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Communes and Despots: The City State In Late-Medieval Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

P. J. Jones
P. J. Jones
Affiliation:
Brasenose College, Oxford.
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Extract

It is a commonplace of political history that in the later Middle Ages the city states of north and central Italy were the scene of a conflict in the theory and practice of government between two contrasted systems: republican and despotic (or in contemporary terminology, government ‘a comune’, ‘in liberta’ etc., and government ‘a tiranno’, signoria or principato). The conflict began about the mid-thirteenth century, and in most places, sooner or later, was settled in favour of despotism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 15 , December 1965 , pp. 71 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1965

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References

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1 Calisse, , op. cit., pp. 224–25Google Scholar; Jones, , op. cit., p. 228.Google Scholar Related was the lord's concern with ‘political’ offences, ‘treasonable’ words and actions: Calisse, p. 201; Pardi, G., ‘Borso d'Este, duca di Ferrara’, Studi Storici, xv (1906), pp. 30 ff., 38, 158Google Scholar; Cappelli, A., in Arch. Stor. Lombardo, 3rd Ser., vii (1897), pp. 147 ff.Google Scholar; but in republics also politics interfered with justice: Salvioli, , op. cit., pp. 24–25Google Scholar; Brucker, , op. cit., pp. 108–9, 112–13 198. etc.Google Scholar

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3 As well by contemporary writers (cp. Romano, G., in Boll. Stor. Pavese, xv (1915), pp. 138 ff.Google Scholar; Meroni, U., in Annali Bib. Governativa di Cremona, v (1952)Google Scholar fasc. i), as by modern historians, for example Mengozzi, , op. cit.Google Scholar; Anzilotti, , op. cit.Google Scholar; Cognasso, F., in Boll. Stor. Pavese, xxii (1922)Google Scholar; Valeri, N., La libertà e la pace (Turin, 1942), pp. 26 ff.Google Scholar; Simeoni, L., in Rota, E., Questioni, pp. 424 ff.Google Scholar; Cipolla, C. M., in Storia di Milano, viii (Milan, 1957), pp. 350 ff.Google Scholar

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5 Prosdocimi, Diritto, pp. 27 ff., 38 ff., 288 ff.

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3 Prosdocimi, , op. cit., pp. 83 ff.Google Scholar, 293 ff.; Orsini, G. R., in Arch. Stor. Lombardo, 8th Ser., v (1954–1955), p. 133.Google Scholar Cf. Pardi, , op. cit., pp. 151 ff.Google Scholar

4 Salvioli, , op. cit., pp. 14, 560 ff.Google Scholar; Tagliabue, , op. cit., pp. 43 ff.Google Scholar; Barni, , op. cit., pp. 36 ff.Google Scholar, 49 ff., 55, 63 ff.; Prosdocimi, , op. cit., p. 288Google Scholar; Mesquita, , op. cit., pp. 45 ff.Google Scholar, 54 ff., 312 ff.; Galli, G., in Arch. Stor. Lombardo, liv (1927), pp. 497 ff.Google Scholar Like republics, signori also promoted some regional uniformity in weights, measures and coinage: see, for example, Mazzi, , in Arch. Stor. Lombardo (1901), pp. 44 ff.Google Scholar

5 Chabod, F., ‘Y a-t-il un etat de la Renaissance?’, Actes du colloque sur la Renaissance (Paris, 1958), pp. 64 ff., 70–72Google Scholar; Mattingley, G., in The Renaissance, a Reconsideration, p. 11.Google Scholar

1 For the last see, for example, Silva, P., in Studi Storici xxi (1913), p. 22.Google Scholar According to Machiavelli (Discorsi ii. 2, 11) republics were harsher to subject towns than monarchs. Cf. p. 75 above; but see also n. 4 below.Google Scholar

