scholarly journals Review of periodical articles

Urban History ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-135
Author(s):  
Gervase Rosser ◽  
Mark Jenner ◽  
Bill Luckin
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Urban History ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Italian City ◽  
Conceptual Problems ◽  
Distinguished Scholar ◽  
City State

One of the attractions of medieval urban history is the fact that major conceptual problems in the field continue to be debated. In a stimulating review article by J.H. Mundy, ’Philip Jones and the medieval Italian city-state‘, J. of European Economic History, 28 (1999), 185–200, one distinguished scholar is taxed for holding views now dismissed by some, but of which he is by no means a unique surviving representative. One of these views assumes a clear distinction between the antique city, supposedly a bureaucratic centre with limited economic functions, and the medieval city, as the home of industrious artisans and nascent capitalism. The image of the non-profit-making ancient town may be overly indebted to the nature of the literary sources and to the prevalent interests of classicists; but, although many would now agree that both the elements in the above equation need qualifying, a more focused comparison is presently lacking, and a fine book is still waiting to be written on the transition from the ancient world to the middle ages in urban history.

Long-Distance Trade in Medieval Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika Kallioinen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Institutional Economic ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Italian City ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
City States

Traditional historiography has overestimated the significance of long-distance trade in the medieval economy. However, it could be argued that, because of its dynamic nature, long-distance trade played a more important role in economic development than its relative size would suggest. The term commercial revolution was introduced in the 1950s to refer to the rapid growth of European trade from about the 10th century. Long-distance trade then expanded, with the commercial integration of the two economic poles in the Mediterranean and in Flanders and the contiguous areas. It has been quantitatively shown that the integration of European markets began in the late medieval period, with rapid advancement beginning in the 16th century. The expansion of medieval trade has been attributed to advanced business techniques, such as the appearance of new forms of partnerships and novel financial and insurance systems. Many economic historians have also emphasized merchants’ relations, especially the establishment of networks to organize trade. More recently, major contributions to institutional economic history have focused on various economic institutions that reduced the uncertainties inherent in premodern economies. The early reputation-based institutions identified in the literature, such as the systems of the Maghribis in the Mediterranean, Champagne fairs in France, and the Italian city-states, were not optimal for changing conditions that accompanied expansion of trade, as the number of merchants increased and the relations among them became more anonymous, as generally happened during the Middle Ages. An intercommunal conciliation mechanism evolved in medieval northern Europe that supported trade among a large number of distant communities. This institution encouraged merchants to travel to distant towns and establish relations, even with persons they did not already know.

Some Aspects of Oligarchical, Dictatorial and Popular Signorie in Florence, 1282–1382

1960 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-439
Author(s):  
Marvin B. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Popular Government ◽  
Italian City ◽  
City State ◽  
And Function ◽  
The City

This paper attempts to differentiate the forms of political regime that held sway in the city of Florence over the century following the formation of the Florentine constitution in 1282. It aims to establish certain pragmatic criteria for distinguishing between these Signorie, and to incorporate these into a framework that may be of some value in subsequent comparative study of the politics of the Italian city state in the later Middle Ages. The method employed is inductive. The more conventional deductive approach is rejected because the setting up of definitions at the outset is likely to create the illusion that political forms existed in a pure state. Dictatorship, oligarchy and popular government did not exist in the form of “ideal types” but rather were characterized by frequent changes of form and function. During periods of challenge and struggle their true nature became more clearly discernible than in eras of relative quiescence and this fact in part explains the conflicting interpretations that have arisen.

