City-states at the crossroads, 1300–1450
City-states at the crossroads, 1300–1450
The south
This chapter surveys the Italian cities during their principal period of territorial consolidation and/or outreach beyond their own contadi. That occurred in many cases during a time of economic downturn and increasing costs of war, before the demographic crisis of the Black Death. There emerged both regional states (Venice, Milan, Florence) and city‐based dynastic principalities (Este, Gonzaga), as well as condottiere‐signorie in central Italy. A triangular relationship developed between dominant cities, subordinate cities, and the latter's contadi; these did not necessarily regard their former civic overlords as better masters than the regional capitals. Wide variations in the economic and administrative policies of and within the regional city‐states emerged. At the same time, several city‐states survived as independent republics.
Keywords: regional states, dynastic principalities, signorie, republican survival, Milan, Venice, Florence, Lucca, Siena, Dubrovnik
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
