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In Search of the High Middle Ages. Change and Continuity in 11th–12th-century Italy, eds. Alberto Cotza, Giuseppe Petralia (Firenze University Press, August 2026)
https://books.fupress.it/catalogue/in-search-of-the-high-middle-ages-change-and-continuity-in-11th12th-century-italy/16395
The transformations that shaped the transition to the “central” Middle Ages during the eleventh and twelfth centuries affected a wide range of structures across Italy and the post-Roman world. Historians are therefore called upon to explore the complex interplay of change and continuity, different rhythms of transformation, and diverse social contexts. This volume examines these dynamics focusing on political institutions and lordship, the Church and law, the economy, settlement patterns, and material culture. The essays were presented at a seminar held in Pisa from 5 to 7 December 2022, organized by Simone Collavini, Giuseppe Petralia, and Mauro Ronzani, with Alberto Cotza, bringing together scholars studying change and continuity in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, especially in Italy.
CONTENTS:
Searching for the High Middle Ages. Past and Present of a Periodisation -- Giuseppe Petralia
I. Church and Law
The Turning Point in Half a Century. The Legal Revolution of Gregory VII, Irnerius, and His Followers -- Emanuele Conte, Luca Loschiavo
Investiturverbot or Definition of the Canonical Procedure for Promoting Bishops? The Gregorian Turn of February 1075 and Its Consequences until 1122–3 -- Mauro Ronzani
Structure, Dynamics, and Transformation of the *ecclesia*: The Long Middle Ages or an Ecclesiastical Revolution? -- Michel Lauwers
II. Forms of Political Power
“Something with Which We Still Desire to Live”. Forms of Resistance and Royal Power in the *Regnum italicum* between the 10th and 11th Centuries -- Giuseppe Albertoni
Officials and Fiscal Lands. The Imperial Presence in Italy (c. 1050–1150) -- Luigi Provero
Mutations and Resilience of a Political Society: Southern Italy in the 11th and 12th Centuries -- Vito Loré
III. Forms of Lordship
Violence between Legitimation and the Symbolic Dimension of Power (Central-Northern Italy, 11th–12th Centuries) -- Alessio Fiore
Rethinking Social and Economic Changes in the 10th–12th Centuries: New Approaches to Aristocracy and Local Power in Central-Northern Italy -- Maria Elena Cortese
Micro-Lordship and Pervasiveness -- Sandro Carocci
IV. Urban Change
Beyond Comparison: Reconsidering the History of Italian City-Communes (Pisa and Genoa, 11th–12th Centuries) -- Alberto Cotza
A Shift in Written Practices. Rome and the ‘Documentary Revolution’ of the 12th Century -- Dario Internullo
Models for a Changing Society: Lucca around the Year 1100 -- Paolo Tomei
V. Archaeology
Mediterranean Economies Compared through Archaeology (10th–12th Centuries) -- Alessandra Molinari
Local and Supra-Local Drivers in the Transformation Processes of Material Culture. Central-Northern Italy between the 10th and 12th Centuries -- Federico Cantini
Topographies of Power, Topographies of Memory. Persistence and Transformation in the Cities of Central and Northern Italy (10th–12th Centuries) -- Andrea Augenti
VI. Economy
The Production and Circulation of Money. Rhythms and Dynamics of Growth (10th–12th Centuries) -- Alessia Rovelli
Economic Changes and Political Changes in the Cities of Northern and Central Italy, 1050–1150 -- Chris Wickham
Land Price Trends as Markers of Economic Cycles? Inflation, Debasement and Exchange Rates in the Central Middle Ages -- Lorenzo Tabarrini
The Dissolution of Fiscal Assets as a Factor in Structural Economic Change between the 11th and 12th Centuries -- Simone Collavini
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