Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1968. In the pluralistic society of the medieval commune, informal and personal ties of obligation bound men together. In trecentro Florence this gentle communal structure gradually evolved into the stricter, more centralized organization characteristic of the modern state. A growing emphasis on law and order transformed the medieval commune of the early fourteenth century into the Renaissance territorial state of the latter half of the century. Professor Becker's subject is this metamorphosis. Following his study of the declining communal paideia in Volume One, the author examines in this second volume the growing vigor of public world, as well as the attendant depersonalization and repression. He is concerned primarily with two factors that he considers the major forces producing the Renaissance territorial state and encouraging the growth of imperial government and constitutionalism: the intrusion of new citizens (novi cives) into politics after 1343 and the
Trade ReviewBecker develops further his principal thesis that Florence between approximately 1340 and 1400 was transformed from a medieval commune into a territorial state . . . Offers novel interpretations of such cultural problems as the rise of civic humanism, changes in attitudes, and the purported growth of individualism in Renaissance Society.
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Catholic Historical ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction
I. Florentine Polis and Culture at the Advent of Civic Humanism
II. The "Novi Cives" in Florentine Politics From 1343 to the End of the Century
III. The Monte From Its Founding (1343-45) Until the Late Fourteenth Century
IV. The Renaissance Territorial States and Civic Perspective
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
