Florentine ‘Libertas’: Political Independents and ‘Novi Cives,’ 1372–1378
One of the more difficult tasks of a historian who treats Italian communal history in the fourteenth century concerns the problem of delineating the thoughts and actions of those citizens who were not allied with any of the several political factions that inevitably vied for office in the turbulent...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
1962
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| In: |
Traditio
Year: 1962, Volume: 18, Pages: 393-407 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | One of the more difficult tasks of a historian who treats Italian communal history in the fourteenth century concerns the problem of delineating the thoughts and actions of those citizens who were not allied with any of the several political factions that inevitably vied for office in the turbulent environment of the towns. With the men who were adherents of rival clans, politics was in the main a struggle for power. Their day-by-day activities are frequently the stuff of dreary, repititious Italian chronicles punctuated with blood feuds, vendettas, street fights, judicial persecutions and petty harassments. The persistent theme of cruelty and counter-cruelty heightens the monotony of this historical requiem which continues over that century during which the overwhelming majority of republican communes suffered their protracted death agonies. The historian feels rather like the spectator at an Italian opera in which the heroine's death has been antitipated since the beginning of the first act. Despite his sympathies, the historian is forced to admit that he is indeed pleased to hear the last republican aria and to see the Visconti come on stage to deliver the commune's oratorio. One is tempted to suggest not only that the death of the republic lacked dignity, but also that the various voices raised for and against her were indeed all bass. After all, what is the difference between the songs sung by the Monaldeschi and the Filippeschi of Orvieto or the tunes hummed by the feuding families of Genoa ? Were they not all in the same key? What convictions or ideologies distinguished the chorus which sang on behalf of the Malatesta of Rimini from the one which chanted for its archrival? In truth, the contending factions appear to have stood for little beyond the struggle for office, the urge to punish their enemies, and the desire to enjoy the fruits of their political victories. One is tempted to paraphrase Butterfield's observation and to say: Their successes, like Namier's researches, washed the ideas out of history. |
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| ISSN: | 2166-5508 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Traditio
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0362152900018250 |