Long neglected by scholars, medieval and Renaissance Bologna is now recognized as a center of economic, political-constitutional, legal, and intellectual innovation, as the city that served as the cultural crossroads of Italy. The city’s distinctive achievements and its transition from medieval commune to second largest city of the Renaissance Papal State is illuminated by essays that present the work of current historians, many made available in English for the first time, from the broadest possible perspective: from the material city with its porticoes, the conflicts that brought bloodshed and turmoil to its streets, the disputations of masters and students, and to the masterpieces of artists who laid the foundations for Baroque art.
Sarah Rubin Blanshei, Ph.D (1970), is Dean of the College and Professor of History Emerita at Agnes Scott College. Her major publications include
Perugia, 1260-1340: Conflict and Change in a Medieval Italian Urban Society (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1976) and
Politics and Justice in Late Medieval Bologna (Brill, 2010).
"This hefty volume is comprised of twenty-one essays of diverse lengths, most of them written by Italian scholars whose work appears here in English for the first time". [...] Sarah Rubin Blanshei’s introduction provides a valuable overview of historical writings on Bologna, from the medieval chronicle tradition to modern historiography, which has only recently begun venturing beyond the fourteenth century in a meaningful and systematic way. It also offers a compelling summary of the current state of the field, which this ambitious publication competently synthesizes and broadens.[...] This rich and varied collection of essays on the history of medieval and Renaissance Bologna succeeds in its goal as a “companion”—it offers a great deal to a novice and an expert alike, and it can lend itself extremely well to undergraduate teaching. Especially useful for students will be the engagement with archival and other primary sources demonstrated in many of the essays, as well as their methodological range; also valuable will be the individual bibliographies that accompany each essay, in addition to the comprehensive bibliography and a detailed index at the end of the volume". Nadja Aksamija, in
Renaissance Quarterly, 73 (1), pp.284-285.
Contents
Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Contributors
Introduction: History and Historiography of Bologna Sarah Rubin Blanshei 1
Archival Sources: Governmental, Judicial, Religious, Familial Diana Tura 2
Fiscal Sources: the Estimi RosaSmurra 3
Shaping the City: Urban Planning and Physical Structures Francesca Bocchi 4
Public Health G. Geltner 5
Regulating the Material Culture of Bologna la Grassa Antonella Campanini 6
Economy and Demography Fabio Giusberti and Francesca Roversi Monaco 7
Bankers, Financial Institutions, and Politics Massimo Giansante 8
Civic Institutions (12th-early 15th Centuries) Giorgio Tamba 9
From One Conflict to Another (13th-14th Centuries) Giuliano Milani 10
Libertas, Oligarchy, Papacy: Government in the Quattrocento Tommaso Duranti 11
Popular Government, Government of the Ottimati, and the Languages of Politics: Concord and Discord (1377-1559) AngelaDeBenedictis 12
Making of an Oligarchy: The Ruling Classes of Bologna Andrea Gardi 13
Criminal Justice and Conflict Resolution Sarah Rubin Blanshei and Sara Cucini 14
The Church, Civic Religion, and Civic Identity Gabriella Zarri 15
Confraternities and Civil Society Nicholas Terpstra 16
Mendicant Orders and the Repression of Heresy Riccardo Parmeggiani 17
The University and the City: Cultural Interactions David A. Lines 18
Bolognese Vernacular Language and Literature Armando Antonelli and Vincenzo Cassì 19
Literary Culture in Bologna from the Duecento to the Cinquecento Gian Mario Anselmi and Stefano Scioli 20
Miniaturists, Painters, and Goldsmiths (mid-13th-early 15th Century) Raffaella Pini 21
Art and Patronage in Bologna’s “Long” Quattrocento David J. Drogin General Bibliography
Index
All interested in medieval and Renaissance Italian history in particular and urban history in general. Of special value to anyone interested in any aspect of medieval and Renaissance Bolognese history.