European University Institute Library

The decline and fall of medieval Sicily, politics, religion, and economy in the reign of Frederick III, 1296-1337, Clifford R. Backman

eng

index present

non fiction

The decline and fall of medieval Sicily

electronic resource

dictionaries

726823708

Clifford R. Backman

Cambridge Social Sciences eBooks

politics, religion, and economy in the reign of Frederick III, 1296-1337

This 1995 book is a detailed study of Sicilian life in the reign of Frederick III (1296–1337), a period which saw Sicily reduced from a bustling and prosperous Mediterranean emporium to a poor backwater torn apart by violence. The relative economic and social backwardness of Sicily within modern Italy has attracted considerable scholarly attention. Attempts to explain its ingrained poverty and civil strife usually blame either the legacy of two thousand years of colonisation by rapacious foreigners or the inherent weaknesses in the island itself and its people. More recently a model of 'economic dualism' has pointed to basic structural flaws in the economic relations that were established between the island and its continental trading partners from the twelfth century onwards. This book, by focusing on Frederick III's crucial reign, argues that there were many more things 'wrong' with Sicilian life than just the shape of its overseas trade relations.--, Provided by publisher

Map: Sicily in the early fourteenth century -- 1. The kingdom at risk -- 2. The international scene: war without and within -- 3. A divided society I: the urban-demesnal world -- 4. A divided society II: the rural-baronial world -- 5. The religious scene: piety and its problems -- 6. In the margins: slaves, pirates, and women -- Table 1: Judices of Palermo -- Table 2: Juriste and xurterii of Palermo -- Table 3: Judices of Agrigento, Catania, Messina, Polizzi -- Table 4: Feudal dues

The Decline & Fall of Medieval Sicily