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The frescos that adorn the residences of the eighteenth century Palermitan aristrocacy are among the most interesting artistic testimonies of that age, not only because they celarly express the evolution of the taste from baroque to rococo and neoclassic style, but also and above all because they allow us to reconstruct peculiar traits and aspirations of the nobility. Princes and barons, always committed in claiming their political role e their status, hired the artists in vogue in the city to convey self celebrating messa-ges in glories, triumphs, mythological and literary scenes.

In the Autumn of 1681, towards the close of the worst plague epidemic to hit early modern Lower Styria, a dispute between the Žalec market-town councillor Johann Christoph Pilpach and Ferdinand Baron Miglio from the nearby Plumberk manor erupted into violence. With the help of soldiers whom Pilpach acquired from the Counts of Strassoldo from Krško in Carniola, he raided Miglio's manor during his absence, threatening to serve him lead 'cherries' (bullets), for which the nobleman avenged himself by ransacking the market-burgher's house in Žalec. This paper analyses the rather unusual, active enmity between two socially unequal adversaries through traditional practices of conducting and settling disputes, which also enables a look at other social relations among this conflict's main actors. Due to very fragmentary sources, it is unknown what set it off, although Pilpach's ransacking of the manor suggests that it might have been due to Miglio's debts to the affluent market-burgher. Perhaps their dispute was connected to the one between the baron and the Fraziolis, the former administrators of his manor, or to a dispute the Fraziolis or Pilpachs might have had with the Žalec market-burgher family Galič (Galitsch), the new administrators of Plumberk. The ensuing violence is better documented. Pilpach's raid on Plumberk manor was co-organised by his son-in-law, Gregor Rozman, who sought help from the Strassoldos. While the exact nature of their relationship with the counts is obscure, it had to be close for an important noble family to lend its soldiers to two market-burghers. Maybe the Strassoldos' help was also related to disputes they themselves might have had with Miglio. Pilpach's social capital was quite possibly further predicated on the marriage of a lesser line of the Valvasor noble family to the Pilpachs from Žalec in early 1680. These connections most likely levelled the field once the market-burgher's dispute with the baron broke out into violence. Miglio's response in September 1681 essentially mirrored Pilpach's actions: ransacking his home under arms, threats with violence and death, stealing his horses, killing his poultry, etc. Maybe the equal response was completely by chance, but, conceivably, the expected reciprocity of violence in enmities also played a role. In the end, Miglio had to justify his actions in court as a measured response to an affront. The violence was exacerbated when Pilpach opted for a recourse to law, after failing to obtain satisfaction (restitution of honour and damages) from Miglio for the attack. Pilpach's attempt to serve a writ to the baron ended with Miglio almost cudgelling the messenger to death, rejecting the attempt as insolence. Despite going to court, the settlement of their dispute or at least the violence seems to have been extra-curial, as was common in enmities among the elite. Likewise, the only intervention by princely authorities seems to have been a demand that Miglio accept the writ, even though violent enmities or feuds broke the provincial (and Imperial) peace and, which was even more critical, attacks on the socially superior upset the social order. There were certainly no grave consequences for Pilpach, who is attested as the Žalec market-town judge in 1684. All of this suggests that the social differences between him and Miglio were formal rather than factual, underpinned by Pilpach's close connections to influential noble families and, probably, also by the fact that the Miglios' rise to nobility was rather recent. His 'equality' with the baron in their enmity probably also helped Pilpach to improve his social standing. Although it is unknown when exactly peace between the baron and Pilpach was made, the plague that decimated Žalec in 1683 seems as a plausible mitigating factor. In any case, in early 1684, Pilpach's wife Ursula Elisabeth and his former enemy Jakob Galič, Miglio's administrator of Plumberk, became godparents to a child of one of their market-town neighbours. This indicates that their enmity was over, most likely following or as part of the peace made between Pilpach and Miglio, since settlement generally included 'all the people' of the conflicting parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L’articolo intende affrontare quanto ruota attorno alla coppia oppositiva distinzione/incondizionata adesione per quanto concerne gli alberghi della città ligure, sia che derivino da un unico ceppo familiare, sia che risultino dall’aggregazione di diversi nuclei familiari, e proporre un primo censimento. L’arco cronologico preso in considerazione è il secolo XIV, poco esplorato per quanto riguarda la vicenda cittadina, mentre le fonti analizzate sono per lo più ancora prodotte e conservate dalle istituzioni religiose. Epigrafi sepolcrali, marcatori di famiglia sugli edifici, pianete e arredi per altari e infine una causa per l’uso di un banco destinato alle donne nella cattedrale contribuiscono a delineare un quadro molto mosso in cui c’è spazio sia per declinazioni personali delle scelte sia per identificazioni incondizionate.

