The Government of the Communes in the Fourteenth Century

Abstract

So far this work has distinguished three eras in the formation of signori.: tyranny — when the lords of Romagna ruled without any legal justification; captaincy — when their rule was legitimised by decree of their communes; and finally, signori. — where the papacy gave a final legitimisation by its grant of the papal vicariates. But in defining the rule of the signor. by these legal formulas, one misses the reality behind the government of the towns. For whatever the formal constitution, what was important was who held power within it. In fact, during the whole of the fourteenth century, among all the changes in the legal position, the administration of the communes was essentially the same, and its character was unaltered.

Tyrannus autem est pessimus; hoc autem est ita manifestum quod demonstration non eget.

Bartol. D. Sassoferrat.¹