Culture and Power: Tuscany and Its Universities 1537-1609 (review)

This is a history of the administrative relations between the grand dukes of Tuscany and the two universities in their state, Pisa and Siena. Because the author does not discuss what was taught at the universities, the use of "culture" in the title is puzzling. The first chapter describes the structure of the grand duchy, including such matters as its foreign policy, which seems extraneous to the topic of the book. Davies discusses whether Cosimo I de' Medici and the next two grand dukes, his sons, were absolutist rulers. He endorses the current view that absolutely denies absolutism, which is not very convincing for the Medici grand dukes. Then Davies reviews the relations between the grand ducal administration and the two universities, including the organs and officials that the government employed to oversee the universities and their activities, and how the government sometimes sided with students, other times with professors. Next follow brief treatments of standard themes in the history of Pisa and Siena, and university history generally, including the number of professors in the two universities, pay scales, private lessons, professorial absenteeism, doctoral expenses, matters of status and precedence, the introduction of competitions to choose professors at Siena, and the cost of doctoral examinations. Davies spends more time on student violence, seeing this as the consequence of masculinity, honor, and nationality. He also points out that by permitting students to carry swords, the government promoted violence, which seems an overstatement. Little of this is new, because Giulio Prunai, Danilo Marrara, and other scholars, especially Giovanni Cascio Pratilli, extensively studied the universities of Pisa and Siena some time ago. Swatches of the book summarize their findings. Although Davies frequently states that other scholars are wrong on one point or another, close reading reveals that, while other scholars are incorrect on nuances in the view of Davies, his own research confirms that they had the big picture right.

The new theme to emerge is that the grand ducal administration granted the student rector of the University of Pisa jurisdictional authority over students accused of crimes, plus professors in certain circumstances. This contrasted with the decline of the powers of student rectors in other Italian universities. The book also includes appendices listing the names of the men who filled the office of Deputati di Balìa sopra lo Studio di Siena (the magistracy that oversaw the University of Siena); the members of the Pisan and Sienese colleges of theology, law, and arts; gross financial outlays; and payments to individual professors at the two universities and the handful of men who taught at Florence. This archival material, plus the full bibliography, will be useful to other historians. Despite the misuse of "hopefully" on page 90, the book is clearly written.