Volume 95, Issue 1

The relations between monasticism and the urban world have been very close since antiquity, but in the medieval collective imagination and iconographical tradition the monastic landscape was always seen as a world inhabited by hermits or by monastic communities situated in a rural environment, usually inhospitable or at any rate lacking connections with the real environment. Between the late 14th and the first half of the 15th century in Tuscany, and especially in Florence, the iconographical theme of the Thebaid was extremely popular, with the representation of the desert Fathers against the background of the Tuscan landscape. In this context, Paolo Uccello’s painting in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence represents a dual novelty. First, the work does not show the holy monks of the late antique east but rather, with the exception of St Jerome, figures and experiences of monasticism from the medieval west. Additionally, the scenes are placed not one next to the other but in such a way as to outline a path to perfection, leading up to a total identification with Christ, represented by the stigmata of St Francis.

The presence of the Teutonic Order in South Tyrol is characterized, from the outset (1202), by the pastoral activities of its members in the region and their establishment of hospitals. Given both the many churches and chapels acquired by the Order at an early stage and the considerable number of its members who were priests, the Bailiwick of Bolzano has rightly been described as a Pfaffenballei. Using published and unpublished sources, this article seeks to reconstruct the cura animarum at the churches donated to the Teutonic Knights during the 13th century (Longomoso/ Lengmoos, Vipiteno/Sterzing, Silandro/Schlanders, S. Leonardo di Passiria/St. Leonhard in Passeier, Vanga/Wangen). The insertion of the Order into the parish network of the dioceses of Trent, Bressanone and Coira could potentially have caused disputes with the bishops. However, within the climate of strong disputes between diocesan ordinaries and local powers that characterized the history of the South Tyrol during the 13th century and beyond, the Teutonic knights were not opposed a priori by the bishops, as thought by a substantial historiographical tradition, but rather supported or combated depending on the advantages of the moment.

The article re-evaluates the peace treaty between the Mamluk Sultan Qalāwūn and the community of Genoa in the year 1290; the Latin text is translated into a modern language for the first time here. Based on the Arabic historiographical evidence, it will be argued that there were two legal procedures: the first, to be dated to 4 May 1290, testifies to the renewal of the legal status quo ante after the attack of an Egyptian vessel by the Genoese admiral Benedetto Zaccaria in the aftermath of the fall of Tripolis in 1289. The ratification of the pax et conventio between the Genoese ambassador Alberto Spinola and Ḥusām ad-Dīn, the sultan’s representative, took place on Saturday 13 May; a confirmation of Alberto Spinola’s oath in the presence of the Melkite patriarch of Alexandria was celebrated on Sunday 14 May. In the meantime, having negotiated a treaty with an embassy of Venice, Qalāwūn must also have decided in favour of a peace convention with the Genoese.

Giovanni Manzini della Motta (c. 1362-before 1422) is now considered an important exponent of early Italian humanism. This judgement is based on three considerations: first, he profoundly venerated Petrarch, second he was in contact with famous scholars like Antonio Loschi and Coluccio Salutati, and finally he composed a tragedy based on ancient models. By contrast, his work as a historiographer has hitherto been little studied. A manuscript in the Vatican Apostolic Library (BAV, Vat. Lat. 14162), mainly written in his own hand, allows us to follow Manzini’s development from writer to author of historiographical narratives and to trace his idea of tragic historiography, influenced particularly by Boccaccio among others. This article describes the contents of the Vatican manuscript, investigates the sources of the chronicle it contains compiled by Manzini, and provides a critical edition of the final part of this chronicle covering events contemporary with its composition.

After Lucca had regained its freedom in 1369 after years of domination by Pisa, one of the major tasks facing communal politicians was to redesign the city’s statutes. Apart from a reform of the general statutes, special care was devoted to designing special statutes for the major courts. As far as the statutes for the appellate judge are concerned, the norms eventually enacted in 1372 are a revised version of the 1331 appellate statutes. These defined the competent courts for appeals, whose possible stages always ended with a communal court as the court of highest instance. This was another indication of the city’s newly won independence from all other powers, including the emperor, who conferred several other privileges on Lucca. Equally, sanctions for the judges of first instance who had apparently misjudged a case were imposed if the judge of first instance failed to document the proceedings in front of his court in properly kept files for the appellate court. At the same time, the oldest surviving statute for the syndication judge was designed, establishing syndication proceedings with a specialized judge who sat regularly. Both statutes are unique among 14th-century statutes for the care and the depth of regulation with which they were designed. Since no comparably detailed and special court statutes survive from any other Italian city of this time, both will be published here.

