The City-States in Late Medieval Italy

Download or read book The City-States in Late Medieval Italy written by Mario Ascheri and published by Viella Libreria Editrice. This book was released on 2024-07-31T16:25:00+02:00 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the 11th century onwards, many Italian towns achieved independence as political entities, unhindered by any centralising power. Until the late 13th century, when the regimes of individual “tyrants” took over in most towns, these communes were the scene of a precocious, and very well-documented, experiment in republican self-government. The authors draw on a rich variety of contemporary material, both documentary and literary, to portray the world of the republican regimes, focusing on the public spirit and factional strife that was to tear them apart. Discussion of the artistic and social lives of the inhabitants shows how these towns were the seedbeds of the cultural achievements of the early Renaissance.