Roberts Police Power in the Italian Communes, 1228-1326

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-90-485-4354-0
Verlag: Amsterdam University Press
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Wasserzeichen (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 2, 352 Seiten

Reihe: Premodern Crime and Punishment

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 Roberts draws on a trove of unpublished evidence from judicial archives, rich with witness testimony, to paint a vivid picture of policing in daily life and the capacity of urban governments to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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Roberts, Gregory

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Mittelalterliche, neuzeitliche Archäologie (Europa)
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Verwaltungsrecht Verwaltungspraxis Polizei
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Innen-, Bildungs- und Bevölkerungspolitik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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 Podestà'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

Über Autor(innen)

Roberts, Gregory
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.