Community and Clientele in Twelfth-Century Tuscany: The Origins of the Rural Commune in the Plain of Lucca

by Chris Wickham

Overview

This book investigates a gap in Italian historiography by examining rural rather than city communes. Wickham's discussion of a group of villages around Lucca is the first detailed study of the origin of organized village communities in Italy to appear in over 70 years. It shows how the 12th-century social and political structures of the countryside ran alongside those of the city.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198207047
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/12/1998
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1490L (what's this?)

About the Author

Chris Wickham is the Editor of Past & Present.

Table of Contents

List of Maps
1. Introduction
2. Lucca and the Sei Miglia in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
3. Rural Settlement, Village Identity, and the Parish in the Lucca Plain
4. Signoria and Commune in Moriano in the Twelfth Century: Institutions
5. Signoria and Commune in Moriano in the Twelfth Century: People
6. Rural Landowners and Rural Communes on the Eastern Plain
7. Rural Communes in the Lucca Plain in the Twelfth Century
8. Comparative Perspectives
Appendix 1. Sources and Abbreviations
Appendix 2. Main Archival Sources
Guide to Use of Archival Sources
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"Wickham...offers an acute discussion of previous scholarship on the subject and an extensive and updated bibliography."—CHOICE

"Chris Wickham has already established himself as a leading scholar of the transitional era between the early and the central Middle Ages in Italy...[A]n important book, based upon solid scholarship...Wickham's set—his matrix—of variables should prove an invaluable tool to future scholars tackling the complexities of the history of the rural commune."—American Historical Review

"[S]timulating and provocative....[I]t deserves to be read by a broad audience of medieval historians and social scientists....This complex book is full of rewarding insights..."—Journal of Interdisciplinary History

From the Publisher