ASSIGNMENT
Q:Examine the economic, social and political conditions in the Italian city states up to the beginning of the 16th century.
Ans: The Italian city-states were a political phenomenon of small independent states in the northern Italian peninsula between the 10th and 15th centuries.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire urban settlements in Italy generally enjoyed a greater continuity than in the rest of Western Europe. Many of these towns were survivors of earlier Etruscan and Roman towns which had existed within the Roman Empire. The republican institutions of Rome had also survived. Some feudal lords existed with a servile labour force and huge tracts of land, but by the 11th century, many cities, including Venice, Milan, Florence, Lucca,Pisa, Siena, Genoa, Cremona and others, had become large trading metropolises, able to conquer independence from their formal sovereigns.
Between the 12th and 13th centuries, Italy was vastly different from feudal Europe north of the Alps. The Peninsula was a mélange of political and cultural elements rather than a unified state. Marc Bloch and Fernand Braudel have argued that geography determined the history of the region; other scholars however emphasize the absence of central political structures. The very mountainous nature of Italy’s landscape was a barrier to effective inter-city communication. The Po plain however, was an exception: it was the only large contiguous area, and most city states that fell to invasion were located there. Those that survived the longest were in the more rugged regions, such as Florence or Venice, which was protected by its lagoon. The rugged terrain of the Alps prevented the German Princes from attacking Northern Italy, safeguarding the country from German political control. Largely for these reasons, no strong monarchies emerged as they did in the rest of Europe; instead there emerged the independent city-state.
While those Roman, urban, republican sensibilities persisted, there were many movements and changes afoot. Italy first felt the changes in Europe from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Typically there was a rise in population―the population doubled in this period (the demographic explosion), an emergence of huge cities (Venice, Florence and Milan had over 100,000 inhabitants by the 13th century in addition to many others such as Genoa,Bologna and Verona, which had over 50,000 inhabitants), the rebuilding of the great cathedrals, substantial migration from country to city (in Italy the rate of urbanization reached 20%, making it the most urbanized society in the world at that time), an agrarian revolution, and the development of commerce.
They married responsive government, Christianity and the birth of capitalism. These states were mostly republics unlike the great European monarchies of France and Spain with absolute power vested in rulers who could and did stifle commerce. Keeping both direct Church control and imperial power at arm’s length the independent city republics prospered through commerce based on early capitalist principles ultimately creating the conditions for the artistic and intellectual changes produced by the Renaissance.
Otto of Freising, a German bishop who visited central Italy during the 12th century, commented that Italian towns had appeared to have exited from Feudalism, so that their society was based on merchants and commerce. Even northern cities and states were also notable for their merchant Republics, especially the Republic of Venice. Compared to absolutist monarchies or other more centrally controlled states the Italian communes and commercial republics enjoyed relative political freedom conducive to academic and artistic advancement. Geographically, and because of trade, Italian cities such as Venice became international trading and banking hubs and intellectual crossroads.
It is estimated that the per capita income of northern Italy nearly tripled from the 11th century to the 15th century. This was a highly mobile, demographically expanding society, fueled by the rapidly expanding Renaissance commerce.
By the 13th century, northern and central Italy had become the most literate society in the world. More than one third of male population could read in the vernacular (an unprecedented rate since the decline of the Western Roman Empire), as could a small but significant proportion of women. The Italian city states were also highly numerate, given the importance of the new forms of bookkeeping that were essential to the trading and mercantile basis of society. Some of the most widely circulating books, such as the Liber Abaci by Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa, included applications of mathematics and arithmetic to business practice[5] or were business manuals based on sophisticated numeracy and literacy.
During the 11th century in northern Italy a new political and social structure emerged ― the city-state or commune. The civic culture which arose from this ‘urbs’ was remarkable. In some places where communes arose (e.g. Britain and France), they were absorbed by the monarchical state as it emerged. They survived in northern and central Italy as in a handful of other regions throughout Europe to become independent and powerful city-states. In Italy the breakaway from their feudal overlords occurred in the late 12th century and 13th century, during the Investiture Controversy between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor: Milan led the Lombard cities against the Holy Roman Emperors and defeated them, gaining independence
Some Italian city-states became great military powers very early on. Venice and Genoa acquired vast naval empires in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. During the Fourth Crusade (1204), Venice conquered one-fourth of the Byzantine Empire.
