Factional struggles : divided elites in European cities and courts, (1400-1750)

'Factional Struggles' explores the dynamics of conflicts among ruling elites within cities, dynastic courts, rural areas and regional noble lineages during the early modern period. Building on case studies from France, Italy, the Empire and the Swiss Confederation, the essays collected by Mathieu Caesar in this volume highlight how factions were formed and how they shaped political society from the late Middle Ages. The authors have especially focused on how political and religious ideologies contributed to the formation of partisanship, the role of propaganda, and the significance and strategies of factional leaders. The volume shows how factions, despite the generally negative view of them held by theologians and jurists, were in practice accepted and used as political tools. List of Maps vii Notes on Contributors viii Did Factions Exist? Problems and Perspectives on European Factional Struggles (1400–1750) / Mathieu Caesar 1 The Black Raven and His Gang: Politics in Augsburg in Times of Crisis (1450–1480) / Dominique Adrian 18 Changing Skin: Identities and Strategies in Late Medieval Basque 'banderizo' Warfare / José Ramón Díaz de Durana and Arsenio Dacosta 37 Conciliarist Employment of Eschatology during and after the Council of Basel (1431–1460) / Frances Courtney Kneupper 56 Factions in Rome between Papal Wars and International Conflicts (1480–1530) / Maria Antonietta Visceglia 82 The Prince and the Factions: Rebellion and Political Propaganda in Sixteenth-Century Geneva / Mathieu Caesar 104 Not Only Blood: Factions on the Venetian 'Terraferma' during the Early Modern Period / Andrea Savio 122 A Temperate Factionalism: Political Life in Amiens at the End of the Wars of Religion / Olivia Carpi 137 The Imperial Court during the Thirty Years War: A Battleground for Factions? / Rubén González Cuerva and Luis Tercero Casado 155 Divide and Rule? Rival Factions and Prussian State Management in Eighteenth-Century Neuchâtel / Nadir Weber 176 Factions and Parties in Early Modern Swiss Conflicts / Andreas Würgler 196 Bibliography 217 Index 247