Oriental Translation Fund, 1839. |
In order to preserve this political [balance], there is a correspondence to be maintained between... the correspondence of four classes.
- Men of the pen, such as lawyers, [religious officials], judges, bookmen, statisticians, geometricians, astronomers, physicians, poets. In these... the subsistence of the faith and of the world itself is vested and bound up.
- Men of the sword, such as soldiers, fighting zealots, guards of forts and passes, etc.; without whose exercise of the... sword, no arrangement of the age’s interests could be effected, [and] the materials of corruption, in the shape of rebellious and disaffected persons, could never be dissolved and dissipated.
- Men of business, such as merchants, capitalists, artisans, and craftsmen, ... through whom the remotest extremes enjoy the advantage and safeguard of each other’s most peculiar commodities.
- Husbandmen, such as seedsmen, bailiffs, and agriculturists—the superintendents of vegetation and preparers of [animal fodder]; without whose exertions the continuance of the human kind must be cut short. These are... the only producers of what had no previous existence; the other classes adding nothing whatever to subsisting products, but only transferring what subsists already from person to person, from place to place, and from form to form.
... in the composite organizations the passing of any element beyond its proper measure occasions the loss of [balance], and is followed by dissolution and ruin, ... the prevalence of any one class over the other three overturns the adjustment and dissolves the junction.
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Glossary Husbandmen: farmers or agricultural workers |
Document 2
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Author |
Unknown Spanish official |
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Date and location |
1529, Peru |
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Source type |
Primary source – report |
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Description |
This report from 1549 was translated from Spanish, but actually that was not the original language. It was based on an Andean quipu, a form of writing and recording that uses the careful placement of knots in strings to communicate messages. An Andean person read the quipu to the European agent, enabling him to translate this information into Spanish. This information refers to the Huallaga Valley of the Amazon basin in modern-day Peru. Indigenous people in this region resisted Spanish rule until 1542. Upon conquering the territory, the Spanish authorities commissioned this report, which intended to record how the Inca control the Chupaychu, a people who occupied this area. |
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Citation |
Report translated from an Andean quipu, a form of writing that uses careful placement of knots in strings to communicate messages, of the Chupaychu, an Indigenous people who resisted Spanish rule until 1542. In “Report from the General Inspection of the Chupaychu.” World History Commons. https://worldhistorycommons.org/report-general-inspection-chupaychu |
[Cord 1] They were asked what full time services did [the Chupaychu] give to the Inca in Cuzco ... they said that 400 Indian[s] ... remained in Cuzco full time to build walls and if one died they gave another
[Cord 2] They also gave 400 Indians to plant the fields in Cuzco so people could eat
[Cord 3] ... 150 Indians ... as personal attendants to Guayna Capac ...
[Cord 9] 120 Indians ... to make feathers
[Cord 10] 60 ... to extract honey
[Cord 11] 400 ... to weave fine cloth
[Cord 12] 40 ... to make more dyes and colors
[Cord 13] 240 ... to guard the [camelids]
[Cord 14] 40 ... to guard the fields ...
[Cord 15] 40 ... to plant hot peppers which were taken to Cuzco
[Cord 16] ... 60 ... and sometimes 45 to make salt
[Cord 17] 60 ... to make [raise] the coca leaf ...
[Cord 18] 40 ... to accompany the Inca in person to hunt deer
[Cord 19] and 40 ... more to make soles
[Cord 20] 40 more carpenters to make plates and bowls and other things for the Inca ...
[Cord 24] 40 ... to guard the women of the Inca
[Cord 25] 500 to go with the person of the Inca to war, to carry him to hammocks ...
[Cord 26] 500 ... to plant and [do] other things without leaving their territory.
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Glossary Quipu: the system of knotted strings used by the Inca to record information |
Document 3
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Author |
The Odoyevsky Commission |
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Date and location |
1649, Russian Empire |
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Source type |
Primary source – legal document |
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Description |
In 1649, civil unrest across the Russian Empire prompted the government to react with laws affecting some of the country’s poorest people. The parliament of the Tsardom of Russia's Estates, under Alexis of Russia, introduced a new law code to enforce a new, permanent class of serfs. These were peasants who were tied to specific lands. The law restricted the movement of serfs. It also affected Russian nobility, their ownership of land, and their roles in serving the state. |
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Citation |
The Muscovite Law Code (Ulozhenie) of 1649. Edited and translated by Richard Hellie. Irvine, CA: Charles Schlacks, 1988. See also https://pages.uoregon.edu/kimball/1649-Ulj.htm#ch11 Accessed 6/19/25 |
CHAPTER 11. The Judicial Process for Peasants
- Concerning... fugitive... and landless peasants... having fled from the sovereign’s court villages and from the rural taxpaying districts... having hunted down [these peasants], cart them [back] to the sovereign’s court villages and to the rural taxpaying districts, to their old allotments as [registered in] the cadastral books, with their wives, and... children, and... their... property, without any statute of limitations.
