Blanshei's book tells in considerable detail the story of the commune of Bologna during its formative period, between the end of the 1100s and the first thirty years of the 1300s. This was a complex period, during which the commune experienced developments similar to those found in many other cities in the north and centre of the Italian peninsula. Nonetheless, there were some differences that were peculiar to Bologna.
From the comparison with other Italian cities like Perugia (on which Blanshei has worked), the growth of Bologna stands out as precocious, but Blanshei clearly shows how the same characteristics that shaped Bologna's fortunes also stunted its development and expansion.
The University of Bologna (Studium), the centre of Bolognese academic life, polarized the city's energies, up to the point that economic relations with other cities as well as its internal economic development were limited by it. Indeed, the very existence of the Studium resulted in the mandatory acceptance of contrasting (and in some cases contradictory) ecclesiastical requirements in order to maintain the ability to grant licenses. Furthermore, the recurrent crises caused by the flights of students together with the establishment of different Studia in central Italy – like the Sienese one, established after one flight of Bolognese scolares – limited the political and economic autonomy of the city of Bologna. In addition, the conflicts with nobles living in the contado, the difficulties in managing the countryside surrounding the city, the chronic shortage of money that limited civic aspirations, the continuous conflicts with nearby cities, and a geographically limited location: all of these were characteristics that deeply affected the life and the political organization of the Bolognese populace.
The city which is famous for the Liber Paradisus, the law text issued in 1256 which proclaimed the abolition of slavery and the release of serfs, in reality allowed the inhabitants of the countryside to become citizens only when it needed it, and would exclude them when civic riots would surge, or when the fumantes (people living in the countryside) would not pay taxes on time.
Blanshei determines that the key to interpreting the birth of the Bolognese commune, together with its relationships with the inhabitants of the contado and the nobility living in the countryside, lies in the analysis of the administration of justice and its political utilization. Central to her work is the...