2 Salvioli, , op. cit., pp. 16, 23 ff., 191 ff.Google Scholar; Visconti, , op. cit., pp. 112, 269Google Scholar; Zacarini, , op. cit., p. 57Google Scholar; Prosdocimi, , op. cit., pp. 151–52Google Scholar; Lattes, A., Diritto con-suetudinario delle citta lombarde (Milan, 1899), cap. I and passim.Google Scholar

3 Salzer, , op. cit., pp. 232 ff.Google Scholar; Jones, , op. cit., pp. 229–30.Google Scholar

4 Chabod, ‘Del „Principe„’ , pp. 47 ff.; Barni, , op. cit., pp. 17 ff., 40 ff.; Santoro, Uffici, passimGoogle Scholar; Jones, , loc. cit.Google Scholar; Valeri, N., L'eredità di Giangaleazzo Visconti (Turin, 1938)Google Scholar; Zanelli, A., in Riv. Stor. It., ix (1892), pp. 389–90, 400 ff.Google Scholar; Capasso, C., in Boll. Civica Bib. di Bergamo, xv (1921). As under re publics, local economic interests were sacrificed to those of the capitalGoogle Scholar: Barbieri, G., Economia e politica nel ducato dl Milano (Milan, 1938), pp. 40, 130 ff., 235, etc.Google Scholar; Cipolla, C. M., in Cambridge Ec. Hist., iii (Cambridge, 1963), pp. 403–4, 417.Google Scholar This is only one reason for questioning the theory that signori promoted economic ptosperity: cfMasi, , op. cit., pp. 96 ff. (against Anzilotti)Google Scholar; Violante, C., in Riv. Stor. It., 1961, p. 532 (against Cipolla).Google Scholar

1 Salvioli, , op. cit., pp. 97–103Google Scholar; Masi, , op. cit., pp. 99 ff.Google Scholar; Barbieri, , op. cit., pp. 37 ff., 97 ff., and passimGoogle Scholar; Valsecchi, , op. cit., pp. 60–72.Google Scholar The further state ment, that signori favoured craft guilds and workers against merchants and manufacturers (Thrupp, S.. Camb. Ec. Hist., iii, p. 240;Google Scholar Cipolla, ibid., pp. 426, 428-29), awaits demonstration.

2 Prosdocimi, , op. cit., pp. 27 ff., no ff., 148 ff.Google Scholar; Tagliabue, , op. cit., pp. 68 ff.Google Scholar; Galli, , op. cit., pp. 496–97, 508.Google Scholar

3 E. Nasalli Rocca, ‘I decreti signorili viscontei e sforzeschi e il diritto agrario’, Arch. Vittorio Scialoja, 1937. CfVisconti, , op. cit., pp. 123–24Google Scholar; Zaccarini, , op. cit., pp. 21, 29, 63Google Scholar; Jones, , op. cit., p. 237Google Scholar; Biscaro, G., in Arch. Stor. Lombardo, xxxvi (1909), pp. 297 ff.Google Scholar; F. Cusin, ibid., 1936, p. 290; Anzilotti, , in Arch. Stor. It., lxxiii (1915) and lxxxii. I (1924).Google Scholar

1 Fasoli, , op. cit., pp. 272–73Google Scholar; Astegiano, L., Codex Diplomatkus Cremonae, ii (Turin, 1896), p. 324Google Scholar; E. P. Vicini, , Respublica Mutinensis, i (Rome, 1929), p. xx.Google Scholar Under certain rulers the signoria represented little more than a return to aristocratic licence; conversely, where popular government was tem porarily revived, anti-magnate legislation was introduced or restored: Zorzi, , op. cit., pp. 64 ff.Google Scholar; Dahm, , op. cit., p. 14, n. 29Google Scholar; Vicini, , loc. cit.Google Scholar

