In Search of the High Middle Ages. Change and Continuity in 11th–12th-century Italy
- Edited by:
- Alberto Cotza,
- Giuseppe Petralia,
The transformations that shaped the transition to the “central” Middle Ages during the eleventh and twelfth centuries affected a wide range of structures across Italy and the post-Roman world. Historians are therefore called upon to explore the complex interplay of change and continuity, different rhythms of transformation, and diverse social contexts. This volume examines these dynamics focusing on political institutions and lordship, the Church and law, the economy, settlement patterns, and material culture. The essays were presented at a seminar held in Pisa from 5 to 7 December 2022, organized by Simone Collavini, Giuseppe Petralia, and Mauro Ronzani, with Alberto Cotza, bringing together scholars studying change and continuity in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, especially in Italy.
- Keywords:
- Middle Ages,
- Periodization,
- Change,
- Continuity,
- 11th-12th centuries,
- Europe,
- Italy,
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-1076-8
- Series: Reti Medievali E-Book
- Scientific Board
- Language: English
- Subjects: Medieval History
University of Pisa, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-7834-8013
University of Pisa, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-2817-8014
Giuseppe Petralia (Cosenza, 1954) was a researcher at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Associate Professor at the University of Calabria and, from 2001 to 2025, Full Professor of Medieval History at the University of Pisa. His work has dealt with the history of Sicily and Southern Italy from the eleventh to the fifteenth century; with society, economy, and institutions in late-medieval Tuscany and Italy; and with long-term structures and dynamics in the history of the medieval Mediterranean.
Giuseppe Petralia
Searching for the High Middle Ages. Past and present of a periodisation- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.1-55
I. Church and Law
Emanuele Conte, Luca Loschiavo
The turning point in half a century. The legal revolution of Gregory VII, Irnerius, and his followers- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.59-85
Mauro Ronzani
Investiturverbot or definition of the canonical procedure for promoting bishops? The Gregorian turn of February 1075 and its consequences until 1122-3- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.87-107
Michel Lauwers
Structure, dynamics, and transformation of the ecclesia: the long Middle Ages or an ecclesiastical revolution?- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.109-138
II. Forms of Political Power
Giuseppe Albertoni
“Something with which we still desire to live”. Forms of resistance and royal power in the Regnum italicum between the 10th and 11th centuries- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.141-163
Luigi Provero
Officials and fiscal lands. The imperial presence in Italy (c. 1050-1150)- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.165-181
Vito Loré
Mutations and resilience of a political society: Southern Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.183-199
III. Forms of Lordship
Alessio Fiore
Violence between legitimation and the symbolic dimension of power (central-northern Italy, 11th 12th centuries)- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.203-220
Maria Elena Cortese
Rethinking social and economic changes in the 10th-12th centuries: new approaches to aristocracy and local power in central-northern Italy- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.221-239
IV. Urban Change
Alberto Cotza
Beyond comparison: reconsidering the history of Italian city-communes (Pisa and Genoa, 11th-12th centuries)- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.277-300
Internullo Dario
A shift in written practices. Rome and the ‘documentary revolution’ of the 12th century- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.301-322
pp.323-351
V. Archaeology
Alessandra Molinari
Mediterranean economies compared through archaeology (10th-12th centuries)- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.355-383
Federico Cantini
Local and supra-local drivers in the transformation processes of material culture. Central-northern Italy between the 10th and 12th centuries- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.385-423
Andrea Augenti
Topographies of power, topographies of memory. Persistence and transformation in the cities of central and northern Italy (10th-12th centuries)- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.425-455
VI. Economy
Alessia Rovelli
The production and circulation of money. Rhythms and dynamics of growth (10th-12th centuries)- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.459-483
Chris Wickham
Economic changes and political changes in the cities of northern and central Italy, 1050-1150- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.485-497
Lorenzo Tabarrini
Land price trends as markers of economic cycles? Inflation, debasement and exchange rates in the central Middle Ages- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.499-517
Simone Collavini
The dissolution of fiscal assets as a factor in structural economic change between the 11th and 12th centuries- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
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pp.519-546
- Publication Year: 2026
- Pages: 560
- eISBN: 979-12-215-1076-8
- Content License: CC BY 4.0
- © 2026 Author(s)
- Publication Year: 2026
- Pages: 560
- ISBN: 979-12-215-1075-1
- Content License: CC BY 4.0
- © 2026 Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
In Search of the High Middle Ages. Change and Continuity in 11th–12th-century Italy
Editors
Alberto Cotza, Giuseppe Petralia
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
560
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1076-8
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1075-1
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1076-8
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1078-2
Series Title
Reti Medievali E-Book
Series ISSN
2704-6362
Series E-ISSN
2704-6079
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