Early Modern Italy, 1550-1800 Three Seasons in European History

by Hanlon, Gregory

• ISBN13: 9780312231804
• ISBN10: 0312231806
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-30
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Italy's early modern period is still considered by many to be little more than a long interval of decadence between the flowering of the Renaissance city-states and the progress of the Risorgimento. In this, comprehensive, introductory survey of the political, social, cultural, and economic history of early modern Italy-the first of its kind in the English language-Gregory Hanlon throws light on a neglected and influential era. Taking a thematic approach, the author covers all aspects of life in early modern Italy: the family, the Republics, Baroque art, religion, the economy, disease, philosophy, justice, and much more, building up a vivid picture of the so-called "forgotten centuries" of Italian history.

Author Biography

Gregory Hanlon is Professor of European History, Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Plates	vii
Preface	viii
Table of Monetary Values	x
Introduction	xii
Italy circa 1700: a Geographical Expression	1	(22)
Family and Sociability	23	(14)
PART I HIGH SUMMER, 1550-1620
The Renaissance Origins of Modern Italy	37	(9)
From Communes to Principalities	46	(16)
Spanish Regimes in Italy	62	(14)
The Great City-economies to 1620	76	(15)
Feeding the Cities	91	(13)
Traditional Catholicism and its Persistence	104	(16)
The Tridentine Church	120	(16)
The Rebirth of Rome	136	(11)
Bella Figura: the Baroque Era	147	(18)
Aristocracy	165	(16)
PART II TIME OF TEMPESTS, 1620-1730
Italy and Islam in the Mediterranean	181	(10)
Fifty Years of War, 1610--59	191	(14)
Economic Collapse	205	(12)
Rural Crisis, 1630--1740	217	(10)
Epidemics and Assistance	227	(13)
Philosophy and Science, 1550--1700	240	(16)
Venice: Twilight of Empire	256	(15)
PART III A SLOW THAW, 1730--1800
The Piedmontese Absolutist State	271	(12)
Italy as a Great Power Pawn, 1660--1760	283	(3)
Justice, Order and Social Control	286	(24)
The Italian Enlightenment	310	(16)
An Equivocal Recovery	326	(14)
Absolutist Reforms in Bourbon Italy	340	(13)
The Habsburg Revolution	353	(18)
Conclusion	367	(4)
Notes	371	(50)
Glossary	421	(8)
Index	429