Criminal Justice and Crime in Late Renaissance Florence, 1537-1609

by John K. Brackett

Overview

This book uses as an index of princely power a thorough examination of the major elements of the Florentine system of criminal justice—court of the Otto Di Guardia e Balia (Eight on Public Safety), police, prisons, relations with lesser courts in the dominion—which reveals the extent of their effectiveness in the capital city and the subject territory. The author's analysis reveals the determinative role played by the fiscal limits placed on the system. These limits are more important to understanding the character of the system than is any ideology of repression or absolutism. In fact, the system of criminal justice was one of negotiation, in which various players, all with some power, deployed strategies that helped them to realize their interests. Thus, the system was flexible and relatively moderate. By this index, the terms "absolutist" and "absolutism" are not helpful in understanding the type of power exercised by the Medici Grand Dukes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521404051
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/28/1992
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.37(h) x 0.79(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The bureaucratic structure of the Otto: the personnel and their functions; 2. Financing the Otto; 3. The Otto as police: organization and function; 4. Criminal procedure before the Otto: from discovery to sentencing; 5. The Otto and its role in the centralization of criminal justice in the Florentine state; 6. Crime and criminals; Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This is an important book on a neglected topic and period of Florentine history. It adds texture to the increasingly lively debate about the origins of the modern state, and it further qualifies the received wisdom that Medicean Tuscany was 'absolute.'" Carol Bresnahan Menning, Sixteenth Century Journal

"[Brackett's] conclusions are persuasive and his presentation of the Otto sober and judicious." Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher