Medieval Italy: Texts in Translation (review)

Frustrated with the dominant Anglo-French “normative” approach to medieval history, the editors have undertaken an ambitious and important task: to gather together “for the first time in one volume the primary sources in translation necessary for teaching the history of the Central and Later Middle Ages in Italy” (p. xix). This aid for university instructors is organized in twelve thematic chapters, beginning with the deep structure of the peasant economy, documenting the exercise of secular and ecclesiastical power, and culminating with examples of religious and social life. There is much to learn from what is certainly the most extensive collection of translated medieval Italian documents in the English-speaking world. Many of the 120 documents are translated for the first time from a variety of languages: Italian, Latin, Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew. Clear prefatory material introduces the documents, which are drawn from administrative records, legal codes, educational texts, and chronicles. Although often from minor political and economic areas, the documents are illustrative of texts and practices widely used throughout Italy.

Readers and instructors will do well to heed the editors’ stated organizing principles to focus on the current state of Anglo-American research and the exceptional aspects of the Italian experience. As a result, this book is neither an anthology of well-known medieval texts nor a traditional survey of medieval history. Most of the selections are brief economic and political documents regarding people and places unfamiliar to most American undergraduates, the intended audience of the book. Scholars and students looking for the classic literary works, such as those by St. Francis of Assisi or Dante, will have to look elsewhere. Those seeking a straightforward historical narrative should consult the textbooks referred to by the editors in the introduction.

A goal of the publisher was to provide a teaching tool with “one-stop shopping” for instructors, and the selections do indeed broach almost every aspect of daily life in medieval Italy. Particularly noteworthy is the integrated approach to Italian political history. The editors arranged thematic rather than chronological chapters in an effort to transcend the traditional bifurcation between the communal north and the monarchical south. Unfortunately, this division reappears in a secondary table of contents that provides a geographic designation to northern and southern documents. One wonders why all of the twenty-two documents from the fifteenth century are from the north. Another disappointment is an idiosyncratic scholarly apparatus that falls short as a comprehensive reference for medieval Italian history, admittedly not one of the claims of the editors. The chronology, which stops with the fall of the Visconti in 1447, seems incongruous with the list of popes that ends with Martin V in 1431. The royal genealogies of southern Italian rulers are most helpful, but why are there no charts or historical atlases listing the rulers of northern Italian states? There also are no Internet sites listed in the otherwise up-to-date bibliography.

One might quibble about editorial inconsistencies and omissions, but there is no doubt that the editors have done a great service to the study of medieval Italian history in the English-speaking world. This book is a long-overdue and much-needed compendium to the traditional literary sources of the Italian Middle Ages. Harnessing the expertise of more than fifty contributors, the editors have produced an impressive chronological, geographical, and interdisciplinary range of texts. Read individually or as a whole, the selections reflect the cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity of the Italian peninsula and make this volume an essential resource for medieval Italian history.