The City-State in Europe, 1000–1600: Hinterland, Territory, Region

Description

No detailed comparison of the city-state in medieval Europe has been undertaken over the last century. Research has concentrated on the role of city-states and their republican polities as harbingers of the modern state, or else on their artistic and cultural achievements, above all in Italy. Much less attention has been devoted to the cities' territorial expansion: why, how, and with what consequences cities in the urban belt, stretching from central and northern Italy over the Alps to Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries, succeeded (or failed) in constructing sovereign polities, with or without dependent territories. Tom Scott goes beyond the customary focus on the leading Italian city-states to include, for the first time, detailed coverage of the Swiss city-states and the imperial cities of Germany. He criticizes current typologies of the city-state in Europe advanced by political and social scientists to suggest that the city-state was not a spent force in early modern Europe, but rather survived by transformation and adaption. He puts forward instead a typology which embraces both time and space by arguing for a regional framework for analysis which does not treat city-states in isolation, but within a wider geopolitical setting. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Maps......Page 10 Note on Usage......Page 11 Introduction......Page 14 I. Urban revival......Page 18 II. The communal tradition......Page 22 III. The Mediterranean cities......Page 25 IV. The age of church reform......Page 28 I. The early Italian communes......Page 30 II. Diocese and county......Page 35 III. Territorial expansion......Page 37 IV. Cities and rural lords......Page 41 V. Communal instability......Page 44 I. Empire and papacy......Page 46 II. The Lombard leagues......Page 49 III. Podestà and popolo......Page 52 IV. The foundation of new towns......Page 57 V. The emancipation of serfs......Page 60 VI. The rise of the signoria......Page 64 VII. Cities and leagues in northern Europe......Page 69 I. Consolidation and realignment in Italy......Page 77 II. Lombardy and Liguria......Page 79 III. Venice: ‘Stato di Mar’ and terraferma......Page 91 IV. Emilia-Romagna and central Italy......Page 105 V. Tuscany......Page 116 I. The patterns of domination......Page 142 II. The southern Low Countries......Page 144 III. The Hanseatic and north German cities......Page 150 IV. Cities and towns in southern Germany......Page 161 V. The Swiss Confederation......Page 177 I. The patterns of change......Page 206 II. Survival by attraction......Page 207 III. Survival by accommodation......Page 212 IV. Survival by adaption......Page 219 V. Survival by default......Page 225 I. North and south compared......Page 227 II. Typologies of the city-state......Page 236 III. Cities and their regions......Page 247 Notes......Page 255 Bibliography......Page 332 A......Page 374 B......Page 375 C......Page 377 E......Page 379 F......Page 380 G......Page 381 H......Page 382 K......Page 383 L......Page 384 M......Page 385 O......Page 387 P......Page 388 R......Page 389 S......Page 390 T......Page 392 V......Page 393 W......Page 394 Z......Page 395