Communes and Despots in Medieval and Renaissance Italy

Building on important issues highlighted by the late Philip Jones, this volume explores key aspects of the city state in late medieval and renaissance Italy, particularly the nature and quality of different types of government. It focuses on the apparently antithetical but often similar governmental forms represented by the republics and despotisms of the period. Beginning with a reprint of Jones original 1965 article, the volume then provides eighteen new essays that re-examine the issues he raised in light of modern scholarship.