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The Aristocracy in England and Tuscany, 1000 - 1250

Online ISBN:
9780191881916
Print ISBN:
9780198846963
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Aristocracy in England and Tuscany, 1000 - 1250

Peter Coss
Peter Coss
Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, Cardiff University
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Published online:
21 November 2019
Published in print:
17 October 2019
Online ISBN:
9780191881916
Print ISBN:
9780198846963
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Part I of this book is an in-depth examination of the characteristics of the Tuscan aristocracy across the first two and a half centuries of the second millennium, as studied by Italian historians and others working within the Italian tradition: their origins, interests, strategies for survival and exercise of power; the structure and the several levels of aristocracy and how these interrelated; the internal dynamics and perceptions that governed aristocratic life; and the relationship to non-aristocratic sectors of society. It will look at how aristocratic society changed across this period and how far changes were internally generated as opposed to responses from external stimuli. The relationship between the aristocracy and public authority will also be examined. Part II of the book deals with England. The aim here is not a comparative study but to bring insights drawn from Tuscan history and Tuscan historiography into play in understanding the evolution of English society from around the year 1000 to around 1250. This part of the book draws on the breadth of English historiography but is also guided by the Italian experience. The book challenges the interpretative framework within which much English history of this period tends to be written—that is to say the grand narrative which revolves around Magna Carta and English exceptionalism—and seeks to avoid dangers of teleology, of idealism, and of essentialism. By offering a study of the aristocracy across a wide time-frame and with themes drawn from Italian historiography, I hope to obviate these tendencies and to appreciate the aristocracy firmly within its own contexts.

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