The towns of Italy in the later Middle Ages / translated and annotated by Trevor Dean.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dean, Trevor.

Series:

Manchester medieval sources series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cities and towns, Medieval--Italy.

Cities and towns, Medieval.

History.

Italy.

Italy--History--1268-1492--Sources.

Genre:

Sources.

Physical Description:

vii, 252 pages : map ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press : Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press, 2000.

Summary:

The towns of Italy in the later Middle Ages presents over one hundred fascinating documents, carefully selected and coordinated from the richest, most innovative and most documented society of the European Middle Ages: the urban civilization of Italy. After a general introduction, the book is divided into five sections on physical environment, civic religion, economy, society and politics. Each document is individually introduced and set in its own context.

Contents:

Map of Italy, c. 1300 x

I The physical environment and social services 5

1 'A world in itself': Milan, 1288 11

2 A vision of Padua, c. 1318 16

3 Genoa in the late thirteenth century 21

4 Public buildings in thirteenth-century Parma 23

5 Public buildings in fourteenth-century Siena 24

6 The enlargement and decoration of the Doge's Palace, Venice, 1297-1422 30

7 Making space for sermons: Florence, 1296 34

8 Commune and new cathedral: Perugia, 1300 35

9 Granary and oratory: Orsanmichele, Florence 37

10 Concealing a butchery: Pisa, 1382 37

11 New church building: Bologna, 1390-2 38

12 The rise and fall of urban towers 39

13 On the magnificence of his buildings: Azzone Visconti 41

14 The Sienese Opera in financial difficulties, 1299-1310 43

15 Pittura infamante 45

16 Saintly gates 46

17 Symbols of communal strength: lions 47

18 Symbols of communal strength: carrocci 48

19 Nettezza urbana: legislation 50

20 Nettezza urbana: enforcement 54

21 Clean water: the Perugia Fountain 55

22 Public health: salaried doctors, supervised hospitals 56

23 Public subvention of education: Lucca, 1348-79 58

24 Pistoia head-hunts a grammar teacher, 1377 61

25 A teaching monopoly: Bassano, 1259 62

II Civic religion 63

26 Paradise on earth: the feast-day of St John the Baptist, Florence 72

27 The palio race in Bologna, 1288 75

28 The costs of a feast-day in Pistoia, 1252 76

29 Regulation of holy days: Perugia, 1342 77

30 A popular 'saint': Alberto of Cremona 79

31 Miracles in Mantua and Bologna, c. 1300 80

32 Rainmaking in Florence and Bergamo 81

33 Saint or heretic?: Armanno Pungilupo of Ferrara 83

34 'Saint' Guglielma and her followers: Milan, 1300 88

35 A corrupt inquisitor: Florence, 1346 94

36 Bishop and popolo in conflict: Reggio, 1280 96

37 Communal assistance to religious groups: Parma, 1261-2 97

38 Prison releases on holy days: Perugia, 1342 98

39 Flagellants in northern Italy, 1260 98

40 The Bianchi, 1399 99

41 A sermon on usury 102

42 A charitable confraternity: Piacenza, 1268 104

43 A charitable confraternity in trouble: Orsanmichele, Florence 107

III The urban economy 109

44 Economic growth: good and evil 112

45 The power of money: external relations 114

46 The power of money: internal relations 115

47 Wool production in Prato, 1397-8 115

48 The Mercato Vecchio, Florence 121

49 Enforcement of urban markets: Verona and Parma 125

50 Proliferation of guilds: Perugia, 1342 127

51 Statutes of a wool guild: Padua, 1384 128

52 Derecognition of guilds: Ferrara, 1287 132

53 Non-guild-worthy occupations 134

54 Promotion of local industry 134

55 The state promotes commerce 136

56 Demographic policy: controlling peasant immigration 138

57 Demographic policy: stimulating immigration of artisans 140

IV Social organization and tensions 141

58 The decadence of chivalry 150

59 Complaint against moneyed parvenus 151

60 The costs of knighthood 151

61 Ceremonial knighthood: Siena, 1326 152

62 A miserly knight: late fourteenth-century Pistoia 155

63 Three social divisions 156

64 Pisa brought low by its new citizens 157

65 The popolo of Piacenza, 1250 158

66 The popolo of Bologna, 1271 and 1287 161

67 Social tensions in the kingdom of Naples, 1338-9 165

68 Social tensions in Rome: Cola di Rienzo 168

69 Food shortage and food riot: Siena, 1328 172

70 Revolt in a lordly city: Ferrara, 1385 175

71 Revolt in a republic: Siena, 1371 176

72 Social tensions in a southern town: Chieti 182

73 Fist-fights: Florence and Siena 183

74 The origins and conduct of vendetta 185

75 The pacification of vendetta 187

76 Legal penalties against vendetta: Florence, 1325 188

77 The customs of the citizens of Piacenza, 1388 189

78 Fine clothing only conceals the dirt 193

79 'Greed was greater' after the plague 194

80 Civil law on clandestine marriage 195

81 Advice on the management of wives and daughters 195

82 Sorrowful marriages 197

83 Women and the patrimony: dowry law 198

84 Women in the lawcourts 198

85 Cross-dressing 199

86 Women in the streets 200

87 Confinement of prostitutes and pimps 201

88 Sumptuary law: Parma, 1258 202

89 Sumptuary law: Bologna, 1288, 1398 202

90 Women cleverly evade the law 205

91 Assistance to converted Jews: Perugia, 1298 207

92 Exemptions and privileges to Jews 208

93 Jews as the enemies of the cross: Florence 209

94 'The domestic enemy': female slaves 210

95 Contract of sale of a slave, 1388 211

V Political structures 213

96 A guild-based regime: Perugia 216

97 Elections of the doges of Venice 218

98 Bell-ringers 220

99 Constitutional reforms at Florence 221

100 Regulations for councils in Pisa, 1286 and 1317 224

101 A short-lasting lordship: Pisa, 1365-8 226

102 A shortlived 'tyranny': Fermo, 1376-80 229

103 A long-lasting lordship: Ferrara, 1264 230

104 Consolidation of a lordship: Verona, 1295 232

105 Political spectacle: Florence and Ferrara 233

106 Good government under lords: Milan 235

107 The end of communal liberty I: Pisa, 1406 238

108 The end of communal liberty II: Padua, 1405 241.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page [245]) and index.

ISBN:

0719052033

0719052041

OCLC:

42834926