Anglo-Italian Cultural Relations in the Later Middle Ages ed. by Helen Fulton, and Michele Campopiano (review)

This is a book about 'the variety of ways in which British and Italian cultures spoke to each other' (p. 1). Words thus feature prominently within its constituent essays as signifiers of communication. Margaret Bridges examines the Polychronicon, partly focusing on place names. 'Italian toponyms evoke a distant past and foreign clime' (p. 21) she notes, before going on to unpick an erudite medieval literary gaze focused more on the Roman past than any Italian present. Caroline P. Collette unravels a 'shared bibliophilia' (p. 42) that bridges time and place for Richard de Bury. Threading through issues like the reception of Petrarch, the habits of humanism, and the movement of books and texts, Collette deftly blurs the sometimes too-arbitrary distinction between medieval classicism and early humanism. Similarly focused on text and people and time, Michele Campopiano explores 'some less well known evidence for the reception of Italian legal and political works in the northern English city of York' (p. 52). European volumes with English annotations reveal how jurisprudential ideas developed in Bologna were read in the light of contemporary concerns in York. These are small but telling bits of evidence for wider networks of trade and information transfer, Campopiano argues, which should encourage further exploration of such connections in ways that expand beyond centre-and-periphery scholarship.

Ignazio Del Punta's focus is economic. Pointing out that modern and medieval financial crises are not as cleanly comparable as popularly assumed, Del Punta then explores and exposes structural elements of the medieval monetary system. He concludes that 'efficient international banking companies fostered speculative spirals' (p. 8). What worked well in good times proved unable to cope with the bad. The next chapters move from macroeconomics to societal micro-studies. Bart Lambert provides a survey of the Lucchese community in England by drilling into a case study of the Gigli family. Through a fascinating use of Italian sources he presents 'a surprisingly clear view of the businesses of one of the most important foreign trading groups in late medieval England' (p. 88), revealing where they lived, prayed, and travelled. Complementing this well is Helen Bradley's essay on London's Italian merchants, principally traced through examination of their wills. She focuses on the everyday 'linguistic, economic and social interface between cultures' (p. 103) that such individuals reveal, finding evidence for 'several distinct Italian city-state communities' (p. 108) in medieval England, among other things of interest.

Victoria Flood investigates Franciscan prophetic texts and rumour in a study of political Joachism. Following threats from Italy to England, Flood notes how 'political Joachism presented not only a possible overture to good rulers, but a mechanism for the critique of the bad' (p. 136), explaining how 'Franciscan prophecies were part of an oppositional culture' (p. 149). Thus, Italian prophecy helped inform and interpret Franciscan relationships with English monarchs. Similarly showing a broader cultural influence informing English texts, Helen Fulton offers 'a redefinition of what urban history was and what forms it took in medieval Britain' (p. 150) by charting continuities over time, particularly those that link urban centres with political narratives and agendas. From Bede to Camden, Fulton casts a wide net to make a compelling case that British urban history has a long history with clear Italian and classical resonances.

While at once broad and particular, as most edited volumes are, this book highlights the diverse range of ways wherein English society was influenced by Italian culture. Revealing links personal, economic, and textual, it is a counterpoint to any view of England that would see it in isolation from Europe generally, or Italy specifically.