2 Chabod, , op. cit., pp. 43 ff., 54Google Scholar; Santoro, Uffici, pp. xvii, xxix ff.; Jones, , op. cit., pp. 242–44Google Scholar, etc. By 1500 council membership was becoming heredi tary (see, for example, Rabozzi, M., in Boll. Stor. prov. di Novara, xxxix (1948), p. 5; Cesarini-Sforza, W., in Boll. Stor. Piacentino, v (1910), p. 74), a trend evident also in towns under the republican rule of Venice: Zanelli, Condvpioni.Google Scholar

3 Ercole, F., La politico, di Machiavelli (Rome, 1926), pp. 147–48, 152.Google Scholar

4 For example by Cipolla, , in Storia di Milano, viii, pp. 350 ff.Google Scholar

5 A fact which, on R. Mousnier's definition of absolutism (X Cong. Intern. di Science Stor. ZS)55, Relazioni, iv, pp. 6–9, 12-15), would disqualify the Italian principality.Google Scholar

1 See for example: Sitta, , op. cit., p. 133Google Scholar; Chabod, , op. cit., p. 47Google Scholar; Zaccarini, , op. cit., pp. 8, 60Google Scholar; Masi, , op. cit., p. 78Google Scholar; Barni, , op. cit., pp. 17 ff.Google Scholar; Jones, , op. cit.Google Scholar; P. Bognetti, G., in Arch. Star. Lombardo, 1927, pp. 267 ff.Google Scholar; Rocca, E. Nasalli, in Boll. Stor. Piacentino, xxx (1935)Google Scholar, and in Studi in onore di C. Manaresi (Milan, 1953), pp. 239 ff.; Mesquita, , in Italian Renaissance Studies, pp. 184 ff.Google Scholar

2 Salvioli, , op. cit., p. 24Google Scholar; Mesquita, , Giangaleano Visconti, pp. 227 ff., 295Google Scholar; Jones, , op. cit., pp. 226–27Google Scholar; Balduzzi, , in Atti Memorie Dep. Stor. Pat. Romagna, 1875, pp. 156–57Google Scholar; E. Verga, , in Arch, Stor. Lombardo, xxviii. 2 (1901), p. 116Google Scholar; Salvioli, , in Vierteljahrschrift f. Sozial -und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, iii (1905), p. 151Google Scholar; Ciapessoni, P., in Boll. Stor. Pavese, vi (1906), pp. 383 ff., 611Google Scholar; Zerbi, T., La banca mil’ordinamento finanziario visconteo (Como, 1935), pp. 216, 256-57.Google Scholar

3 Arch. Stor. It., Ser. i, App. i (1842-1844), p. 300.Google Scholar

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1 For some current (and divergent) definitions of which see: Chabod, F. and Mattingley, G., op. cit., p. 95, n. 5 aboveGoogle Scholar; Major, J. Russell, Representative Institutions in Renaissance France, 1421–2559 (Madison, 1960), pp. 3 ff.Google Scholar

2 See most recently Gaines, Post, ‘Ratio publicae utilitatis, ratio status und “Staatsrason’ (1100–1300)’, Die Welt als Geschichte, xxi (1961), pp. 8 ff., 71 ff.Google Scholar

3 Sapori, A., ‘Medio evo e rinascimento’, Arch. Star. It., cxv (1957)Google Scholar; Jones, P. J., in Riv. Stor. It., 1964, pp. 287–88.Google Scholar

4 Riv. Stor. It., 1962, p. 721.Google Scholar

5 Also, from the early-fifteenth century, against the practice of the sale of offices: Giulini, G., Continuaiione delle Memorie di Milano, iii (Milan, 1771), p. 616Google Scholar; Verga, , loc. cit., p. 104Google Scholar; Sitta, , op. cit., p. 147Google Scholar; Zaccarini, , op. cit., p. 8Google Scholar; Santoro, , Uffici, pp. xvii–xviiiGoogle Scholar; Mousnier, R., ‘Le traffic des offices a Venise’, Rev. Hist, de Droit, 1952, pp. 552–63.Google Scholar