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Straws in the wind : medieval urban environmental law--the case of northern Italy / Ronald Edward Zupko, Robert Anthony Laures.
LIBRA KKH3127 .Z87 1996
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Zupko, Ronald Edward.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Environmental law--Italy--History.
- Environmental law.
- Refuse and refuse disposal--Law and legislation--Italy--History.
- Refuse and refuse disposal.
- Environmental management--Italy--History.
- Environmental management.
- Urban ecology (Sociology)--Italy--History.
- Urban ecology (Sociology).
- Urban health--Italy--History.
- Urban health.
- Law, Medieval.
- History.
- Refuse and refuse disposal--Law and legislation.
- Italy.
- Physical Description:
- vii, 152 pages ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, 1996.
- Summary:
- The history of the medieval towns of northern and central Italy opens a window onto the concerns of urban elites throughout the medieval world regarding the environment and quality of life. In Straws in the Wind the authors demonstrate that legislative efforts to control the environment were neither haphazard nor accidental. Rather, they were rational responses to perceived needs, often based on a valuable store of knowledge inherited from their Roman forebears.
- Zupko and Laures describe who these early environmentalists were, what motivated them, how they shaped the environmental programs they devised, and how they implemented and enforced these regulations. The book examines the efforts of town officials, often acting independently of powerful regional, papal, and imperial authorities, to provide their citizens with the best possible urban quality of life--within the limits of their knowledge, experience, and technology. Moreover, Zupko and Laures reveal evidence of grassroots support for the protection of resources and for the preservation of air, water, and the aesthetic qualities of the urban environment. The results of these efforts, when compared to those of the modern environmental movement, were very modest, merely "straws in the wind." Nonetheless, they were the harbingers of the future.
- Contents:
- 1 The Medieval Urban Setting: Politics and Law 9
- The Medieval Town: Theoretical Foundations 9
- The Town Elites 14
- The Councils 16
- A Case Study: Bologna 1288 20
- 2 Ancient and Medieval Environmental Spokesmen 25
- Classical Environmental Theory 25
- Christian and Medieval Environmental Theory 27
- The Earth as a Planned Abode 29
- Stewardship in Action 33
- The Vision of an Urban Utopia 40
- 3 Regulating the Land 43
- Historical Antecedents 43
- Roman Road Construction 44
- Government Responsibility for the Roads 45
- Breakdown of the Roads 46
- The Medieval Roadway 48
- Medieval Urban Waste Management 50
- Legislation 53
- 4 Protecting the Water 59
- Ancient Water and Sewer Systems 59
- Medieval Water and Sewer Systems 63
- Legislation 64
- Drainage Systems 67
- Flood Control 68
- 5 Eliminating Wastes 73
- Trade-Related Legislation 73
- The Butcher and Meat Purveyor Guilds 75
- Food Supplies 77
- The Leather Workers' Guilds 80
- The Fisheries 82
- Market and Land Resources 83
- The Cloth Industries 86
- 6 The Medieval Urban Response to the Environmental Crisis 89
- Environment, Climate, and Law 90
- Medieval Bergamo 94
- Market Locations 95
- Food Supplies 97
- Public Sanitation 99
- Roads, Bridges, Waterways, and Fountains 103
- Fortifications 107
- 7 Conclusion: Things Left Undone 111.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 133-143) and index.
- ISBN:
- 081332971X
- 0813329728
- OCLC:
- 34477128
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