Medieval states are widely assumed to have lacked police forces. Yet in the Italian city-republics, soldiers patrolled the streets daily in search of lawbreakers. Police Power in the Italian Communes, 1228-1326 is the first book to examine the emergence of urban policing in medieval Italy and its impact on city life. Focusing on Bologna in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, Gregory Roberts shows how police forces gave teeth to the communes' many statutes through a range of patrol activities. Whether seeking outlaws in the countryside or nighttime serenaders in the streets, urban police forces pursued lawbreakers energetically and effectively. They charged hundreds of individuals each year with arms-bearing, gambling, and curfew violations, convicting many of them in the process. Roberts draws on a trove of unpublished evidence from judicial archives, rich with witness testimony, to paint a vivid picture of policing in daily life and the capacity of urban governments to coerce. Breaking new ground in the study of violence, justice, and state formation in the Middle Ages, Police Power in the Italian Communes sheds fresh light on the question of how ostensibly modern institutions emerge from premodern social orders.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"Police Power in the Italian Communes surely deserves to be recognized as one of the foundational studies of police power in the late medieval Italian communes, especially Bologna. Roberts's book is dense and complex but will repay significant dividends for readers interested in violence, justice, and related issues in the medieval Italian urban context and beyond. Indeed, the author deserves great credit for his interdisciplinary approach to the topic, his well-organized and persuasive arguments, and his skillful marshalling of rich veins of archival evidence. It is certainly, to borrow from Francis Bacon's famous taxonomy, a book "to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention," but one well worth the time and effort."
- Peter Sposato, The Medieval Review, 22.02.04 (2022)
"Policing Power is an important piece of scholarship that is thoroughly researched and well-written. It is a pivotal work for historians interested in the pre-modern formation of law enforcement and adds a much-needed perspective on questions about the fluid role of the policing power and how society navigates them."
- Mohammed Allehbi, The New Rambler Review (2020)
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Illustrationen
2 Illustrations, black and white
Maße
Höhe: 234 mm
Breite: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-94-6372-530-9 (9789463725309)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Gregory Roberts is a foreign affairs officer at the U.S. State Department and previously served as a historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History. He received his PhD from Yale University in 2013 and was a 2010-2011 Fulbright scholar in Italy.
Acknowledgments List of Figures A Note on Usage Abbreviations Introduction Police as a Mode of Governance Police and Impersonal Rules The Plan of the Book Works Cited Chapter 1: Police Power in the Italian Communes The Podesta's Household Police Patrols and Inspections The Legal Process: From Detention to Trial A Comparison of Selected Data Conclusion: Policing and Hegemonic Justice Works Cited Chapter 2: Police Discretion and Personal Autonomy Social Identity Political Status Factual Matters Legal Presumptions Police Jurisdiction Mitigating Factors Conclusion: The Paradox of Impersonality Works Cited Chapter 3: The Logic of Third-Party Policing "To=Pursue and Capture Outlawed Criminals" "To=Search for Men Bearing Prohibited Arms" "Trustworthy Foreign Men" "The Good State of the Commune" Conclusion: A Preventive Police Works Cited Chapter 4: External Threats: Policing Out-Groups and Criminality Judicial Violence The Public Interest Outlaws, Infames, and Men of Ill Repute Police Patrols as Dragnet The Role of Fama Conclusion: A Persecuting Society? Works Cited Chapter 5: Internal Threats: Policing Violence and Enmity Enmity and Instability Policing Feud Toward a Monopoly on Violence Preventing Enmity Conclusion: Legislating in the Shadow of Violence Works Cited Chapter 6: The Social Impact of Third-Party Policing Mandatory Rules Legal Literacy Fear of the Familia Violent Self-Help Police-Community Relations Public Corruption Legal Privilege Conclusion: A Legacy of Government Coercion Works Cited Conclusion Works Cited Index