Sleepwalking into a New World

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Wickham
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Old Order ◽  
The People ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Italian City ◽  
New Form ◽  
City States ◽  
City State

Amid the disintegration of the Kingdom of Italy in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a new form of collective government—the commune—arose in the cities of northern and central Italy. This book takes a bold new look at how these autonomous city-states came about, and fundamentally alters our understanding of one of the most important political and cultural innovations of the medieval world. The book provides richly textured portraits of three cities—Milan, Pisa, and Rome—and sets them against a vibrant backcloth of other towns. It argues that, in all but a few cases, the élite of these cities and towns developed one of the first nonmonarchical forms of government in medieval Europe, unaware that they were creating something altogether new. The book makes clear that the Italian city commune was by no means a democracy in the modern sense, but that it was so novel that outsiders did not know what to make of it. It describes how, as the old order unraveled, the communes emerged, governed by consular elites “chosen by the people,” and subject to neither emperor nor king. They regularly fought each other, yet they grew organized and confident enough to ally together to defeat Frederick Barbarossa, the German emperor, at the Battle of Legnano in 1176. This book reveals how the development of the autonomous city-state took place, which would in the end make possible the robust civic culture of the Renaissance.

scholarly journals Late-Holocene landscape evolution and human presence in the northern Danube delta (Chilia distributary lobes)

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110191
Author(s):  
Luminița Preoteasa ◽  
Alfred Vespremeanu-Stroe ◽  
Anca Dan ◽  
Laurențiu Țuțuianu ◽  
Cristian Panaiotu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Sedimentary Facies ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Danube Delta ◽  
Human Presence ◽  
Historical Texts

This paper documents the Late-Holocene environmental changes and human presence in the northern Danube delta using a multidisciplinary approach that combines geoscientific data with archaeological findings, historical texts, and maps. It follows the formation and progression of the Chilia distributary and the reconfiguration of socioeconomic activities. Sedimentary facies identified on five new cores by changes in texture properties, magnetic susceptibility, geochemistry, and macro- and microfauna composition together with the newly obtained chronology constrain the complex evolution of the Chilia branch as filling in a long-lasting bay and then of a giant lagoon (Thiagola) which covered most of the northern delta since the Old Danube lobe inception (ca. 7500 yrs BP) till modern Chilia development. It initiated during the Greek Antiquity (ca. 2500 yrs ar BP) at the delta apex, while in Roman times (ca. 1800 yrs BP) it pursued its slow flowing into the vast Thiagola Lagoon. The most dramatic transformations occurred in the last 800 years when the river passed east of the Chilia promontory, rapidly went through the present-day Matița-Merhei basin (several decades), and created its first open-sea outlet. Solid discharge increased in two distinct periods, once in the Middle Ages (ca. 750 yrs BP) and then in the Modern Period (ca. 150 yrs BP) due to human-induced land-use changes in the Danube watershed. The chronology of the cultural remains on the pre-deltaic Chilia promontory and the multiproxy analysis of a sediment core retrieved nearby downstream suggest the terrestrial connection of the island with the mainland in ancient times. The hitherto contended issue of the old Thiagola Lagoon and its location are redefined here, as are the original identifications of ancient and medieval toponyms and hydronyms, especially for Chilia-Licostomo, Byzantine, Genoese, Moldavian, Ottoman, and Russian trading point of great importance in the political and economic history of the Black Sea and neighboring regions.

The Meaning of ‘carruca’ in the ‘Leges Barbarorum’

Traditio ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 297-300
Author(s):  
Theodore John Rivers
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Medieval Latin ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
The Middle Ages

The term carruca (or carruga), like many other terms in medieval Latin, acquired a new and different meaning in the Middle Ages in place of its original classical meaning. There is no confusion over the meaning of carruca in Roman historical and literary sources: it clearly means a four-wheeled wagon or carriage. However, its original meaning was modified during the medieval period so that by the early ninth century carruca denoted a wheeled plow. Although the medieval plow is often called a carruca (whereas the Roman plow is called an aratrum), one should not infer that all references to carruca in medieval sources signify a plow, particularly if these sources are datable to that transitional period during which the classical meaning of the word was beginning to be transformed into its medieval one. Characteristic of the sources which fall within this period are the Germanic tribal laws (leges barbarorum), and of these, three individual laws in particular are of interest: the Pactus legis Salicae 38.1, Lex Ribuaria 47.2, and Lex Alamannorum 93.2.

Lucca, 1430-1494: The Reconstruction of an Italian City-State.

1996 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1176
Author(s):  
Duane J. Osheim ◽  
Michael E. Bratchel
Keyword(s):  
Italian City ◽  
City State
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