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Copyright of Tiempos Modernos is the property of Tiempos Modernos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article compares the position of nobility in Slovenia, Croatia and Slavonia before and after the Great War. The focus is on the transition to the Yugoslav state. The new regime treated the nobility as adversaries in political, social and national respect; noble titles were abolished and landed estates diminished by the land reform. Even though it cherished personal and family ties, the aforementioned nobility did not organise itself in associations, like their counterparts in Austria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how the Counter-Reformation decrees were enforced in practice, and it presents a document dealing with the specific situation in Carniola. The general imperial mandate issued on June 20th, 1631, was part of the second wave of Ferdinand II’s Counter-Reformation, which began with the 1627 establishment of a new Counter-Reformation committee and reached its apex with the adoption of the 1628 patent on the conversion or expulsion of Protestant nobility in Inner Austria. The mandate provides historiography with good insight into the (non-)implementation of the decrees adopted three years prior to that. In it, the emperor observes that some Protestants converted to Catholicism and others moved abroad. Nonetheless, some non-Catholics remained in Carniola, there were many “lax Catholics” among the converts, and some of those that had moved away returned home without the required permission. The Counter-Reformation committee that supervised the religious situation in the country imposed specific deadlines for the conversion or expulsion of Protestants. The key two external proofs of conversion included performing confession, which the convert demonstrated with written proof, and receiving communion. The Protestants that did not convert to Catholicism had to sell their land, pay a tenth of what it was worth (except for the members of the estates), and leave all Ferdinand’s lands. The slow implementation of the decrees shows that the emperor’s threats and sanctions did not have a significant intimidating effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents perceptions of health and life patterns which were placed among the Carniolan elites until the middle of the 18th century in terms of physical and mental well-being, as well as health prevention and cure. The article is mainly based on numerous mentions of illness and treatments in the diaries of the baron Franz Heinrich of Raigersfeld (1697–1760), but similar patterns can be found among all nobility. His records are also a source for studying culture and attitudes towards health in the provincial environments of Trieste, Gorizia and Ljubljana in the first period of Theresian modernization in the Habsburg territories. In Carniola, health care improved rapidly even before the reforms. Authorities have raised health concerns to the top of the priorities. The number of doctors, surgeons and pharmacists has increased. Improvements were first enforced in the provincial centers, but till the end of the 19th century not in all strata of the population. So far, the state has interfered mainly with orders and prohibitions, while the organization of public health and education were still far behind. The Raigersfeld’s family has kept pace with the times with most cultural innovations, including health care. She followed the modern thesis that the disease is largely caused by unhygienic life. Every physical activity was recognized as important for health, but they did not yet think about intensive recreation. Raigersfeld’s notes, however, are sparing with words on nutrition. However, in medical theory and in everyday life, moderation in diet played an important role and a rational and modest diet has long been recommended by local doctors. Elites understood these warnings, but they were often not followed even by chronic patients. Although descriptions of dishes are lacking, it is obvious that in the 18th century, provincial elites were still getting on the table unhealthily large amounts of protein and fat, which certainly led to chronic diseases. The low-calorie and low-fat diet enjoyed by the burgeois and the lower classes was not in the forefront even among the Raigersfelds. Local elites provided themselves with the best doctors and surgeons, depending on their financial capabilities. The city physicians had a lucrative business with the treatment of the nobility. Many of them became rich and established friendly relations with patients, making the bond between the attending physician and the patient closer than it should have been. Especially when, as specialists for them they produced forensic medical examinations and thus navigated between diagnoses and the expectations of the parties in order to maintain their own credibility for the force. The members of the elites had relatively clear ideas about the symptoms and tr eatment of some of the most common diseases. Ther e were frequent cases of mental illness and disorders, as well as chronic diseases (gout, sciatic etc.), death due to severe lung and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, etc. It was fashionable to seek help in domestic and foreign health resorts (Padua). Their treatment in the middle of the 18th century is described by Raigersfeld himself with detailed descriptions of his wife’s death (1752) and his life’s decline (1759/1760). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the characteristics of the preserved documentation, the study of the nobility in Castile in the Central Middle Ages requires the consultation of numerous collections of charters, since there are hardly any noble archives in that period -the few that are known have been conserved in monastic archives -. For this reason, the reconstruction of kinship ties and lordships and properties is extremely laborious and requires the consultation of scattered and disconnected documentation. This article explores the preserved documentation to study a very large family group, the Rojas, between approximately 1200 and 1350. The origin of the documents is analyzed and also their types from the point of view of historical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Se nell’Italia del tardo medioevo era possibile essere sudditi “per natura”, per natura cittadini, per natura principi, per natura membri di un partito, era possibile essere anche “naturalmente” nobili? Il contributo prova a rispondere a questa domanda prendendo le mosse dal cosiddetto trattato sulla nobiltà di Bartolo di Sassoferrato (Tractatus de dignitatibus) per secoli dotato di larghissima popolarità in tutta Europa. Dopo aver reso conto della situazione degli studi, il saggio illustra i contenuti dell’opera, riassumibili in una netta affermazione della dipendenza della nobiltà dalla voluntas del Principe (paragrafo 2), e nell’idea che non possa esistere alcuna nobiltà naturale se non come volontaria creazione di chi detiene il potere politico (paragrafo 3). Sono quindi (paragrafo 4) illustrate le radici del pensiero bartoliano in tema di nobiltà (vale a dire, oltre al Codex, l’Italia duecentesca e popolare, con le sue leggi antimagnatizie); nonché l’applicazione concreta di quei principi nel tardo medioevo, mostrando in particolare come i ragionamenti del De dignitatibus siano consonanti all’evoluzione dell’identità nobiliare in molte parti della penisola, in primis a Firenze, a Bologna, a Venezia. Il paragrafo 5 è invece dedicato alle eccezioni rispetto a questo modello, che non sono solo precedenti a Bartolo (Aristotele, Dante) quanto soprattutto a lui contemporanee, come affermato nello stesso trattato. Il saggio si sofferma sul caso di Milano e su altri contesti (i centri piemontesi in particolare, da Asti a Torino) dove la nobiltà ancora nel Tre-Quattrocento è proposta come fatto di natura, più che come prodotto della politica.

