- Italian city-states
The Italian city states were a remarkable political phenomenon of small independent states in the northern
Italian peninsula between the tenth and fifteenth centuries.After the fall of
Roman Empire there was a strong continuity of urban awareness in northern Italy which had virtually disappeared in the rest ofEurope . Some cities and their urban institutions had survived in Italy since theDark Ages . Many of these towns were survivors of earlier Etruscan and Roman towns which had existed within the Roman Empire. The republican institutions of Rome had also survived. Somefeudal lord s existed with a servile labour force and huge tracts of land, but by the11th century , many cities, includingVenice ,Milan ,Florence andGenoa , had become large trading metropolises, able to conquer independence from their formal sovereigns.In fact
Italy between 12th and 13th centuries was vastly different from feudalEurope north of theAlps . The Peninsula was a of political and cultural elements rather than a unified state.Marc Bloch andFernand Braudel have argued that geography determined the history of the region. Within the Italian peninsula there is great physical diversity. Italy is cut into numerous small regions by mountains, which could make inter-city communication very difficult. ThePo plain , however, was an exception; it was the only large contiguous area, and most city states which fell to invasion were located there. Those that survived longest were in the more rugged regions, such as Florence (or Venice defended by her lagoon). Because an attack across the Alps was very difficult, German princelings could not exert sustained control over their Italian vassal states, and thus Italy was substantially freed of German political interference. So no strong monarchies emerged as they did in the rest of Europe; instead there emerged the independentcity-state .While those Roman, urban, republican sensibilities persisted, there were many movements and changes afoot. Italy first felt the changes in Europe from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Typically there was:
*a rise in population―the population doubled in this period (the demographic explosion)
*an emergence of huge cities (in Italy they were Venice, Florence and Milan, with over 100,000 inhabitants by 13th century, but many others surpassed 50,000 as Genoa,Bologna ,Verona )
*the rebuilding of the great cathedrals
*substantial migration from country to city (in Italy the rate of urbanization reached 20%, the most urbanized society in the world at that time)
*anagrarian revolution
*the development of commerceIt is estimated that the per capita income of northern Italy nearly tripled from the 11th century to the 15th century. This was a highly mobile, demographically expanding society, fueled by the rapidly expanding
Renaissance commerce.By the13th century , northern and central Italy had become the most literate society in the world. More than one third of male population could read in the vernacular (an unprecedented rate since the decline of theRoman Empire ), as could a small but significant proportion of women.During the
11th century in northern Italy a new political and social structure emerged― the city-state orcomune . The civic culture which arose from this "urbs " was remarkable. In most places where communes arose (e.g. Britain andFlanders ) they were absorbed by the monarchical state as it emerged. Almost uniquely, they survived in northern and central Italy to become independent and powerful city-states. The breakaway from their feudal overlords by these communes occurred in the late12th century and13th century , during theInvestiture Controversy between the Pope and the Emperor:Milan led the Lombard cities against the Holy Roman Emperors and defeated them, gaining independence (battles of Legnano 1176 and Parma 1248 seeLombard League ). Meanwhile Venice and Genoa were able to conquer their naval empires on the Mediterranean sea (1204 Venice conquered one-fourth of Byzantine Empire seeFourth Crusade ).By the late 12th century, a new and unique society had emerged; rich, mobile, expanding, with a mixed aristocracy, interested in urban institutions and republican government. But many city-states housed also a violent society based on family, confraternity and brotherhood, who mined their cohesion (see
Guelphs and Ghibellines ).By
1300 , most of these republics had become princely states dominated by aSignore . The exceptions were Venice,Florence ,Lucca , and a few others, which remained republics in the face of an increasingly monarchic Europe.During
14th century and15th century the most powerful of these cities (Milan ,Venice ,Florence ) were able to conquer the other weaker city-states, creating regional states. The 1454Peace of Lodi ended their struggle for the hegemony in Italy and started the policy of balance of power (seeItalian Renaissance ).At the beginning of
16th century , apart some minor city-states likeSan Marino , only Venice was able to preserve her independence and to match the European monarchies ofFrance andSpain and theOttoman Empire (seeItalian Wars ).ee also
*
Repubbliche Marinare References and sources
* [http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/REN/BACK.HTM "Background to the Italian Renaissance"] ,
Washington State University
* [http://www.arcaini.com/ITALY/ItalyHistory/ItalianCityStates.htm "The Rise of the Italian City-States"]
* [http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/endmiddle/c-states.html "Italy's City-States"] , "End of Europe's Middle Ages",University of Calgary
* [http://www.mrdowling.com/704-italy.html "City-states in Italy"] , Mr. Dowling
* [http://www.wga.hu/tours/gothic/history/city-sta.html "City-states in Italy"] ,Web Gallery of Art
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