Communes and Despots in Medieval and Renaissance Italy

Contents: Introduction Part I Communes and Despots: Communes and despots: the city state in late-medieval Italy, P.J. Jones. Part II Power and Restraint: The use of sortition in appointments in the Italian communes, Daniel Waley Magnate violence revisited, Carol Lansing. Part III Political Thought: Theory and Practice: Communes and despots: some Italian and Transalpine political thinkers, Robert Black The myth of the Renaissance despot, Benjamin G. Kohl Conflicting attitudes towards Machiavelli's works in 16th-century Spain, Rome and Florence, Humfrey C. Butters. Part IV Communes and Despots: Some Case Studies: From commune to regional state: political experiments in 14th-century Cremona, Marco Gentile The Gonzaga Signoria, communal institutions, and the 'honour of the city': mixed ideas in quattrocento Mantua, David S. Chambers Giangaleazzo Visconti and the ducal title, Jane Black Whatever's best administered is best: Paolo Guinigi signore of Lucca, 1400-30, Christine Meek The mouse and the elephant: relations between the kings of Naples and the lordship of Piombino in the 15th century, David Abulafia Communes and despots: the nature of 'diarchy', John E. Law Concepts of LibertA in Renaissance Genoa, Christine Shaw. Part V The Case of the Medici: Prato and Lorenzo de' Medici, F.W. Kent The early years of Piero di Lorenzo, 1472-92: between Florentine citizen and Medici prince, Alison Brown Muddying the waters: Alfonsina Orsini de' Medici and the lake of Fucecchio, Catherine Kovesi The Medici dukes, Comandati and Pratolino: forced labour in Renaissance Florence, Suzanne B. Butters. Part VI Culture, Art and Patronage: Giovanni Bellini and the background to Venetian painting, George Holmes Communes, despots and universities: structures and trends in Italian Studi to 1500, Peter Denley Aedeficia iam in regales surgunt altitudines: the mendicant Great Church in the trecento, Julian Gardner. Epilogue: 'Communes and despots': the opening paragraph, Trev