Reason and experience in Renaissance Italy / Christine Shaw.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shaw, Christine (Italian Renaissance historian), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political culture--Italy--History.

Political culture.

Republicanism--Italy--History.

Republicanism.

City-states--Italy--History.

City-states.

Power (Social sciences)--Italy--History.

Power (Social sciences).

Experience--Italy--History.

Experience.

Reason--Political aspects--Italy--History.

Reason.

Political participation--Italy--History.

Political participation.

Italy--Politics and government--1268-1559.

Italy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 362 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

Political life in Renaissance Italy was held together by political principles which underlay, or were used to justify, political proposals and decisions in practice. This wide-ranging comparative survey examines these political principles, as expressed in sources such as council debates, preambles to legislation and official correspondence, in the mid-fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth century Italy. Focusing especially on the five republics - Florence, Venice, Genoa, Siena and Lucca - the book also considers princes and signori, and the principles underlying relations between states, particularly relations between major and minor powers. Many of the ideas articulated by those confronting practical political problems ranged beyond the questions dealt with in formal treatises of political thought and philosophy. Drawing on extensive archival research, Christine Shaw explores the relationship between 'reason and experience' in the conduct of political affairs in Renaissance Italy, and the gap between theory and practice.

Contents:

Introduction: Reason and experience

Union, faction and political participation

Sharing in office, sharing in power

Supreme authority and executive power

Public finances and private interests

A well-ordered republic

The legitimacy of princely rule

Liberta and the community of Italian powers

Practice and theory

Conclusion: Republics and Signorie.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 24 Nov 2021).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Shaw, Christine Reason and Experience in Renaissance Italy

ISBN:

1-108-96239-4

1-108-96259-9

1-108-95571-1

OCLC:

1286430108