A period of incessant rain stopped in July 1433, as the people of Bologna carried an icon of Mary through their city. Until now, this event has been of interest only to local and religious history. This article attempts to outline the impact of extreme meteorological events on the Bolognese economy and society of the 1430s. It therefore takes into account fi scal and administrative records hitherto untapped for climate history, with a special focus on the records of the salt administration and the communal treasury. For the fi rst time it provides a reconstruction of extreme weather events, epidemics and food shortages in Italy for the 1430s. In a European perspective, we see that in these years the Mediterranean was less aff ected by climatic stress than Europe north of the Alps. Finally the article stresses the causal relationship between precipitation and periods of food shortage, and notes that this has been neglected by Italian famine research.

The article examines the ideas about the pre-Reformation period (the Middle Ages) expressed in historical research and in the press around the year 1600 against the background of the biconfessionality prevailing in central Europe. To this end, it analyses historical consciousness, which on the universal level can choose between the construction of continuity or the description of contingencies to reframe events like the Reformation and to shape cultural memory. This approach was adopted because the concepts of ‚Middle Ages‘ and ,period‘ had not yet taken concrete form (in their current meaning). The validity of this formula, drawn from the theory of history, is demonstrated; at the same time, its strict application will allow us to reach some historical conclusions. It seems that both confessional groups availed themselves of extremely diverse historical models, among which we explicitly find some that are not predictable given their respective religious positions on the events of the Reformation. Catholics exalted the 16th century as a new period of globalization; in this perspective, the Middle Ages could later be seen as narrow and limited. In dealing with medieval art, the Protestants could literally enact continuity. The examples are drawn from regional history and contemporary histories of journalistic type, and belong to publication projects for sources on struggles over investitures and the renovation of church spaces. In the end, the general openness to and interest in the Middle Ages fostered the Protestant historical vision, that could present itself as impartial and objective with respect to the period since Protestantism itself was not part of it.

During the 1620s and 1630s, the Nunciature at the imperial court of Vien na sometimes received news or instructions from the congregation of the Inquisition contained within the weekly missives of the Roman Secretary of State. However, there was also a direct correspondence, the remains of which are preserved in the archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (ACDF). It appears that the conferral of particular missionary powers involved the Nunciature in activities to recatholicize Habsburg territories to a greater extent than the reports gathered in the editions of the „Nuntiaturberichte aus Deutschland“ would suggest. The indirect conferral of these powers through the Nunciature led to strong disagreements among the local clergy. It should also be noted that the sphere of action of the Holy Office in some specific cases extended to sectors that we would not expect. Consulting these sources thus helps us to obtain a more realistic picture of duties and activies in the Apostolic Nunciatures of the modern period than was available in the past.

The essay is based on the inventory of the Friedrich Gottreich Striebel Collection preserved in the Historical Archives of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in the Vatican. The collection consists of a single bundle containing fourteen manuscript fi les. It represents the results of the activities of the Saxon Friedrich Siegmund Striebel during the years 1744-1749, when he collaborated with the chemist-alchemist-glassmaker, Alessio Mattioli. Mattioli’s discoveries determined the composition of the enamels used for the mosaics decorating St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. In 1806, the Collection was acquired by the Fabbrica di San Pietro, which at one time oversaw an Italian translation of the material and more recently its reordering. This essay presents the circumstances under which the manuscripts were composed, focusing on the particular quality, signifi cance and structure of the material, as well as its history. The Collection, closely tied to the history of mosaics, also includes information of interest to a variety of other disciplines, such as chemistry, botany, mineralogy and numismatics. The article also highlights the Collection’s valuable and unexpected evidence for a complex web of diplomatic communications between the Saxon Court and certain important fi gures in the Roman Curia, bearing upon religious, political and artistic issues. Finally, the essay makes an initial attempt to reconstruct the biography of the author of the Collection, hitherto little known to experts. He has remained obscure despite more than twenty years of activity in Rome and Italy as a painter, mosaic artist, and art dealer for the famous Gallery of Dresden, also known as the Old Masters Picture Gallery.

