Il Vescovo e le torri. La distruzione degli edifici e la pratica politica alla fine del secolo XI

In what we might call a competition for the ‘right to destroy’, Italian citizenries managed to carve a significant role for themselves, during the key decades of the investiture contest and the broader reform movement (1080-1122). The Pisan context (as illustrated by Bishop Daibert’s lodo and the lodo of Val di Serchio) can be used to investigate the links between collective peace agreements and the ability of certain urban groups to secure power. Simultaneously, Italian bishops were drawing on the same traditions to position themselves as the legitimising force for these group. The case of Pisa in the 1090s provides an example of mediation within this form of political competition.