The Italian City Republics

by Daniel Philip Waley, Trevor Dean

Daniel Waley and Trevor Dean illustrate how, from the eleventh century onwards, many dozens of Italian towns achieved independence as political entities, unhindered by any centralising power. Until the fourteenth 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.

Focusing on the typical medium-sized towns rather than the better-known cities, the authors draw on a rich variety of contemporary material (both documentary and literary) to portray the world of the communes, illustrating the patriotism and public spirit as well as the equally characteristic factional strife which was to tear them apart. Discussion of the artistic and social lives of the inhabitants shows how these towns were the seed-bed of the cultural achievements of the early Renaissance.

In this fourth edition, Trevor Dean has expanded the book's treatment of religion, women, housing, architecture and art, to take account of recent trends in the abundant historiography of these topics. A new selection of illuminating images has been included, and the bibliography brought up to date.

Both students and the general reader interested in Italian history, literature and art will find this accessible book a rewarding and fascinating read.

Genres: History, Italy, Nonfiction, Medieval, Medieval History, Renaissance, European History

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1969

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but it wound up being a bit disappointing. The Italian communes are one of my favorite subjects in medieval history - they're so different from so much of what's going on in the rest of Europe, and they usually wind up being a whirlwind of competing factions and overlapping ideas. No matter what your interest, you'll find it somewhere in the history of Italian cities.

That said, I'm not sure this book does a great job introducing them. Its main problem is that in the span of less than 250 small pages (many of which are graced by some lovely pictures) it tries to cover all of the cities in Italy during a three hundred year period. It's just too big a topic for too small a book, and I wound up with the feeling that I still don't have a good grasp of what happened in any of them. I think it may have worked better if he took three or four substantially different cities and provided case studies on each of them. It would have allowed for some specificity while also highlighting the degree of difference between all of the communes.

It's not a terrible book by any means, though, and there's still quite a bit to take away from it. The edition I had actually had loads of (colored!) pictures in it, which was very exciting for me. It's a solid place to start if you just want a broad-strokes history of what a commune was, and how its institutions operated. It also does a good job of highlighting the precarious balance (or lack of it) between factions in the cities, and how feudal/landholding interests never entirely receded in the face of republican systems.

For a more detailed (if a bit dated) look at Italian communes, William Butler's The Lombard communes;: A history of the republics of north Italy is dense but good, and John Larner's Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch, 1216-1380 provides a broader view that includes religious and social life as well as politics. If you want to know particularly about religious life of the period, you can't beat Augustine Thompson's Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125-1325.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-regarded book on the Italian cities during the era of the Renaissance (or just before it; depending on how you date it). On the one hand, I can understand why it’s well-regarded as there is a lot of knowledge about the cities, and plenty of detail about the main civic institutions, social clusters, and controversies. But on the other hand, I did find it frustrating at times. Waley has an annoying habit sometimes of getting into his topic without always pausing to identify the key terms and players so the reader knows what he’s talking about. Take, for example, his section on Guelfs and Ghibellines. These are two classic factions of city politics in Italy from this era. He begins by noting how hard they are to define, and then plunges in without really defining them. Oh, he notes that there was a pro-imperial party and a pro-papacy party – but he never clearly states which was which. (Guelfs were sympathetic to the Pope, and Ghibellines to the Holy Roman Empire – but at one point I thought he implied the opposite). In fact, I had to check elsewhere just to make sure the pro-imperial party wasn’t also the pro-papal party.

But there is a lot of good info here. It's especially good going over the political structure of the towns. Much like the rest of Europe, the most powerful people were often those who controlled the land, and control of the surrounding countryside was vital for the typical city-republic. This also led to contention with other towns as to where the frontier lay. The towns made serious efforts to create a sense of civic loyalty - but were also beset by continual internal rivalries and factions. These factions frequently turned violent, and the legitimization of political violence often ended in the fall of the republic and the coming of rule by one family. Some republics survived, but they still had to overcome the rising power of leading families.

[Anatolikon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A whirlwind tour through the rise, organization of, and the fall of the high medieval republican commune. Waley sets the history of the commune in the struggle of feudal dependencies, and never tries to make his subject too unique to Italy, as he notes similar trends (such as the expansion of the communes into their contados) to northern Europe (where lordly power was expanding) around roughly the same time. While readable, Waley often uses terms and concepts only to introduce them a few pages later. The rise of the communes tends to be treated as fallout of the wars with the Germans in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but with little indication of what institutions or structures in the city might also have aided such things. Otherwise, this is a readable and highly informative book.

[Parker Robb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started this book while on a tour of a number of the city states he talks about. Took almost a year to finish it because it is so drab and written in such an academic tone that it is hard to understand. I feel like he never defines any of the terms he uses over and over again throughout the book; if I had known what his terms meant, I would have learned much more. I was expecting more from a book about one of my favorite historical time periods in some of my favorite cities.

