The Virtues of Economy: Governance, Power, and Piety in Late Medieval Rome

by James A. Palmer

"This book explores the transformation of Roman political culture from c.1350 to c.1450, and its implications for the history of the city, the Papacy, and the modern state. Specifically, it examines the gradual transition of Roman political elites from a commitment to governing Rome as a free city-commune to a willingness to act as the governing agents of a sovereign papacy. It emphasizes that understanding this transition requires recognition of Roman political engagement not merely with a civic society, constituted of citizens of the city-commune, but with the broader political society of Rome in its guise as the spiritual capital of Latin Christendom. Through an analysis of the transformative effects of everyday Roman politics, this book reframes the story of the establishment of papal sovereignty in Rome as the product of synergy between papal ambitions and local political culture"--

258 pages, Hardcover

Published December 15, 2019