The Clash of Legitimacies

Andrea Gamberini studied at the University of Milan, where he currently teaches as Professor of Medieval History. His research interests focus on Late Medieval Italy and follow four main strands: political history (with special attention to the state-building process), ecclesiastical history (mainly the episcopate), political languages between the 11th and 15th centuries, and social mobility in the Later Middle Ages.During his career, Andrea has received several accolades and grants. He was the Fowler Hamilton Visiting Research Fellow at Christ Church, Oxford, in 2012-2013; a Visiting Professor at Kyoto University in 2010; a nominated fellow at IASH, University of Edinburgh in 2016; and a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 2012, after which he was elected Life Member.

• IntroductionPart I: Towards the commune as state1: Northern Italy in the central Middle Ages. Some historical background2: The city commune and the assumption of a public role3: Experimentation and conceptualisation in the field of urban expansion and the construction of territory4: The political cultures of the city and the territory: some early affinities5: Some cornerstones of city and communal ideology6: Between unitas and aequalitas: the ideology of representation7: The ideologues of communal political culture8: The experience of personal government between the factions and the Popolo: the persistence of the commune9: Towards conflict. The political and juridical culture of the commune becomes hegemonic10: The political cultures of the contado: aristocratic pre-eminence and the subordination of the rural dweller11: Rural communes and the culture of practicesPart II: Towards the regional state1: New scenarios, old questions2: The rise of Visconti power, between legitimation from below and a longing for majesty3: The ideology of the regional state4: Law as a field of tension5: The duke and the culture of individual distinction6: The territorial aristocracies: pressure from below, organisation from above7: The foundations of seigneurial power in the countryside8: Guelphs and Ghibellines: another idea of legitimacy9: 'Pacta servanda sunt'. The political culture of contractualismConcluding notesBibliography