[Pedro Ceneme · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book provides a nice introduction to many of the characteristics of the city-republics of Northern Italy between the XII and XV centuries. The book chooses to focus itself in the small to medium towns, with references to the most famous towns of Florence, Milan and Venice much less prevalent than one would have thought. On the other hand, Siena enjoys the spotlight, partially due to the more extensive information available from government sources. I believe this decision was the right one, not only because it provides a more accurate view regarding the “average” town but also because a lot is already written for these municipalities, which would result in either redundancy or demand a much longer work.

Throughout the short chapters, Waley provides an overview of the political, economic, and social context of the period for the towns of Northern Italy: the geographical advantage conferred on the region being a crucial point for the development of trade and textile industry, as well as early forms of banking. This economic development, rather away from the countryside, spurred a constant dispute between the feudal lords and municipal nobility. However, the author persuasively argues that this was much more blurred than commonly thought: burghers had significant possessions in the landholdings around their cities while the feudal nobility also had significant interest in the economic activities of the urban environment.

Waley also discusses at length the many political institutions and representatives of such city-republics: the podesta, the councils and consuls as well as the process that governed their election. He also explains the different roles that the executive, legislative and judiciary had in the cities, as well as the class identity and the conflicts between classes in each city, emphasizing (as already mentioned) that such division lines were rather blurry. He also positions the city-republics in the wider political context of Italy, especially regarding the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States and the Angevin Kingdom of Naples, the main powers in the region.

The minor problem I had with the book was how frequently the writing became very dry: I’m used to reading academic works of history, so I guess I’m more tolerant than the average reader, but this book had rather long parts in which the conveying of the message was unnecessary dull.

[Brian Wilkerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another textbook I kept from a college course. It was about Europe's Medieval Cities and specifically about the development of urban cities in one part of it. "The Italian City Republics" was one of them. It focuses on the "communes" developed in Northern Italy during this period.

Subjects are their origins, how they functioned, how they developed over time, and how they related with other governmental entities in comparison to their own inner discord/harmony. The last chapters focuses on all the vulnerabilities that ultimately lead to many of them failing in one way or another.

I found this book to be quite useful and informative. It has a focus on the structure and function of the various forms of governments (consul, podesta, Captain of the Pololo, etc.) and provides much in the way of details and examples of them. Other areas, such as the social or cultural aspects of the communes are only included insofar as they effect and are effected by the government

The organization of the book itself is well thought-out. For instance, putting a chapter about "External relations" back-to-back with one about "internal Divisions" was useful for easy compare/contrast. This, in turn, aids understanding and retention for the next chapter, the tendency for communes to fall. After reading about all the points of failure, the sharp rivalries and general commotion that could take place, the reader is primed to learn how fragile the communes could be.

Much of the information is pulled from historical documents and official government stuff, which is certainly relevant. However, there is also helpful input from another angle. For instance, several lines from Dante's "Divine Comedy" are used to illustrate Florence's habit with re-writing its constitution.

Photographs of buildings, locations, paintings and statues are also included. I enjoyed looking them over and relating them to the subject, such as the fortified towers that were built by factionalism and conspicuous consumption.

I'm definitely keeping this as reference material.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Italian City Republics" an A+

[Umut Erdem · Rating 3 out of 5]

cok sayiya teknige bogulmus

[Juan Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice book, but at some places, so entangled in micro stories about some town or another, losing the big picture.

[Anna Stephens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry as dust.

[Walt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps because the lives of the Italian city republics was so short lived, there is a dearth of material pertaining to them. Waley has what is one of the few books on the subject. However, the author assumes his readers are familiar with Italy in the High Middle Ages. Even students of Medieval Europe may not have the necessary background to appreciate Waley's study.

Waley is writing for an academic audience, even though there are few references. The complexity of the material and the aim of making an all-encompassing study of the subject make the book almost unreadable. Instead of focusing on just a handful of cities, he tries to cover them all. This might be accomplished if he had a chapter or subchapter for each city. Instead, his organization is more thematic, such as population, government, internal relations, etc. The result is a way-to-confusing study. The reader is overwhelmed by the detail and the examples. The key points are lost in a sea of examples that seemingly support and contradict the author.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect to this reader is how much conflict was going at any moment. Even when there was a "peaceful" transition of power, there were many disenfranchised people who moved to new locations and plotted a return to power. Ultimately, this rivalry, rather than the over-generalized Guelph-Ghibelline conflict, drove the republics into despotates. Of course, it was the ceaseless conflict between the republics, the parties, and the tyrants that led to the Renaissance.

[Andrea Muraro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forse a tratti un po’ lento è troppo dettagliato, il volume però è sicuramente chiaro nella sua esposizione di fatti e caratteristiche dei comuni nell’Italia medievale. Non si troveranno eventi narrati in ordine cronologico ma concetti, esaminati in modo esauriente.
Un altro bel libro sul Medioevo italiano!

[Salvatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good trip through the Italian City Republics and how they worked. Ironically however, the author translates specific terms for describing social structures into French instead of Italian. This is a book about the Italian City Republics so hence shouldn't the terms be in Italian or even Latin?

[Devrim · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent textbook