The essay analyses and discusses three categories of Rosario Villari's historical discourse. The territory as a spatial configuration marked by the agricultural identity that Villari affects in its structural data (distribution of land ownership, peasant struggles, taxation). The privileges (of citizenship, forum, class...) which form the basis of a continuous negotiation between the Neapolitans and the Spanish monarchy. Finally, the fiefdoms, which the nobility tries to protect to their advantage both as an economic and political resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Societa e Storia is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval is the property of Sociedad Espanola de Filosofia Medieval and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Reti Medievali is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article is a case study on a member of Austrian Resistance Movement O5, Baron Nikolaus von Maasburg, and his relatives. Nikolaus and his wife Countess Christiane de Ceschi a Santa Croce lived during WWII in their Castle Bizeljsko where they kept a radio station. With its help they were contacting British intelligence. They were a part of the non-partisan resistance movement against Nazism in Slovenia. Nevertheless, they supported partisans in weapons, munition, food provisions, and horses and paid taxes. In the castle they were hiding Slovene families and a Jewish friend, in spite of the fact that they had two small children. In the castle they held meetings with other Slovenian aristocrats as Windisch-Graetz and Attems as well as Count Georg von Thun and Hohenstein, a member of the Austrian resistance movement from Vienna. Six family members, even though one of them was a partisan and they all supported partisans with money, medicine, weapons, including the most eminent amongst them prince Gottlieb von Windisch-Graetz, were killed by the political secret military service Ozna, later known as Udba in 1945 or 1946. The article discusses their resistance and life after World War Two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Within fascist press, «La Nobiltà della Stirpe» represented a sector of the regime’s society that has not been thoroughly investigated and that, once more, clearly shows the heterogeneity of Fascism. During its lifespan, from 1931 to 1941, the magazine never gained the favour of the public. This, despite its eclectic founder’s, Stefano Mario Cutelli, creative and diversified efforts to reach success and obtain Mussolini’s approval. The editorial board gathered personalities whose idea of regime largely differed. However, Cutelli proved able in keeping together the different lines of thought in order to promote his dream of an aristocratic and Fascist Italy.

