Southern Italy In The Late Middle Ages

The first full-length study of mainland southern Italy's domestic market in the late Middle Ages, this book discusses the interaction between population, the market, and the region's institutional framework, in the context of the impact of the late medieval 'crisis' on the European economy. Based on new or little-used documentary evidence, it adopts an interdisciplinary approach and combines economic history with elements of economic theory to reassess common knowledge on demographic and urbanization trends, the organization of the domestic market, the role of the state, and on actual patterns of agricultural production, industrial activity and commercial itineraries. The result is a fresh look at the late medieval economy of the kingdom of Naples, which, it seems now, is worth studying for its own merit.

Incorporating the latest developments in the study of the period, a team of leading international scholars provides a fresh and dynamic picture of a period of great transformation in the political, cultural, and economic life of the Italian peninsula, which witnessed the rise of autonomous city states in the north, the creation of a powerful kingdom in the south, and the development of the Italian language as a vehicle for literary expression.

The eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries saw a great transformation in the political, cultural and economic life of the Italian peninsula, marked by the rise of the autonomous city-states in the north and centre, the expansion of international trade, and the creation of a wealthy southern kingdom which reached the peak of its power in this period, before fragmenting in two in the late thirteenth century. It was also the period in which the various dialects that we now call the Italian language came into being, and in which Tuscan in particular became the vehicle for impressive literary innovation. Presenting a rounded view of Italy at a time when it was the most dynamic region in western Europe, this book looks at Italy in its entirety, rather than concentrating largely on the north, as previous studies have done. It also includes expert coverage of topics such as the family and the Jewish, Greek, and Muslim minority communities, in addition to its coverage of developments in the cities, rural life, trade, the monarchy, papal Italy, and language and culture.

The towns of Italy in the later Middle Ages presents over one hundred fascinating documents, carefully selected and coordinated from the richest, most innovative and most documented society of the European Middle Ages: the urban civilization of Italy. After a general introduction, the book is divided into five sections on physical environment, civic religion, economy, society and politics. Each document is individually introduced and set in its own context.

This Encyclopedia gathers together the most recent scholarship on Medieval Italy, while offering a sweeping view of all aspects of life in Italy during the Middle Ages. This two volume, illustrated, A-Z reference is a cross-disciplinary resource for information on literature, history, the arts, science, philosophy, and religion in Italy between A.D. 450 and 1375. For more information including the introduction, a full list of entries and contributors, a generous selection of sample pages, and more, visit the Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia website.

Histories of medieval Europe have typically ignored southern Italy, looking south only in the Norman period. Yet Southern Italy in the ninth and tenth centuries was a complex and vibrant world that deserves to be better understood. In Before the Normans, Barbara M. Kreutz writes the first modern study in English of the land, political structures, and cultures of southern Italy in the two centuries before the Norman conquests. This was a pan-Meditteranean society, where the Roman past and Lombard-Germanic culture met Byzantine and Islamic civilization, creating a rich and unusual mix.

First published in 2004, Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia provides an introduction to the many and diverse facets of Italian civilization from the late Roman empire to the end of the fourteenth century. It presents in two volumes articles on a wide range of topics including history, literature, art, music, urban development, commerce and economics, social and political institutions, religion and hagiography, philosophy and science. This illustrated, A-Z reference is a cross-disciplinary resource and will be of key interest not only to students and scholars of history but also to those studying a range of subjects, as well as the general reader.

Medical historians are already familiar with medieval southern Italy through research into its famed medical school at Salerno. This volume takes a broader view of healthcare, seeking to illuminate the experience of sickness, attitudes towards the ill and infirm and the provision of care up to the twelfth century. Combining information from hagiography and chronicles with less well-known charters and archaeology, it deals with the provision of food, the environment, women's health, individual and collective disease and varieties of cure. A final chapter assesses the interaction between intellectual and practical medicine, as well as re-examining the early life of the medical school at Salerno. The book's importance lies in its wide-ranging approach and detailed analysis, which will appeal to historians of medicine and medieval culture alike.