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Feuds and State Formation, 1550–1700

The Backcountry of the Republic of Genoa

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Authors:
  1. Osvaldo Raggio

    1. University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

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  • E?xamines the interactions between the Republic of Genoa and a set of local communities in the mountainous backcountry of Eastern Liguria
  • Provides a unique microanalytical perspective on feuds and state formation
  • Offers the first English-language territorial history of the Genoese republic

Part of the book series: Early Modern History: Society and Culture (EMH)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 1-22

  3. Local Practices and State Authority: Reflections on the Criminal Policy of the Genoese Oligarchy

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 23-59

  4. A Local Universe and Its Horizons

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 61-90

  5. The Land and Residential Patterns

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 91-119

  6. In the Fontanabuona: Forms of Social Exchange and Kin Group Relations

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 121-149

  7. Circuits of Exchange

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 151-171

  8. The Construction of Social Reality

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 173-179

  9. Events and Political Narratives

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 181-214

  10. Bandits

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 215-247

  11. Politics within Kin Groups (1565–1665)

    • Osvaldo Raggio
    Pages 249-281

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 283-316
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Keywords

About this book

This book re-evaluates the role of local agency and provides a new perspective to the political, social and cultural history of state formation, taking a microhistorical approach and through close analysis of archival sources between 1550 to 1700. The backcountry of the Republic of Genoa is a laboratory for gauging the weight and significance of two elements which, according to Charles Tilly and other scholars, have characterized the construction of the modern state: judicial administration and fiscal extraction. The instruments employed in this respect were arbitration and compensation. Interactions between center and periphery occurred within a stratified and discontinuous fabric of fluid jurisdictions and segmented residential topographies, which constituted spaces of mediation. Such spaces were generated by conflicts between kin groups (feuds and factional alignments) and managed both by Genoese officials and by local notables and notaries, who translated a whole set of local practices into judicial procedures. This book offers a rich contextualization of material life, family relationships, economic activities, and power struggles in a corner of the Mediterranean world that was extremely important, but about which very little has been published in English. 

Reviews

“This book is a great addition to the Early Modern History series as well as to the growing body of micro-historical scholarship. Raggio, through a close study of the backcountry of the Republic of Genoa, offers a new perspective on how state formation is studied. … This study is beneficial to those readers interested in the study of early modern cultural and social history, state formation, and local politics.” (Renaissance and Reformation, Vol. 43 (1), 2020)

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Osvaldo Raggio

About the author

Osvaldo Raggio is Professor of History at the University of Genoa, Italy. He has worked on a range of topics in early modern history, including detailed rural analyses, social and political history, aristocratic society and material culture, history of collections, and the interface between history and other disciplines. He is a member of the editorial board of Quaderni storici.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Feuds and State Formation, 1550–1700

  • Book Subtitle: The Backcountry of the Republic of Genoa

  • Authors: Osvaldo Raggio

  • Series Title: Early Modern History: Society and Culture

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94643-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-94642-9Published: 27 September 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-06888-2Published: 05 January 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-94643-6Published: 19 September 2018

  • Series ISSN: 2947-9061

  • Series E-ISSN: 2947-907X

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXV, 316

  • Number of Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: History of Italy, History of Early Modern Europe, Political History, Economic History, Social History

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