Alessio Fiore discusses the transformation of the fabric of power in the kingdom of Italy in the period between the late eleventh century and the early twelfth century: a period in which the structures of local power and the instruments of local political communications were dramatically reshaped.

• Introduction


• Part I: New frameworks of local power


• 1: Civil Wars: collapse and rebuilding of political structures


• 2: Imperial Power: crisis and transformation


• 3: Territorial Lordship: rise and spread of a model of power


• 4: Inside the Lordship: reshaping local societies


• 5: Collective Powers: political actions of urban and rural autonomous communities


• Part II: A Culture of Power. The Dominatus Loci between practices and discourses


• 6: Royal Legitimation and its Crisis


• 7: Fidelity: a pervasive language


• 8: Pacts: the foundations of a new legitimacy


• 9: Custom: rituals of memory


• 10: Violence: a pragmatic language


• Conclusions: a seigneurial revolution (and more)

Alessio Fiore is a lecturer in medieval history at the University of Turin. His research and main publications are focused on medieval history, the form of local power in Italian countryside between 1000 and 1400, and the economy of high medieval Italy.