Medieval female monastic life in Rome has as yet not become subject of extended studies. The present contribution is analysing the social and cultural backgrounds of two Roman convents of the order of St. Clare, namely the convents of San Silvestro in Capite and of San Lorenzo in Panisperna. Their historical backgrounds are similar as both convents emerged in the orbit of the Colonna family. These origins are raising many questions about the complex relations during the XIVth century between the powerful families of the Roman barons and the female convents in the city of Rome. The analysis of the precarious archival documentation is concentrated on the circumstances of these two foundations, both for their social implications (reconstructing the networks of relatives and families allies of the Colonna) and for the religious and spiritual aspects.

Le nostre conoscenze sul monastero domenicano di San Sisto provengono fondamentalmente da un registro di entrate e uscite degli anni 1369-1381 e da alcuni frammenti di altri registri contabili di fine Trecento-inizi Quattrocento. Nel panorama della documentazione romana trasmessaci per quel periodo la conservazione di queste scritture rappresenta un caso eccezionale; esse inoltre possono essere interrogate da molti punti di vista. In questo saggio si considerano in maniera particolare i dati forniti dal più antico dei due registri in merito alle pratiche di scrittura gestionale messe in atto all’interno del monastero, ai sistemi di sfruttamento del suo ricco patrimonio fondiario, alla comunità femminile che viveva al suo interno e all’economia romana di secondo Trecento. Si formulano inoltre alcune ipotesi circa la possibilità di considerare quello di San Sisto e del suo più antico registro di entrate e uscite come un caso paradigmatico sia in termini di gestione patrimoniale sia per quanto attiene le pratiche di scrittura della Roma di quel periodo, in special modo quelle messe in atto all’interno delle comunità religiose femminili.

Social History, Family History and Political History converge on this article, in which we try to analyse how the house of Alba was formed, and progress in the trajectory of social ascent the house of Alba experienced from the 13th century -when they were members of the oligarchy of Toledo- until 1531, when the Duchy was created for Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the Great. In this process, marital alliances with more prestigious aristocratic families, such as the Enríquez and the Benavente, played a prominent role, and subsequently, in the sixteenth century, marriages between close relatives with some degree of consanguinity became recurrent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting in the mid-1400s, aristocratic families and rural communities, as well as individual people, turned to the jurists of Padua's Studium requesting a high number of legal opinions to be used in solving jurisdictional controversies. Conflicting opinions about law and local customs, about the extent to which communities were allowed to carry out armed resistance, and about the procedures in force in courts of law may be found in these consilia, often engendered by a feud. The contribution sets offfrom this kind of literature to show-in contrast with customary "oppositional" interpretations of the relationship between Roman-canon law procedures and customs-how aristocratic and rural communities quickly adapted to a new interpretation of feud conflicts in the course of the late Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Una discussione intorno al libro di Guido Castelnuovo sulla nobiltà italiana.

Una discussione intorno al libro di Guido Castelnuovo sulla nobiltà italiana.

Una discussione intorno al libro di Guido Castelnuovo sulla nobiltà italiana.

