Exercising Power in the City

This chapter shows the exercising of power in action in the public space. It looks at who ‘owns’ this, the Christianization of it in Rome, and the increasing role of the papacy in appropriating and in running it, revalorizing it as part of Rome’s Christian past and present, expressed through pilgrimage. This appropriation is contested by the secular aristocracy, which in turn appropriates the public space and rewrites the topography of the city in the tenth century. The use of the public space as an area of either social cohesion or conflict is studied, through the ceremonies, elections, oaths, processions, assemblies, justice and defence meetings; but also riots, conspiracies, and contested elections. This space of cohesion or conflict is fundamental to the creation of the unity and sense of identity of the city, especially around the patron saint or, sometimes, around or indeed against an imperial ruler

A Tale of Three Cities

After a brief recall of Italian history from late antiquity to 750, this chapter provides a city-by-city history from the end of the Exarchate to 1000. The history of Rome follows the Lombard crises and the end of Byzantine rule, Frankish/Carolingian domination, the events of the Kingdom of Italy, aristocratic rule, and the attempted Ottonian control over the city. Ravenna’s three narrative strands are the aftermath of the autocephaly conflict, the anti-papal policies of most archbishops throughout the Byzantine then Carolingian period, and lastly the renewed prestige of the city under the Ottonian emperors. For Venice, the narrative follows the origins (imagined and probable) of the city, its succession of ducal families, and its attempt always to create a balance between its official Byzantine dependence and its grounding in the north Adriatic space

The Actors

This chapter is a study of the people in Ravenna and Venice. The elites of Ravenna (including its archbishops), as seen through their titles, status, anthroponymy, and wealth, show an increasing mix of the old ‘exarchal’ aristocracy with the new Carolingian-imported one. This elite is anti-papal and pro-imperial, as are the middle ranks, merchants, and artisans. The study of the Venetian actors follows the families of the doges, then those of the other nobles, as they all struggle with each other for control. Specific to Venice is the unusual status of the merchants, identical to the other aristocratic families whose wealth is sourced from both land and trade. While Ravenna preserved a strong awareness of its late antique heritage but gradually mixed into the rest of Italian politics, Venice, theoretically Byzantine in allegiance, in practice functioned, institutionally and culturally, much like the Italian society of the terraferma

Concluding Thoughts

This study has shown that, notwithstanding the strength of the ‘Roman’ past of these 3 post-Byzantine cities, there are considerable differences between them both quantitatively and qualitatively as to the understanding, use or interest. This tradition meant different things to different city actors, and in practice, it was often and increasingly mixed up with the other traditions, Lombard and Frankish especially, which made up the lifestyle of other Italian cities and regions. To what extent these cities were unique or different from other Byzantine ones, such as Naples, or to those without this tradition, such as Pavia or Milan, would be a most desirable follow-up in another study.

The Stage

This chapter sets out the stage on which the actors evolve and their ‘props’: places of power and instruments of control. Places studied are the residences of the rulers and the elites (palaces), and those of the saints (churches and monasteries), with their founders, patrons, relics, and liturgy. Instruments of control are firstly through manifestations of power: charity and assistance, art and architecture. Statements of power are made through titulature, the dating of documents, coinage, and objects of power such as emblems, symbols, and gifts

Introduction

The introductory chapter sets out the chronological span and the geographical spread of the book, the questions asked, and the methodology followed. It examines the source material and their cross-referencing with those of both visual and material culture, finishing with a summary of the historiography. The structure of the book is set out as a form of theatrical performance. The Introduction and Chapter 1, the context and the questioning of the sources, provide the overture; Chapters 2 and 3 focus on the people, the actors on the stage; Chapter 4 focuses on how they are involved in the life of the city through props: places of power, manifestations, and instruments through which they are exercised. Chapter 5 follows for the action or plot of the play: how those who control public space exercise it to reflect and promote consensus or to manifest discontent and rebellion

Memory and the Construction of City Identity

The departure point of this book was the Roman past as a common ground in all three cities. This is confirmed through anthroponymy, law and notarial practices, art, titles, status, topography, and lifestyle. There is a preservation and construction of the past, based on Romanitas. But there is as much a construction of the present. In Rome this is made up of the idealized Romanness of the Carolingians, and of the veneration of St Peter by pilgrims. In Venice it is created by John the Deacon and through the cult of St Mark. Ravenna’s interest in its past, without a strong saint, makes it less successful in its present identity. Meanwhile, for the inhabitants of Rome, present and past remain strongly intertwined less through the outsiders’ interest in the papacy and St Peter than through the reminding power of everyday topography and visual presence of Romanitas on the ground

The Actors

This is the first of two chapters to look at the inhabitants of each city, the actors of its history. Roman society is studied through the elites (including the popes as rulers of the city) and the populus. The study of the Roman aristocracy in the periods 750–900, then 900–1000, looks at individual members and their families, titles, status, and wealth; and at the popes themselves, individually and collectively, through their struggles in elections, riots, and conflicts. The populus (urban clergy, merchants, artisans, pilgrims, the poor) is next. The period saw power alternate between a secular aristocracy, first as members of the papal government in the ninth century, then as a separate entity in the tenth century. But the papacy’s role had become too important on the European scene, through the veneration for St Peter, for the city to be governed independently of its involvement in international affairs