Medieval Naples, 400–1400: A Documentary History is the first comprehensive and most complete English-language collection of sources yet to treat the history of the city from late antiquity to the beginnings of the Renaissance. Sources are drawn from the historical, economic, literary, artistic, religious and cultural life from the fall of Rome through the Byzantine, Lombard (ducal), Norman, Hohenstaufen and Angevin periods. Eileen Gardiner contributes introductions and readings on the literary cultures of Naples.
A new Introduction by Ronald G. Musto offers a comprehensive survey of the periods covered in the historical texts, with a discussion of the historiography and of important research and interpretive issues. These include the material development of the medieval city from Late Antiquity through the end of the Angevin period, the condition and use of the available primary sources and archaeological evidence, with particular attention given to the wide variety of recent excavations and of archival materials, the question of the ruralization and recovery of its urban core through the little known Ducal period — with some discussion of the city’s changing population — the question of Naples’ importance as a commercial and political capital, its developing economic and material base, and the question of its relationship to its hinterland on the one hand and to broader Mediterranean contexts on the other.
It also surveys the changes in Naples’ grid plan, its walls and fortifications, its port, and its commercial and residential development. It complements the discussions in Caroline Bruzelius and William Tronzo’s Medieval Naples: An Architectural and Urban History by examining the archival evidence for the survival of the city’s less important architectural remains. For the later Middle Ages, Musto traces the complex historiography of what he terms the “black legend of the Angevins.” This edition includes interactive, comprehensive notes and bibliographical references.
This volume presents chronicles and histories; archival materials including accounts, tax, financial and commercial records, contracts, wills, notarial and government documents; poetry, romances, biographies and letters; liturgical and hagiographical texts; treatises on law, science, medicine, religion and philosophy; as well as examples of manuscript production, painting, architecture, and sculpture.
A Documentrary History of Naples series provides links to online bibliographies and image galleries, interactive Google mapping and Google Earth views to produce an ongoing and robust presentation of current research. Resources include photos, video and sound, paintings, maps, drawings and engravings, ground plans and elevations
It offers hyperlinking to complete bibliographical information on WorldCat, to Italica Press image galleries, to external web resources, including digital archives and manuscript collections, online reference works and images, and to our own online bibliographies, Interactive Map of Medieval Naples.
460 pages. Preface, introduction, notes and bibliography; appendices, including the Tavola Strozzi with key, Map of Medieval Naples with thumbnail key; index.
82 readings, 74 b&w figures, plus 60 thumbnail images. Links to online resources from A Documentary History of Naples, including Italica Press image galleries with over 460 additional images in full color; and links to full bibliographies with ongoing supplements.
The newly revised Kindle edition offers the complete text with all the Kindle’s latest features, including hyperlinked footnotes, links to external resources, such as Italica Press image galleries and Interactive Map of Medieval Naples, and full-color images.
History, urban studies, cultural history.
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-59910-247-4
Price: $40.00
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-59910-248-1
Price: $25.00
Kindle Edition
ASIN: B00FKNPZRK
Price: $25.00
E-Book Library Edition
ISBN: 978-1-59910-246-7
Pricing will vary.
