Lawyers and Statecraft in Renaissance Florence

Lawyers at work-in diplomacy, in relations with the Church, in territorial government, in the formulation of policy, in administration, and in the political struggle provide the unifying theme in this analysis of the exercise of political power in Renaissance Florence. Professor Martines studies the actual techniques of government, the hidden legal and constitutional questions raised by everyday affairs, and the responses of individual lawyers to the pressures of politics. He shows precisely how Florentine lawyers, both republicans and oligarchs, viewed the state. An appendix lists and briefly characterizes the some 200 lawyers who practiced in Florence during the period 1380 to 1530.

Originally published in 1968.

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