Italy in the Central Middle Ages: 1000-1300 (Short Oxford History of Italy)

Incorporating the latest developments in the study of the period, a team of leading international scholars provides a fresh and dynamic picture of a period of great transformation in the political, cultural, and economic life of the Italian peninsula, which witnessed the rise of autonomous city states in the north, the creation of a powerful kingdom in the south, and the development of the Italian language as a vehicle for literary expression. The eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries saw a great transformation in the political, cultural and economic life of the Italian peninsula, marked by the rise of the autonomous city-states in the north and centre, the expansion of international trade, and the creation of a wealthy southern kingdom which reached the peak of its power in this period, before fragmenting in two in the late thirteenth century. It was also the period in which the various dialects that we now call the Italian language came into being, and in which Tuscan in particular became the vehicle for impressive literary innovation. Presenting a rounded view of Italy at a time when it was the most dynamic region in western Europe, this book looks at Italy in its entirety, rather than concentrating largely on the north, as previous studies have done. It also includes expert coverage of topics such as the family and the Jewish, Greek, and Muslim minority communities, in addition to its coverage of developments in the cities, rural life, trade, the monarchy, papal Italy, and language and culture. Writing the early history of a politically fragmented and economically diverse territory which has only been unified in recent times is a difficult task; both medieval Italy and medieval Germany, tied together by their links to the Holy Roman Empire, have posed similar problems in this respect. Introduction 1. Cities and Communes 2. Law and Monarchy 3. Papal Italy 4. The Signori 5. Trade and Navigation 6. The Family 7. Rural Italy 8. Material Life 9. Language and Culture 10. The Italian Other: Greeks, Muslims and Jews 11. Sardinia and Italy Conclusion Chronology, Bibliography, Maps 'Communal Italy' is historians' shorthand for the highly urbanized areas of Lombardy and Tuscany between the twelfth and the early fourteenth centuries.