La Lombardia composita. Pluralismo politico–istituzionale e gruppi sociali nei secoli X–XVI (a proposito di una pubblicazione recente)
English summary
A rich research tradition provides us with a precise and detailed account of the medieval history of Lombardy: the urban communes developed at an early stage and equally precociously adopted a policy of expansion into the surrounding country areas. The hegemonic ambitions of the principal cities thus began to compete with one another as early as the beginning of the twelfth century, sparking off a period of endless conflict, further complicated by imperial intervention. Within the fluid political context of the region, Milan – due to the extensive property interests of its citizens across the territory, its coordinating role in the anti–imperial struggle and its wide–reaching influence as a mediator in matters of legal conflict – came to enjoy a progressively more dominant position. Finally, on the coming to power of the Visconti and Sforza families, the inherited supremacy of Milan over the rest of Lombardy was maintained and transformed into a tight dominion which united the region territorially, economically and politically.
A key work (Comuni e signorie nell’Italia settentrionale: la Lombardia, Torino, Utet, 1998), by Giancarlo Andenna, Renato Bordone, Francesco Somaini and Massino Vallerani, with the collaboration of Angelo Cellerino, Alessandro Ceresatto and Marco Fossati, collates the results of recent studies on the period, in some instances reaffirming classical interpretations and in others proposing new perspectives. The publication provides the reader with the opportunity to rethink traditional takes on Lombard medieval history. Adopting a long–term perspective, it draws attention to the distinctively pluralistic nature of society in medieval Lombardy: the early development of the city communes was accompanied almost simultaneously by the organization of important non–urban communes. In the subsequent phase of conflict, mediation and regional alliances, the cities were not the sole protagonists nor was the only outcome the growth in power of Milan: underlying the rise in Milanese imperialism were the initiatives of towns (borghi), signori and small rural communities which treated the protection offered by Milan as a tactical resource. By instrumentally accepting the leadership of Milan, they allowed the powerful commune to expand its jurisdictional and military involvement in the region, but they also took advantage of their ally to shield themselves from the more immediate threat of the economic, jurisdictional and political expansion of the nearby cities. Finally, between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the territorial state recognised as political interlocutors, alongside the cities, small country towns and villages and rural signori as well as the lesser researched political factions, urban patricians and rural élites. In addition, more than any deliberate state–building strategy, two prolonged periods of political unrest (the first leading to the decline of the autonomous city communes and the second following on the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1402) provided local power groups in both city and country areas with new and extraordinary opportunities to strengthen themselves.
Elements of both continuity (a tradition of political polycentrism) and discontinuity (the two aforementioned breaks – in the expansion of the urban communes and in the Visconti family’s plan for a politically united dominion with a vertical power structure, respectively – along with other less dramatic periods of instability), combined to endow Lombardy with the peculiar characteristics which are being brought to light by the most recent studies. The characteristics, that is, of a region which was not under the sole domination of a single city or dynasty – on the contrary, Milan exerted a relatively weak influence over the rest of the area (as borne out by the distribution of the population between the various cities) – yet boasted widespread economic vigour (with a key contribution coming from the development of manufacturing industries in the small rural centres) and political enterprise.
Translation: Clare O’Sullivan