- … if [estate holders] proceed to petition the sovereign about their [peasants]; and... testify that [the peasants]... are living in the sovereign’s court villages, and in rural taxpaying districts, or as townsmen in the urban taxpaying districts, or as musketeers... Cossacks... gunners, or... any... servicemen... Return... peasants from flight on the basis of the cadastral books to people of all ranks, without any statute of limitations.
- If it becomes necessary to return fugitive peasants and landless peasants to someone after trial and investigation: return those peasants with their wives, and... children, and... property, with their standing grain... and... threshed grain. Do not impose a fine for those peasants for the years prior to this present Law Code....
CHAPTER 16.
- The following size estates shall be in Moscow province:
For boyars, 260 acres per man.
For courtiers and for counselor state secretaries, 195 acres per man.
For [state officials, nobles, and secretaries] and... commanders of Moscow musketeers, and... senior stewards of the office of the chancellor, and... [those]... managing various parts of the palace economy, 130 acres per man.
For provincial nobles… serving by selection in Moscow, 91 acres per man.
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Glossary Fugitive: a person on the run from law enforcement |
Document 4
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Author |
Gaëtan-Octavien Souchet d’Alvimart (1770–1854) |
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Date and location |
1790–1800, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) |
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Source type |
Primary source – illustrated travel writing |
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Description |
This is a series of illustrations and written notes by Gaëtan-Octavien Souchet d’Alvimart, a French soldier, artist, poet, and a classmate of Napoleon Bonaparte. He grew up in a family that was loyal to the French monarchy, so when the French Revolution began, he fled his country and looked for work elsewhere. In the 1790s, he ended up joining the army of the Ottoman Empire before traveling to West Asia, North Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Fortunately for historians, he painted some of his observations, which were later published, along with his notes, in 1802, in English translation. Here are some selections from his published paintings and notes of the diverse peoples of the Ottoman Empire |
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Citation |
Dalvimart, Octavian, William Alexander, J. Dadley, and W. Poole. The Costume of Turkey: Illustrated by a Series of Engravings; with Descriptions in English and French. William Miller and T. Bensley, 1802. |
In no country does that persecuted race [the Jews] enjoy more privileges than it does at Constantinople. The Jews are put upon the same footing with Turks; and even in some instances have greater liberty. They profess their own religion, and are judged by their own laws, unless they appeal to the law of the country. They consequently possess a great degree of respectability and great riches, because a very considerable part of the trade passes through their hands, most of the rich merchants being Jews....
[A hamal or common porter] are very numerous, particularly at Pera, where they are employed in removing various goods and merchandise. Those, who are of Armenian origin, are reckoned the strongest, and carry an immense weight... each person must support near three hundred pounds.
The Turks are not the only nation who live at Constantinople. Its inhabitants consist also of Greeks, Jews, and Armenians, and hence there results a great variety in manners, language, and religion. The Armenians form about one-twelfth of the population.
They reside both in the interior of the city, and in the suburbs, particularly in Pera. They are almost all merchants, and some of them to an immense extent, and possess warehouses and correspondents in almost every part of Asia. Their manners are in general very correct, and their engagements may be depended upon, although they are esteemed avaricious. The Armenian is very exact in the performance of every thing relative to religion; ...
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Glossary Persecuted: treated badly because of one’s ethnicity, religion, or other factor |
Document 5
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Author |
King Ferdinand (1452–1516) and Queen Isabella (1451–1504) of Spain |
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Date and location |
1503, Spain and its territories |
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Source type |
Primary sources – letters |
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Description |
Letter from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to the governor of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) in 1503, explaining the Encomienda system, in which Native Americans worked on Spanish-owned lands. |
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Citation |
Source 1: Letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to the governor of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) in 1503. |
Letter from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to the governor of Hispaniola (1503)
“Our desire is that the Christians not lack people to work their holdings and to take out what gold there is... [and] that the Indians be converted... [which can be] done by having the Indians live in community with the Christians, because they then will help each other cultivate and settle the island, take out the gold, and bring profit to Spain... we command you, our governor, to compel the Indians to associate with the Christians. The Indians should work on the Christians’ buildings, mine the gold, till the fields, and produce food for the Christians. This the Indians shall perform as free people, which they are, and not as slaves... the Indians are [to be] well treated... those who become Christians, better-treated than the others. Do not consent or allow any person to do them any harm or oppress them.”