By the late 12th century, a new and remarkable society had emerged in Northern Italy; rich, mobile, expanding, with a mixed aristocracy and urban ‘abitante’ (burgher) class, interested in urban institutions and republican government. But many of the new city-states also housed violent factions based on family, confraternity and brotherhood, who undermined their cohesion
By 1300, most of these republics had become princely states dominated by a Signore. The exceptions were Venice, Florence, Lucca, and a few others, which remained republics in the face of an increasingly monarchic Europe.
The most important region of Europe for economic activities and cultural development was Italian peninsula. The Italian city states represented a variety of political forms. During the first half of the fifteenth century, this region involved prolonged warfare involving territorial and dynastic ambitions. The economy of the Italian states continued to survive on commerce, trade and industry while agriculture played a relatively minor role. The rise of the Italian city states was primarily links with the expansion of towns and cities. The period of High Middle Ages saw the Italian Peninsula divided into three major zones, Regnum Italicum consisting of northern and central Italy forming an integral part of the Holy Roman Empire, Central Italy including Rome and the southern Italian states and kingdoms mostly ruled by foreign dynasties such as the French, Aragonese, Germans and the Normans. The Italian city states greatly influenced the evolution of the urban institutions. The ‘signory’ of aristocrats ruled most of the city states and developed new mechanisms for government and administration. Each city had its own ‘podesta’ (mayor) and each district were ruled by Captains of Guards. The prolonged war among the Italian city states led to the emergence of five major states displaying roughly equal powers and thereby maintaining a form of balance in the political sphere with no major states dominating the other. These included Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal states controlling extensive territories in Central Italy and Naples. The five states remained at peace after the Peace of Lodi (1454) till the French invasion of 1494.
During 14th century and 15th century the most powerful of these cities (Milan, Venice, and Florence) were able to conquer the other weaker city-states, creating regional states. The Peace of Lodi ended their struggle for the hegemony in Italy and started a policy of balance of power. At the beginning of 16th century, apart some minor city-states like Lucca or San Marino, only the republican Venice was able to preserve her independence and to match the European monarchies of France and Spain and the Ottoman Empire.
Milan was controlled by a Duchy and was under the control of the Visconti family. The leading citizens formed a council of 900 members. It was located on an important trade route between France and Western Germany and had flourishing industries in metallurgy and textile. It had put a check on the expansion of Venice because it had a strong standing army and a well trained cavalry. The expansion of irrigation helped the growth of agriculture and the silk industry. The Visconti dukes developed efficient central administration, particularly after 1447 when some experiments were made in direction of republicanism but failed. Soon after Francesco Sforza became the Duke of Milan. A good administration contributed to the growth of military strength in Milan.
Naples and Sardinia displayed all the characteristics of a feudal state in the 15th century. They retained the traditional organization imposed upon them by the Norman conquerors. The nobles of foreign origins possessed large landed estates and lived almost like kings. They functioned independent of monarchy which was under the control of a dynasty from Aragon. These states had a long historical tradition of a parliamentary government based on the English model. The Parliament acted as a court of judgement and promulgated laws and was represented by rich nobles and landowners. The rulers tried to develop financial resources by imposing heavy taxes and by using Florentine capital in trade ventures. Alfonso II of Naples was a typical Renaissance prince, a great patron of learning, art and architecture. His court patronized many talented artists. However, Naples remained embroiled in internal and external problems. Its relations with the pope remained tense on the question of territorial suzerainty. Naples was also contesting the designs of Venice in the Adriatic Sea. In the domestic sphere, the heavy taxation of the state led to popular rebellions.
