A sense of identity, a sense of the community of burgesses or citizens and a belief that the public good, the ‘res publica’, could best be achieved and preserved by its members were common to towns and cities across medieval and renaissance Europe. However, it is arguable that this phenomenon developed further in political reality and political expression in Italy than it did elsewhere. In the north and centre of the Peninsula, communes emerged, sustained by European and Mediterranean economic growth from the eleventh century and building on Roman foundations and traditions. They also acquired an increasing autonomy from their nominal, but often weakened and distracted, overlords of empire and papacy. Some communes, such as Florence, not only achieved de facto autonomy, but became, from the fourteenth century, capitals of city states; and one, Venice, achieved sovereign status. Fabrizio Ricciardelli’s intention here is not to provide a narrative history, though such essentials as the emergence of the communes, the nature and vicissitudes of their governments and the failure of most of them to withstand the rise of lordships, signorie, from as early as the thirteenth century, are touched upon. In geographical terms, the book concentrates on the north, and on Tuscany in particular, with some discussion of the Papal States and Lombardy and the Veneto in the north. Even within Tuscany, even within Florence, it is acknowledged that the communal tradition was fragile and threatened by faction, ambitious families and foreign adversaries. However, in view of the author’s apparent aim, to discuss the republican phenomenon, it is surprising that these issues and tensions are not more closely examined. The communes and despots ‘debate’, launched by Hans Baron, Philip Jones and others—and potentially so revealing in terms of political organisation, ideas and historiography—receives only marginal attention here.

Renaissance StudiesVolume 30, Issue 2 p. 314-318 Review of Exhibition Mary, Queen of Scots (Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, 28 June–17 November 2013). Catalogue by Marshall, Rosalind K., Mary, Queen of Scots: ‘In My End is My Beginning’. Edinburgh: National Museum of Scotland, 2013. 112 pp., 145 illus. £19.99. ISBN: 978-1905267828 (hb). John Easton Law, John Easton Law Swansea UniversitySearch for more papers by this author John Easton Law, John Easton Law Swansea UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 15 December 2014 https://doi.org/10.1111/rest.12125Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume30, Issue2April 2016Pages 314-318 RelatedInformation

Renaissance StudiesVolume 27, Issue 2 p. 291-296 Review of exhibitions I Preraffaelliti. Il Sogno del '400 italiano da Beato Angelico a Perugino, da Rossetti a Burne Jones (Ravenna, Museo d'Arte della Città, 28 February, 2010 and as The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy, Oxford Ashmolean Museum, 15 September–5 December 2010); Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones e il Mito dell'Italia nell'Inghilterra vittoriana (Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, 24 February–12 June 2011) JOHN E. LAW, JOHN E. LAW Swansea UniversitySearch for more papers by this author JOHN E. LAW, JOHN E. LAW Swansea UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 13 July 2012 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-4658.2012.00813.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume27, Issue2April 2013Pages 291-296 RelatedInformation

Wladimiro Dorigo, Venezia Romanica. La Formazione della Citta Medioevale fino alla Eta Gotica. Verona: Cierre Edizioni, Sommacampagna, 2003. 2 vols., xv + 1083pp. Supplementi Cartografici and Tavola Sinottica. - Volume 38 Issue 1

Renaissance StudiesVolume 23, Issue 5 p. 735-738 Cosmè Tura e Francesco del Cossa. L'Arte a Ferrara nell'Età di Borso d'Este (Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Palazzo Schifanoia; 23 September 2007–6 January 2008) – Edited by Mauro Natale John E. Law, John E. Law Swansea UniversitySearch for more papers by this author John E. Law, John E. Law Swansea UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 14 October 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-4658.2009.00589.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume23, Issue5November 2009Pages 735-738 RelatedInformation

Renaissance StudiesVolume 23, Issue 3 p. 402-404 Patronage and Dynasty. The Rise of the Della Rovere in the Renaissance - Edited by Ian F. Verstegen John E. Law, John E. Law Swansea UniversitySearch for more papers by this author John E. Law, John E. Law Swansea UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 06 May 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-4658.2009.00570.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume23, Issue3June 2009Pages 402-404 RelatedInformation

Renaissance StudiesVolume 22, Issue 2 p. 282-284 Il Palazzo Trinci di Foligno - Edited by Giordana Benazzi and Francesco Federico Mancini John E. Law, John E. Law University of Wales, SwanseaSearch for more papers by this author John E. Law, John E. Law University of Wales, SwanseaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 21 March 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-4658.2008.00486.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume22, Issue2April 2008Pages 282-284 RelatedInformation

Renaissance StudiesVolume 21, Issue 5 p. 701-703 Prague, the Crown of Bohemia 1347–1437 John E. Law, University of Wales, SwanseaSearch for more papers by this author John E. Law, University of Wales, SwanseaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 October 2007 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-4658.2007.00417.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume21, Issue5November 2007Pages 701-703 RelatedInformation

Renaissance StudiesVolume 12, Issue 1 p. 40-66 Giovanni Vitelleschi: ‘prelato guerriero’ John E. Law, John E. Law University of Wales, SwanseaSearch for more papers by this author John E. Law, John E. Law University of Wales, SwanseaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 15 August 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-4658.1998.tb00037.xCitations: 1 While preparing this article, I benefited from the support of the British School at Rome, the British Academy, the Harvard Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies (the Villa I Tatti), and the University of Wales, Swansea. I am also grateful to Martin and Alison Hicks, Kathy Kiefer, Georgia Clarke, Sabine Eiche, Lorenz Böninger, and the late Wendy Wegener. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume12, Issue1March 1998Pages 40-66 RelatedInformation

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

Sandra Cavallo, Charity and Power in Early Modern Italy. Benefactors and Their Motives in Turin, 1541–1789. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. xv + 280pp. 17 plates. 6 figures. 10 tables. £45.00, 27.95 pbk. - Volume 24 Issue 1

Chiese, strade e fortezze nell' Italia medievale. By Aldo A. Settia. (Italia Sacra. Studie Documenti di Storia Ecclesiastica, 46.) Pp. xi + 427. Rome: Herder. 1991. L. 60,000. 8885876 13 7 - Volume 44 Issue 2

Prophecy and People in Renaissance Italy. By Niccoli Ottavia. (Trans. Lydia G. Cochrane of Prqfeti e Popolo nell' Italia del Rinascimento, Rome–Bari: Laterza, 1987.) Pp. xviii + 208 incl. 9 ills. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990. £14.50. 0 691 05568 8 - Volume 43 Issue 2