Nella descrizione di Giovanni Villani, Dante appare un onorevole cittadino di antica discendenza la cui condanna all’esilio fu dettata esclusivamente dal suo ruolo nella politica fiorentina. Questo ritratto risulta tuttavia a tratti sorprendente: le biografie e gli studi sul poeta lo hanno infatti descritto come un uomo di mediocri natali e dal peso politico impalpabile. Tra dati storici e ricostruzioni più o meno accurate, la figura di Dante presenta quindi elementi assai contraddittori, capaci di generare più dubbi che certezze. Un’indagine più approfondita della rete sociale nella quale il poeta si mosse negli ultimi anni fiorentini aiuterà a contestualizzarne la vicenda.

Il problema della nobiltà di Dante e della sua famiglia può essere affrontato oggi con strumenti nuovi. Le indagini recenti sulla società comunale, sulle reti sociali e sulle strutture della memoria familiare permettono di delineare i contorni storici del racconto di Cacciaguida. La famiglia Alighieri – all'inizio della sua vicenda – era in relazione con quelli che diventeranno i suoi nemici a fine Duecento. In seguito, a coronamento di quella che sembra una spregiudicata ascesa sociale, gli Alighieri costruirono (come molte altre famiglie cittadine) un “mito delle origini”. Dante non si limitò ad accoglierlo passivamente, ma lo mise onestamente in questione. Anche da qui, forse, la sua sofferta riflessione sulla nobiltà.

Nella sua espansione territoriale nel Mediterraneo la Corona d'Aragona conquistò all'inizio del XIV secolo la Sardegna, nella quale concesse dei feudi a coloro che avrebbero partecipato alla conquista. Con questo articolo presentiamo una famiglia nobile, i Sentmenat, che ricevette il villaggio di Orosei. Le vicende da loro vissute rispecchiano per molti aspetti ciò che vissero altri feudatari: difficoltà ad entrare in possesso del feudo, confische arbitrarie da parte degli ufficiali regi, delegazione del feudo a procuratori ed appaltatori dal momento che non risiedevano nell'isola. Inoltre Orosei si trovò al centro del contrasto nascente tra il sovrano Pietro IV e il giudice dArborea Mariano IV e per un certo periodo di tempo se ne contesero il possesso; infine, dopo tante difficoltà, i Sentmenat finirono per rinunciare al feudo.

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Il contributo muove dalla centralità del concetto di regis servitium come elemento costitutivo della riflessione dell’umanesimo meridionale, e nel caso specifico di Tristano Caracciolo, sul tema della nobilitas, cogliendone gli aspetti di originalità e di continuità nella tradizione della trattatistica politica a cavallo tra XV e XVI secolo. A tal fine mostra come il nobile umanista Tristano Caracciolo, in contrasto con le tesi del de vera nobilitate di Bracciolini, abbia rivendicato per la nobiltà napoletana un modello di comportamento in cui il regis servitium è condizione di nobiltà, è sinonimo di attivismo, è officina di gloria e ricchezza.

Malgrado il disinteresse della storiografia italiana per le scritture prodotte da soggetti politici non urbani, anche una semplice ricognizione bibliografica e archivistica ha permesso di restituire l’ampia diffusione dei cartulari di lignaggio alla fine del M.E. Il saggio ne indaga la vicenda, non solo in relazione alle funzioni assolte nell’ambito della parentela (di volta in volta etichettabili come pragmatiche, giuridiche, simboliche, performative, ecc.), ma anche con riferimento alla struttura narrativa spesso assunta dal cartulario, che fa di quest’ultimo un prodotto culturale assolutamente peculiare: una sorta di libro di memorie, di ricordi politici – sia pure per fragmenta, realizzati cioè attraverso un’accurata selezione documentaria – di quei «gentiluomini di Lombardia» ai quali rimasero sostanzialmente estranee altre forme di codificazione del passato familiare (come i più celebri libri di famiglia, tanto diffusi invece in ambito toscano).

A conference paper is presented, focusing on the work of Italian historian Claudio Donati concerning the history of the nobility. Topics discussed include Donati's work on the relationship between laymen and clergy, Donati's use of historical sources, and his approach to historiography, including methodology.