This article aims to reinterpret the Napoleonic conquest of Rome in 1809 in closer connection with the processes of definition of imperial spaces and national identities in Europe (particularly in the Mediterranean and Italy) at the beginning of the long 19th century. Rome became a symbol of Napoleonic empire building - starting with its proclamation as „the second city of the Empire“ - and a test-bed for the imperialism generated by the French „civilizing mission“. The contrast between the „colonial“ practices of city government and the political use of the imperial idea of ancient Rome had a significant impact on the administration and representation of the city. By analysing sources from Roman institutions and the French administration, alongside the political speeches of Italian patriots, this article will highlight the multiplicity of implications - political, spatial, cultural - of the myth and reality of Rome at a crucial point in the Italian Risorgimento.

The paper aims to describe and discuss the principal contents of the files kept in the Secret Vatican Archives - both in the Vatican Secretariat of State and the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs - concerning Catholic Jews and the „would be“converted immediately after the promulgation of the Fascist racial laws (1938). The study is based on previously unpublished documents and research on this topic is still ongoing. My research is based on two main types of sources. First, the „subjective documentation“: letters and pleas written during the „year of the Race“ and sent to the Holy See. The authors of these documents were referred to as „Jews by race, Catholic by faith“ or „Christian Jews“ or „converted Jews“ or „baptized Jews“ or - more frequently - „Catholic Jews“. Second, the contrasting nature of the documentation produced by the Church body in response to these letters. The Holy See’s Secretary, Eugenio Pacelli, and the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, Domenico Tardini, answered these pleas in an official and diplomatic way, seeking a way to protect Catholic Jews without provoking a clash with the Fascist regime and its laws. These documents give us a more in-depth understanding of both the political and religious procedures adopted by the Church authorities regarding the Jewish persecution and in particular this specific aspect of the anti-Jewish laws.

The debate over the internationalization of the German humanities is one of the central points on the current agenda for academic policy in Germany. The author describes how the postulate of internationalization has risen, on the level of the politics of science, to become a „principal objective“ orienting German research and exchange organizations and in particular governing the construction of a „European Research Area“. With reference to the German Historical Institute in Rome, he suggests making appropriate use of the long experience of German research institutes abroad in the debate over internationalization to combat unilateral tendencies and restrictive visions, and at the same time to critically assess the infl uences exerted by the current strategies and policies of internationalization on the work and self-conception of the institutes abroad.

The history of book censorship continues to involve more than the study of processes of book censorship and of individual cases. It has always been a part of social and cultural history and of the history of ideas. In Italy, in particular, it is often studied in the context of political history. The research of recent years has increasingly connected the history of the printing press and the control of books to concepts such as that of the libertas philosophandi or the freedom of conscience. It has yielded important results for an understanding of the - long and socially complex- process leading from the collection and organization of knowledge to the formation of an individual opinion. On the part of the authorities, this process required a transition from regulatory practices to practices involving control over the public.

Within the broad and heterogeneous literature on borders that has appeared in recent years, there has been increasing interest in political borders in light of the central role that they continue to play in the contemporary world, even in the era of globalization. The specific object of research in border studies, political borders have nonetheless been little investigated in their historical dimension, as this distinctly interdisciplinary field of research has a clearly smaller historical component. By analysing recent developments in border studies, particularly in the fields of anthropology and geography, this article aims to highlight the potential, for an historical analysis of borders, of a much-needed dialogue between border studies and some trends in contemporary historiographical thought. Specifically, the article proposes combining some analytical categories developed by border studies, and especially their anthropological and geographical components, with the rethinking of spatiality beyond the traditional nation-state framework, particularly - though not exclusively - in the discipline of global history. The essay suggests that border studies is one of the most innovative ways of doing „global history“, conceived in line with the most recent and stimulating debates surrounding it.

The text presents the initial results of the research project „Mussolini’s audiences“. The paper contains an analysis of the sources used, from the Archivio Centrale dello Stato and the Archivio Storico Diplomatico del Ministero degli Aff ari Esteri, as well as a short description of the database produced after this research. There are also some brief remarks on Mussolini’s working method in its historical development.