Italy in the Central Middle Ages 1000-1300

by Abulafia, David

• ISBN13: 9780199247042
• ISBN10: 0199247048
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-05-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Incorporating the latest developments in the study of the period, a team of leading international scholars provides a fresh and dynamic picture of a period of great transformation in the political, cultural, and economic life of the Italian peninsula, which witnessed the rise of autonomous city states in the north, the creation of a powerful kingdom in the south, and the development of the Italian language as a vehicle for literary expression.

Author Biography

David Abulafia is Professor of Mediterranean History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. He has published widely on the history of the Mediterranean from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries.

Table of Contents

General Editor's Preface	v
Acknowledgements	vii
List of contributors	xiii
Introduction: The many Italies of the Middle Ages	1	(26)
David Abulafia
PART I RULERS AND SUBJECTS
1 Cities and communes	27	(31)
Edward Coleman
Introduction	27	(2)
Origins of the communes	29	(6)
Civic institutions, office-holding, and law	35	(7)
Warfare and city leagues	42	(6)
Urban elites and factionalism	48	(8)
Conclusion	56	(2)
2 Law and monarchy in the south	58	(24)
Hiroshi Takayama
Norman unification	59	(3)
The Norman kingdom of Sicily	62	(1)
The kingdom as a political entity	63	(1)
Kingship and the royal court	64	(2)
Norman administration	66	(2)
The kings' ambitions and diplomacy	68	(1)
Transition	69	(1)
Frederick II	70	(1)
Restoration of royal authority	71	(1)
The Norman inheritance	72	(1)
A changed kingdom	73	(2)
The dismemberment of Frederick II's dominion	75	(1)
Charles of Anjou and the two kingdoms	76	(3)
The Sicilian Vespers and arrival of the king of Aragon	79	(1)
The two kingdoms of Sicily and Naples	80	(2)
3 Papal Italy	82	(22)
Brenda Bolton
Introduction	82	(4)
The pope and the emperors	86	(3)
The papal recovery	89	(2)
Institutions	91	(2)
North and south	93	(2)
Papal itineration	95	(3)
Development and support for the faith	98	(2)
Defending the faith: heresy	100	(2)
The Jubilee	102	(1)
Conclusion	102	(2)
4 The rise of the signori	104	(23)
Trevor Dean
Piacenza	109	(2)
Verona	111	(3)
Milan	114	(5)
Ferrara	119	(2)
Some common themes	121	(6)
PART II SOCIAL CHANGE AND THE COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION
5 Trade and navigation	127	(20)
Marco Tangheroni
Italian maritime expansion in the western Mediterranean	127	(4)
Italian maritime expansion in the eastern Mediterranean	131	(3)
Italian cities and the Mediterranean, 1200-1350	134	(6)
Technical and institutional aspects of Italian maritime commerce	140	(4)
Maritime commerce and the Italian economy	144	(3)
6 Material life	147	(14)
Patricia Skinner
Buildings and living conditions	148	(2)
Personal possessions: the domestic life	150	(4)
Tools and equipment	154	(1)
Food and ephemera	155	(2)
Luxury items	157	(2)
Conclusions	159	(2)
7 Rural Italy	161	(22)
Duane Osheim
The rural landscape: castelli and lords	161	(6)
Parallel developments in southern Italy	167	(1)
The rural communes	168	(8)
The rural economy	176	(6)
Conclusion	182	(1)
8 The family	183	(14)
Steven Epstein
General themes	184	(3)
Wives, husbands, and children	187	(3)
The role of government	190	(2)
Names	192	(2)
Stories of family life	194	(3)
9 Language and culture	197
Alberto Varvaro
Language in Italy c.1000	197	(2)
Linguistic change up to 1300	199	(2)
Cultural centres, schools, and libraries	201	(3)
The first documents in the vernacular and para-literary traditions	204	(3)
The establishment of literary traditions	207	(8)
PART III THE OTHER FACES OF ITALY
10 The Italian other: Greeks, Muslims, and Jews	215	(22)
David Abulafia
The Greeks	217	(1)
The Muslims	222	(1)
The Jews	228	(1)
Conclusion	236	(1)
11 Sardinia and Italy	237	(14)
Marco Tangheroni
The papacy and Sardinia: political and ecclesiastical intervention	238	(1)
The political penetration of Pisa and Genoa in the eleventh and twelfth centuries	241	(1)
Judicial dynasties and mainland lords	243	(1)
The end of the judicatures and Pisan Sardinia	244	(1)
Pisan and Genoese economic activity in Sardinia: modes and consequences	245	(1)
The Catalan-Aragonese conquest and the end of Pisan Sardinia	248	(3)
Conclusion	251	(4)
David Abulafia
Further reading	255	(16)
Glossary	271	(4)
Chronology	275	(7)
Maps	282	(5)
Index	287