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This volume traces the logic of urban political conflict in late medieval Europe's most heavily urbanized regions, Italy and the Southern Low Countries. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are often associated with the increasing consolidation of states, but at the same time they also saw high levels of political conflict and revolt in cities that themselves were a lasting heritage of this period. In often radically different ways, conflict constituted a crucial part of political life in the six cities studied for this book: Bologna, Florence, and Verona, as well as Liege, Lille, and Tournai. <em>The Logic of Political Conflict in Medieval Cities argues that such conflicts, rather than subverting ordinary political life, were essential features of the political systems that developed in cities. Conflicts were embedded in a polycentric political order characterized by multiple political units and bases of organization, ranging from guilds to external agencies.In this multi-faceted and shifting context, late medieval city dwellers developed particular strategies of legitimating conflict, diverse modes of behaviour, and various forms of association through which conflict could be addressed. At the same time, different configurations of these political units gave rise to distinct systems of conflict which varied from city to city. Across all these cities, conflict gave rise to a distinct form of political organization-and represents the nodal point around which this political and social history of cities is written.
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THE LOGIC OF POLITICAL CONFLICT IN M E D I E VA L C I T I E S OX F O R D H I S TO R I C A L M O N O G R A P H S The Oxford Historical Monographs series publishes some of the best Oxford University doctoral theses on historical topics, especially those likely to engage the interest of a broad academic readership. Editors P. C L AV I N J . D A RW I N J . I N N E S J . M c D O U G A L L D . PA R ROT T S . S M I T H B . WA R D - P E R K I N S J . L . WAT T S W. W H Y T E The Logic of Political Conflict in Medieval Cities Italy and the Southern Low Countries, 1370–1440 patr i ck l antsch ner 1 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Patrick Lantschner 2015 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2015 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2014955876 ISBN 978–0–19–873463–5 Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Cover image: Stand-off between rival political groups in late fourteenth-century Bologna, from Giovanni Sercambi’s Croniche. Archivio di Stato, Lucca, MS 107, fo. 291r. Reproduced by kind permission of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (no. 0001911/14). Further reproduction or du