Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #978867 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

About the Author
Trevor Dean is a reader in the Department of History at Roehampton Institute, London.

Customer Reviews

Great introduction to Italian urban life
Read this for graduate history course in medieval history.
Trevor Dean, in his introduction to "The Towns of Italy in the Later Middle Ages," astutely perceived the unique advantages that strong city-states in north-central Italy provided its citizens. "The towns of later medieval Italy were one of the high points of urban society and culture before the industrial revolution." The strong city-states in north-central Italy of the fourteenth- century were much better off politically, financially, and socially, than many of their fourteenth- century European counterparts who lived in unified states. The cities fostered mercantile and agricultural systems, which when incorporated into their political structure, lent themselves to easy governance by city councils and oligarchies. Most importantly these socio-economic and political advances also fostered a great sense of civic pride in its citizens, which manifested itself in urban renewal projects, civic architectural projects, and civic art.

A great illustration of the philosophy behind the civic pride that the fourteenth-century Italian city dwellers possessed came from the primary source writings of Fra Remigio de' Girolami, (d. 1319). Girolami was a Dominican and proud citizen of Florence during the same politically turbulent time that Dante was a citizen of Florence. Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas philosophically influenced Remigio. In his philosophical treatise De bono communi (the common good), Girolami wrote: "Man is made for society, that the purpose of government is to promote a self-sufficient and virtuous life in a community, that the welfare of this community is superior to the welfare of the individual, and that the purpose of law is to pursue the common good."

Thus, one can see why city governments took their responsibility seriously and were constantly passing edicts and embarking on civic construction projects to improve the lives of their citizens. These projects included improving their city's security by building walls. Over the lifetime of a city, walls had to be expanded to incorporate the expanding suburbs that had grown out of the phenomenal economic growth that took place in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The size and quantity of the gate-towers built into the new walls would serve as a testament to the civic pride felt by a city's government and its citizens.

An example of the importance that walls had to the Italian cities in the fourteenth-century, comes from a description by a judge, Giovanni da Nono, of Padua. The following is just a short portion of a much larger detailed description of the remarkable wall of the city of Padua. It was over one mile in length in the form of a horseshoe. It had four major or "royal" gates, all with beautifully built stone and brick bridges traversing the rivers Bacchiglione and Tusena. In addition, the wall had some fifteen minor entry gates. The major gate was named the Pontemelino. Along the Pontemelino gate were thirty-four mill wheels which were used to process various grains. Just from this brief description, one can get the sense of how important walls were to a city; not just for its security, but also to improve the commerce of a city.

Another outgrowth of civic pride in fourteenth-century Italian cities was the ambitious construction projects of public palaces and town halls. They included residences for the chief magistrate of the city, or for all the governing council members of a city. In addition, these buildings contained a grand meeting hall on the first floor for council meetings, as well as balconies for public speeches and proclamations to be delivered to the assembled citizenry in a beautiful city square. These public buildings had a bell-tower attached to them, and many had fountains or aqueducts built close by; symbolizing the city's governing bodies ability to provide fresh drinking water, which was a crucially essential to the growth and prosperity of any city.

An example of a description of the construction of a lavish public palace is contained in the chronicles from the Italian city of Sienna from the early fourteenth-century. The Palazzo Pubblico of Siena as it was known by, was the residence and meeting place of the city's chief magistrate known as the podestà--an outside official who served a six-month term. In addition, Sienna had a governing council of "nine" who were guild representatives that governed the city. The members of the governing council took up residence in the palace several years before the construction and interior work was completed. Sienna's records show that from 1338-1340 one of Italy's great fresco painters and one of Sienna's own citizens, Ambrogio Lorenzetti was paid to paint three of the interior walls of the great meeting hall. The three walls were painted with frescoes containing a large group of allegorical figures of virtues. The first fresco was named The Allegory of Good Government. In the other two opposite panels, Lorenzetti paints grand visions of the Effects of Good Government and the Allegory of Bad Government. Lorenzetti's work in the Palazzo Pubblico would become known as one of the great works in early renaissance secular painting. The frescoes certainly displayed a message that Sienna's citizenry wished to publicize; that they lived in a wealthy city imbued with civic virtues.

When the Black Death arrived in Italy in 1348, most of the civic construction came to a halt. Since the population was decimated in many cities, the governing bodies where kept busy providing basic needs to its citizens and the city treasuries were rapidly depleted in the process. In some cities, such as Sienna, the economy suffered so badly that construction on some projects did not resume until the fifteenth-century. However, before the Black Death, in north-central Italy the cities were the catalyst of a burgeoning capitalist economy, and a socio-political order based on guilds and wealth that stressed cooperation and freedom. In addition, the cities began to foster a culture of secular values. Thus, these grand civic projects, many of which still stand today, serve as a testament to the civic pride that the citizens had and were willing to spend their tax dollars on in order to improve and beautify their cities.

Recommended reading for those interested in medieval history.