Between the second half of the thirteenth century and the first half of the fifteenth, central and northern Italian city-states frequently suffered moments of disruption of the social peace because of factional battles.
Legal Centralization and the Birth of the Secular State
February 6, 2014 By
This paper investigates the relationship between the historical process of legal centralization and increased religious toleration by the state. We develop a model in which legal centralization leads to the criminalization of the religious beliefs of a large proportion of the population.
The Management of the Mobilization of English Armies: Edward I to Edward III
January 31, 2014 By
This thesis examines government administrative action that can be described as ‘management’, in the context of the logistics of mobilizing royal armies during the reigns of Edward I, Edward II and Edward III.
The Government of Medieval London
January 6, 2014 By
The city had always, even from Roman times, a great deal of control over its own governance.
The Montfortian bishops and the justification of conciliar government in 1264
December 23, 2013 By
In 1266, five English bishops were suspended from office for supporting Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, in rebellion against King Henry III.
A Captive King: Henry III between the battles of Lewes and Evesham, 1264-5
December 2, 2013 By
For a period of fifteen months, between the crushing defeat of the royal army at Lewes on 14 May 1264, and Montfort’s brutal murder at Evesham on 4 August 1265, Henry III lost control of his seal, his household and his kingdom as he was forced to accept the appointment of new officials at the centre and periphery of government.
Shining a Light on the Mysteries of State: The Origins of Fiscal Transparency in Western Europe
November 24, 2013 By
The extent of fiscal transparency in Western Europe has varied over the centuries. Although ancient Greek, Roman, and medieval governments were sometimes open about their finances, the absolute monarchies of the 1600s and 1700s shrouded them in mystery.
Healthscaping a Medieval City: Lucca’s Curia viarum and the Future of Public Health History
November 24, 2013 By
Healthscaping a Medieval City: Lucca’s Curia viarum and the Future of Public Health History G. Geltner (Department of History, University of Amsterdam) Urban History: 40, 3 (2013) Abstract In early fourteenth-century Lucca, one government organ began expanding its activities beyond the maintenance of public works to promoting public hygiene and safety, and in ways that suggest both […]
Account Rolls of Medieval Savoy: Example of the Castellany of Evian-Féternes in 1299–1300
October 23, 2013 By
The medieval principality of Savoy left historians an outstanding legacy: the corpus of account rolls of its castellanies, the base administrative units of medieval Savoy.
Commonwealth, Conversion and Consensus: An Examination of the Medieval Icelandic Free State and Political Liberalism
September 18, 2013 By
John Rawls’ Political Liberalism opens with a question: ‘how is it possible for there to exist over time a just and stable society of free and equal citizens, who remain profoundly divided by reasonable religious, philosophical, and moral doctrines?’
The minority of King James V, 1513-1528
September 9, 2013 By
The thesis is a detailed study of Scottish central government institutions, personnel and policies during the long and politically complex minority of James V 1513-1528.
A Cell of their Own: The Incarceration of Women in Late Medieval Italy
September 3, 2013 By
I will then move to sketch the social profile of female inmates, mainly drawing on the records of Le Stinche, the Florentine municipal prison, during its first century of activity, circa 1300–1400.
A King on the Move: The Place of an Itinerant Court in Charlemagne’s Government
August 7, 2013 By
I shall suggest here that we should abandon this assumed correlation, and that once we have done so, a very different picture of Charlemagne’s itinerary between 768 and 814, and consequently of his government, emerges.
English government bought “many millions” of crossbow bolts during the 13th century, historian finds
August 1, 2013 By
A new study about the medieval military industry shows that the English Royal government was making and purchasing as much as hundreds of thousands of crossbow bolts each year, revealing how important this weapon was to the medieval armies of England.
‘Kings were not wont to render account’ Henry IV and the Authority of the King
July 31, 2013 By
Henry travelled extensively, became famed throughout Christendom as a champion jouster, crusaded in Eastern Europe, and looked after his father’s holdings whilst John of Gaunt campaigned in Spain.3 It is impossible not to note that Henry Bolingbroke’s popularity continued to increase while Richard II’s declined.
The Territorial Strategy of the Italian City-State
July 24, 2013 By
How did Europe move from a medieval system characterised by several overlapping territorial strategies, to one dominated by a single, territorially exclusive model of rule?
Bread and Falcons: The View from Crete in 1501
July 19, 2013 By
An overview of 62 letters written between 1500 and 1502 by Bartolomeo Minio, Venetian Captain of Crete.
Expenses Related to Corporal Punishment in France
May 19, 2013 By
How much did the hangman get paid to carry out his deed?
Queen’s Gold and Intercession: The Case of Eleanor of Aquitaine
April 26, 2013 By
This essay will consider basic questions about queen’s gold and intercession. First it will address the mechanics of the levy and collection of queen’s gold, beginning with fundamentals such as the nature of the levy and who paid. An investigation into the origins of queen’s gold will follow.
Settlement and Taxes: the Vandals in North Africa
April 14, 2013 By
With the Vandals, the migration of Northern barbarians flowed into a region that had of course been weakened by innumerable internal crises but was still essentially wealthy, productive and well governed.
New Towns in Medieval France and Nature of Institutions
April 1, 2013 By
In its early stages, a new town was a village community created by a central authority (king or overlord) on his wildland to meet the needs of growing populations and to further both its own benefits and the common interests of the inhabitants.
Intermarriage in fifteenth-century Ireland: the English and Irish in the ‘four obedient shires’
March 31, 2013 By
The so-called ‘four obedient shires’ of Meath, Kildare, Louth and Dublin are a fruitful area for a study of marriage between the English of Ireland and the Irish, as these counties comprised the region of the colony most firmly under English control in the fifteenth century. Much of the anti-Irish rhetoric that survives in sources from the period…
Functions of the Cantred in Medieval Ireland
March 17, 2013 By
The cantred as territorial division was recognised everywhere in Ireland by the Anglo-Norman colonists in the first decades of the establishment of the colony. The subsequent use made of these units depended on a number of variables.
Strategy and Manipulation in Medieval Elections
March 11, 2013 By
Elections in the Middle Ages were used for the same reasons that they are today: To select suitable candidate(s) for a particular office, duty, or obligation.
Elite and government in medieval Leiden
March 10, 2013 By
The development of Leiden’s 61ite is traced up to 1420. The siege of the city in that year and the assumption of power by Jan van Beieren resulted in important changes in the urban government: the faction of the Hoeken finally lost ascendancy and the viscount of Leiden ceased to have control over the city’s administration.
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