Daily life in the fortified house

The fortified houses distributed across the highland territories represent strongholds through which the various seigneurial authorities present in the area controlled the environment, sometimes even with serious friction that led to small and large wars, known and documented in Canavese with the involvement of the Soana Valley since the 13th century.
As an example, it is worth mentioning the action of the valley inhabitants against the men of Champorcher in 1211. The details of this conflict are not known. There is only mention of disputes over grazing lands and of an armed descent by the inhabitants of Val Soana on the settlement of Champorcher, resulting in the destruction of the local seigneurial tower belonging to the lords of Bard. The raid may have succeeded due to the local lord’s lack of interest, as he did not assign adequate guard shifts or defensive measures to the structure, perhaps simply leaving it under community responsibility. The dispute likely arose from the absence of secure borders in relation to the rich pastures of the high slopes of the Aosta and Piedmont regions; one may think of those in the Dondennaz basin, where shepherds from the Soana Valley crossed boundaries, although it cannot be excluded that shepherds from Champorcher brought their flocks to the southern slopes of Piamprato according to ancient settlement customs. This fact constitutes further evidence of the Aosta Valley origin of the early human settlement of the upper valley, with populations crossing over in search of new lands, in direct conflict with the interests of the Canavese lords and communities.

During the 14th century, the valley environment, under increasing seigneurial pressure due to ongoing wars, became restless, and the entire Orco-Soana social environment, led by the bourgeois of Cuorgnè, rose up in the summer of 1386, joining forces with that of Valchiusella and conquering several castles, expelling the lords. The revolt, known as the Tuchinagium (Tuchinaggio), was suppressed in December 1390, but the fire continued to smolder beneath the ashes, keeping the mountain areas in a situation of difficult control until 1450, when there was a final revolutionary outbreak with the people of Val Soana descending en masse upon Pont and occupying the Ferranda castle owned by the Valperga family. They then surrounded Cuorgnè, where deaths and injuries occurred. This armed uprising was also suppressed, and as in 1390, the gallows once again saw the execution of the leaders of the revolt.

In such a difficult socio-political context, fortified houses represented the strong points of seigneurial control over the territory, where a steward with his family and trusted servants capable of bearing arms resided permanently. During periods of particular danger caused by local wars or the presence of dangerous bands of raiders, armed men sent by the lord were also stationed there, both to defend the territory and to carry out acts of retaliation or conquest. This characteristic also explains the spatial separation of rural villages associated with fortified houses, which were usually located at some distance from the seigneurial structures, since at times the very subjects—strained by taxation and obligations of labor service and corvée—could become a threat to the stewards’ safety.

Normally, fortified houses with their related properties were places of wealth accumulation, where in-kind contributions such as tithes from subjects and the productions of the large seigneurial estate were gathered. To protect this wealth (consisting of goods and livestock), a more or less constant armed presence must be considered, at least to deter bandits and raiders, who were not uncommon in the mountains thanks to the complexity of the terrain, which often guaranteed impunity to wrongdoers moving between territories under different jurisdictions.

Dr. Marco Cima
Historian - CESMA - Archaeological Museum of Canavese