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This book makes a substantial contribution to the study of Florentine history. It answers an important but hitherto unresolved question: why did the Florentine Republic keep a university in its capital city between 1385 and 1473 rather than follow the example of other Italian states in maintaining a university in a subject town? Based on a wide range of newly-found sources, it discloses that the University owed its survival to the support of the Florentine elite, especially the Medici family and its followers. It reveals systematically the close ties between the University and major developments in the social, economic, political, ecclesiastical, and cultural life of Florence and Florentine Tuscany. The appendices fill some of the greatest gaps in our knowledge of the University, identifying administrators, students, examiners, and teachers.
This work is based mainly on documentation preserved in the archives of Umbria. It illustrates the political and socio-economic history of the Jewish community from the second half of the thirteenth century, when Jewish settlement in the region became permanent and continuous, to the expulsion of the Jews in 1569 decreed by Pope Pius V. Umbria was an important geographical and political entity in central Italy during the late Middle Ages and was always linked to the Papal State. The documents provide us with important information that enables us to appreciate correctly the Jews' economic role in the region and their relationships with the political powers (the communes and the popes) and the Mendicant orders. Furthermore, they enlighten us on aspects of the Jews' daily life, and on their relationship with Christian society.
In The Benefits of Peace: Private Peacemaking in Late Medieval Italy Glenn Kumhera offers the first comprehensive account of private peacemaking, weaving together its legal, religious, political and social meanings across several cities (13th-15th centuries). The ability of peacemaking to hinder criminal prosecution has often been considered the result of government powerlessness. Kumhera, however, examines the benefits of private peacemaking, detailing how its flexibility was crucial in creating a viable criminal justice system that emphasized violence prevention and recognition of jurisdiction while allowing space for friends, neighbors and clergy to intervene. Additionally, he explores the roles of women and clergy in peacemaking, how peace operated in a vendetta culture and how the medieval understanding of reconciliation affected the practice of peacemaking.
Siena, blessed with neither the aristocratic nor the ecclesiastical patronage enjoyed by music in other northern Italian centers like Florence, nevertheless attracted first-rate composers and performers from all over Europe. As Frank A. D'Accone shows in this scrupulously documented study, policies developed by the town to favor the common good formed the basis of Siena's ambitious musical programs. Based on decades of research in the town's archives, D'Accone's The Civic Muse brilliantly illuminates both the sacred and the secular aspects of more than three centuries of music and music-making in Siena. After detailing the history of music and liturgy at Siena's famous cathedral and of civic music at the Palazzo Pubblico, D'Accone describes the crucial role that music played in the daily life of the town, from public festivities for foreign dignitaries to private musical instruction. Putting Siena squarely on the Renaissance musical map, D'Accone's monumental study will interest both musicologists and historians of the Italian Renaissance.