After the Great Schism, Rome and the Papal states became the ecclesiastical principality. The Pope was interested in bringing all the Italian territories under his suzerainty and he encountered various hurdles in this. Rome was essentially a republican city although it has recognized the seat of the Pope because it brought prestige and economic gains to the people of Rome. Papal policies could be resisted by the great Roman families who owned large mansions and landed estates and had representatives in the College of Cardinals. Papal cities like Perugia and Bologna, and the ruling houses of other places were almost independent, but they were afraid of papal authority for fear of excommunication and also because of their papal influence over their own subjects. Politically and culturally Rome remained an important city in Italy.
Of all the Italian states Venice and Florence were the most economically prosperous, although in many ways they were a contrast to each other. The prosperity of Venice was dependent on its trade monopoly over oriental products coming via land routes through Constantinople. Venice had become the centre of world economy by the fifteenth century as all important trade routes merged at this point. The northern route linked Venice to Netherlands passing through Augsburg, Vienna, Nuremberg, Vasle, Strasbourg and Hamburg. The western trade route linked Venice with Bruges and London and the eastern trade route to Levant. From the 13th century, Venice was linked with a bitter rivalry with Genoa. Venice was expanding full of territorial ambition. By the end of the 14th century, it occupied Corfu, considered as the gateway of the Adriatic. A ring of towns, territories and a chain of forts protected it from the rest of the Italy. By the late 15th century it almost became an empire dependent on commercial and strategic interests along the route to Levant. Its frontier stretched from the Alps to the Po and from the Adda to the Isonzo. The political authority of this city state was in the hands of the oligarchy of merchants – a Council of Ten. Other city states under the jurisdiction of Venice were treated equally. The lower classes also enjoyed the benefits of Venetian long distance trade, and gained from the policy of light taxation. The nobility realized the advantages of a strong government and although it participated in the monopoly of political power, the wealth was not allowed to be concentrated in the hand of one single family through government regulations. So there was better distribution of wealth and the interest of every class was protected and this contributed to the political stability to a large extent.
Before 1560, Venice had the largest arsenal, which was considered to be the biggest industrial establishment of that period on a pre capitalist pattern. The economy was equipped with institutions like markets, shops, warehouses, the arsenal and the mint. Moneychangers and bankers carried out transfer of money and transaction of goods. The function of stock exchanges was carried out by the Rialto that fixed commodity prices and fixed interests rate on public loans. It also fixed premiums on maritime insurance.
Oliver Cox is of the opinion that Venice provided the first examples of capitalism, a view that is not entirely shared by Fernand Braudel. The Venetian mint at Zecca was another economic centre, producing about 2 million ducats of gold and silver coins annually. The merchants of Venice effectively controlled all the major commodities of trade in the Mediterranean such as pepper, spices, Syrian cotton, grain, wine and many others. Foreign merchants were asked to stay in a segregated area, a little away from the city in fonduks a street of buildings. The Venetian states adopted a system of trade intervention called the Galere da Mercato and also provided state vessels to export merchants. It was a state policy of combination of state enterprise and private association. The galere was a kind of consortium of export merchants who were interested in reducing their transportation costs to remain competitive against their foreign rivals. Venice also had its own industries like printing, woolen, silk, paper, glass and mirror industries. Incidentally, the Venetian industry prospered during Italy’s darkest period. There were two worlds of labour force in Venice, the guild workers constituting two-thirds of the labour force, and the so called ‘free’ or unregulated labour constituting the remainder. According to Frederick C. Lane, the ‘proletariat of the sea’ constituted of the porters, oarsmen, seamen, stevedores while the ‘arti’ or guilds organized different trades. The city had a total population of 150,000 inhabitants of which 34,000 were workers.