Bartolomé de Las Casas, History of the Indies (1528)
“The Indians were totally deprived of their freedom and were put in the harshest, fiercest, most horrible servitude and captivity which no one who has not seen it can understand. Even beasts enjoy more freedom when they are allowed to graze in the fields. When the Indians were allowed to go home, they often found it deserted and had no other recourse than to go out into the woods to find food and die. When they fell ill, which was very frequently because they are a delicate people unaccustomed to such work, the Spaniards did not believe them and pitilessly called them lazy dogs, and kicked and beat them; and when illness was apparent they sent them home as useless. I sometimes came upon dead bodies on my way, and upon others who were gasping and moaning in their death agony, repeating “Hungry, hungry.” And this was the freedom, the good treatment, and the Christianity that Indians received.”
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Glossary Encomienda: a labor system in which Spanish colonists were allowed to force Indigenous people to work |
Document 6
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Author |
Osborne, John et al./Anonymous |
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Date and location |
Unknown, 1700s, Mexico |
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Source type |
Secondary source – illustration |
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Description |
An illustraton showing the hierarchy of Social Classes in the Spanish Colonies. |
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Citation |
“Social Structure of the Spanish Colonies.” Osborne, John et al. “Social Classes in the Spanish Colonies.” Global Studies, N & N Publishing, n.d. |
Osborne, John et al. “Social Classes in the Spanish Colonies.” Global Studies, N & N Publishing, n.d.
Las castas. Casta painting showing 16 racial groupings. Anonymous, 18th century, oil on canvas, 148×104 cm, Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán, Mexico
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Glossary Casta: the hierarchical system of racial classification in Spanish America |
Document 7
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Author |
José Túpac Amaru II (1742–1781) |
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Date and location |
1777, Peru |
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Source type |
Primary Source – legal testamony |
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Description |
José Túpac Amaru II was an Indigenous Inca chieftan who organised against the Spanish in Peru. In the except below, Ameru pleads the case for exempting the poorest of his people from mita system of mandatory labor service to the Audiencia of Lima, the highest court of law in Spanish Peru. |
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Citation |
Amaru II, José Túpac. “Tupac Amaru Protests the Mita to the Audiencia of Lima,” The World of Túpac Amaru. Conflict, Community and Identity in Colonial Peru. Ward Stavig ed. University of Nebraska Press, 1999. |
Túpac Amaru II on behalf of the Pueblos, humbly presents himself to Your Excellency on behalf of those Indians, who are your subjects, due to the imponderable toils that they suffer in the mita of Potosi, more than 200 leagues distant; and what is more, the grave damage that the uprooting of these Indians from their villages visibly entails. Who, forced to travel, such a distan[ce], take their women and their children with them and make a painful farewell to their relatives and their home; because the harshness and ruggedness of [living on the road] kills them, annihilates them; the strange nature and heavy work of Potosi, or their dire poverty, does not afford them the means to the return to their pueblos when the calamity of the mita has not already taken away their lives.
The other pueblos of the Province suffer the same misfortune, and all... call for relief... Today due to the extreme decline in which the pueblos find themselves, it is almost impossible to comply with the mita because there are not sufficient Indians who can serve, and it is necessary that the same ones return or that the caciques are forces to make it palatable for outsiders to serve in their place paying them with their own money whatever they require.
... there is a lack of people who can work the rich mines to remove the ore for the public benefit and fulfill their service the king as humble subjects...
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Glossary Mita: originally an Inca system of labor that the Spanish adopted to force Indigenous people to work in South America |
Document 8
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Author |
Antoine Jean Duclos (1742–1795) |
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Date and location |
1774, France |
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Source type |
Primary Source – etching/engraving |
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Description |
An image of French Aristocrats. |
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Citation |
Antoine Jean Duclos, Le Bal Paré, 1774, Etching and engraving, Sheet: 13 5/16 × 17 11/16 in. (33.8 × 44.9 cm) Plate: 12 5/8 × 17 1/8 in. (32 × 43.5 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, object no. 2019.282.100 h https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/828362 |
Le Bal Paré by Antoine Jean Duclos. Image of French Aristocrats.
From Illustrations of Historical Description of the Clothes and Weapons of Russian Troops by Aleksander Viskovatov. Image of Russian Boyars.