Imperialis aula. Pratiche giuridiche e linguaggi politici tra corte sveva e Italia comunale nel XII secolo

The advent of Frederick I Barbarossa in the mid-12th century marked a turning point for both politics and society on the Italian peninsula. Among the many areas in which imperial intervention unfolded, the administration of justice played a very significant role: on the one hand, it was necessary to give new vigour to the renewed claims of the Staufen sovereign; on the other, the development of culture and judicial practice in the city represented a challenge for those who were entrusted with the government of the Regnum Italiae. One of the most innovative experiments was the activity of a group of Italian iudices in the direct service of the Staufen court: they placed their legal expertise and acquaintance with the city they came from at the disposal of the empire, acting both as resolvers of a fair number of disputes and as mediators and political advisers. This volume aims to reconstruct the multifaceted work of these personalities in the context of the ‘Italian politics’ of Frederick I and Henry VI, characterised by constant interaction with institutional actors in the political space of the central-northern area of the peninsula.