Florence unlike Venice was essentially an industrial centre. It became the cradle of the Italian Reanaissance. The Arno river flowed through it and was navigable from the Mediterranean port of Pisa. This port was the centre of textile production but was conquered in 1406 by Florence. This enabled Florence to become a maritime power. The political history of Florence was chaotic and full of interruptions caused by political uprisings unlike the stable political history of Venice. The Medici family dominated the political power and the government revealed its commitments towards republicanism. Yet the rivalry between the working classes and the rich families prevented the government from functioning effectively. The members of the greater guilds and the merchants involved with textile production formed the dominant classes of the city and displayed strong commercial interests. They had established control over 7 out of 9 palaces in the Signoria – Chief Magistracy. It was a form of corporate polity in which evens the members of the guilds of the middling status (small shopkeepers and artisans) occupied seats in the magistracy and voted in the council, but all the major decisions and policy formulations were left to the merchant oligarchy. However their frequent quarrels and lack of interests made the government weak and in effective enabled political opponents to exploit the situation. Although the Medici family provided an element of continuity to the government, and brought constitutional changes to strengthen their control over the state. The 3 important leaders Cosimo, Pierro, and Lorenzo di Medici remained fairly popular. They could not have the last say in every matter.
The concentration of wealth in Florence stemmed from its industrial activities. The economy was dominated by a large number of merchant-banker families. The Medici family along with Strozzi family, Giovanni, Morelli, Bardi, Peruri, Frescabaldi, and many others had their own branches across major European towns. These were considered to be the most important banking houses of that period and they displayed the pre-capitalist spirit existing at a time when a greater portion of Europe was under a state of feudalism.
Tuscany in Florence was a centre of banking and a large firm. Important capitalist elements could be located in the commercial practices like the use of cheques, the existence of trading companies, the use of double-entry, book keeping and simplified procedure for maritime insurance. It was Florence which developed in the street of the maximum and moved unequivocally into what can be described as the manufacturing phase. However despite the concentr ation of wealth and industries the existence of a large urban proletariat with their wage problem created political disturbances and instability.
The city states if Italy played an extremely important role in developing the modern rules of international relations and sophistications in the art of administration and diplomacy. The leading families and social elite developed efficient state bureaucracy in their respective states. In the late 15th century, all power was concentrated in the hands of the rulers. Each prince tried to turn the de-facto power into something more legitimate and Italian courts became the centre of politics. The immense powers wielded by these rulers came to be called ‘stato’, a model emulated by many European rulers. The Renaissance princes of Italy made a distinct contribution to the idea of ‘resident diplomacy’. This was reflected in the regular practice of appointing resident ambassadors in the courts of foreing states, forging offensive and defensive alliances, non-aggression pacts and commercial treaties and state declarations of guarantee and neutrality. It was through these measures that the Italian states perfected modern techniques of international relations. Similarly, the Italians perfected the techniques of business organizations.
The practice of stationing permanent representatives abroad was followed by the weak states in order to develop partners in international relations. The Venetian court nursed its interests through such ambassadors. The ruler of Milan, Sforza showed a great deal to the diplomatic skills by appointing permanent ambassadors in France. Sometimes ambassadors were exchanged with foreign states to cement an alliance. Ambassadors provided new service to guide government in their foreign policy. Most ambassadors were expected to send reports of important happening in the states where they were appointed. The self interest of these states and the attitudes of watchfulness led to the development of the principle of ‘standing diplomacy’. By the late 15th century all Italia states had representatives as ambassadors at each other’s courts. All major European countries subsequently adopted this practice. This at times assumed a form of ‘shadow diplomacy’ with great agents, spies and informers, and the Italians often used merchants and bankers for this purpose.
Finally, an important contribution of the Italian city state system was to develop the principle of balance of power in international relations. This principle was also adopted within a state as politique formula for managing rival factions. Each Italian state tried to preserve its own territory and defend its own interests by ensuring that no single state became strong enough to enslave the other and to this end each state paid great attention to even minor political events or changes. The Medicis and the Venetian Signoria hired mercenary armies to defend themselves as well as to carry out territorial expansion. Unlike medieval rulers who led their own campaigns, the Italian princes generally hired a professional military commander who was given a contract called condotta for an assigned campaign. This example was later followed by the larger states of Europe such as France, Spain and England. Thus the political and socio-economic changes by the late 15th century were transforming the face of Europe leading to emergence of modern Europe.
Arighna Gupta
II History
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) Sinha, Arvind: Europe in Transition from Feudalism to Industrialization
2) Hay, Denis : Fontana History of Europe
3) Wikipedia