Police Power in the Italian Communes, 1228–1326

Abstract

Image 2 -Drawings of prohibited weapons on the cover of a Crowns and Arms register. Podestà, Corone ed armi 2, 1288II. Archivio di Stato di Bologna. vii A Note on UsageThe standards for dates, currencies, and measures varied from town to town in medieval Italy. In many cities, the calendar year began on 25 March, but in Bologna it began on Christmas (25 December). I have adjusted dates as necessary to match the Gregorian calendar. Despite local variations in coinage, public courts across northern Italy assessed fines according to the standard monies of account: the lira (libra or pound), soldo (solidus or shilling), and denaro (denarius or penny). I use these denominations accordingly, without attempting to determine their actual economic value in a given context. Their ratios were fixed as follows: 1 lira = 20 soldi = 240 denari. Most measures of length derived from the Roman duodecimal system based on the pes or foot (29.6 cm), but their actual length deviated from the Roman standard depending on the city. Wherever measures of length figure into cases, I provide them as given in the source, without attempting a conversion. Common measures included the piede (foot), braccio (arm's-length), pertica (rod), and millia (mile). In some contexts, the piede was divided into palmi (palms) and digiti (digits) according to a Greek system, where 1 piede = 4 palmi = 16 digiti. For more detailed information on Bolognese measures, see Franco Bergonzoni, "Note sulle unità di misura bolognesi," in I portici di Bologna e l'edilizia civile medievale, ed. Francesca Bocchi (Casalecchio di Reno: Grafis, 1990), 161-70. As for personal names, I have converted the Latin names in the sources to modern Italian except in a few cases where individuals hailed from beyond the peninsula. I give their names in the appropriate modern vernacular.viii Abbreviations ASB Archivio di Stato di Bologna Accusationes Curia del podestà, Giudici ad maleficia, Accusationes Cartacea Riformagioni e provvigioni, serie cartacea Corone Curia del podestà, Ufficio corone ed armi Fango Curia del podestà, Ufficio delle acque, strade, ponti, calanchi, seliciate e fango Giudici Capitano del popolo, Giudici del capitano del popolo Inquisitiones Curia del podestà, Giudici ad maleficia, Libri inquisitionum et testium Provvigioni Governo, Provvigioni dei consigli minori Riformagioni Riformagioni del Consiglio del Popolo Sindacato Curia del podestà, Ufficio del giudice al sindacato Tesoreria Camera del comune, Tesoreria e contrallatore di tesoreria Vigne Curia del podestà, Ufficio per la custodia delle vigne, palancati e broili

A theory of the city‐state: The rise and decline of the rule of law in Medieval Italy

“…These Italian city‐states developed a variety of innovations in the fields of law, public order, and taxation. They were the first European polities to run urban police forces staffed by public employees under the state's authority (Roberts, 2019). They produced a complex corpus of statutory law encompassing urban planning, business regulation, and military service and undertook extensive public works like aqueducts, roads, and defensive walls (Waley & Dean, 2013).…”