Abstract
The period between the 11th and 13th centuries was the age of mounted warriors. They formed a large and complex group that stood at the center of social, economic, and political relationships—relationships that were as important as they remain underexplored. In much of Italy, their presence grew over the course of the 11th century, following the crisis of public governmental structures and the emergence of lordship and other forms of local domination. The increased level of conflict tied to this general localization of power accelerated the process of militarization of authority—a process that can already be glimpsed in the 10th century—making the ability to take part in armed conflict on horseback an essential condition for anyone seeking to exercise any form of supremacy. In turn, the rise in conflict brought new resources to the warriors and increased their numbers. Both in the South and in the Center-North, this marked the beginning of the era of the militia—the period of political, social, and economic dominance of the knights. Historiography has paid little attention to the mounted warriors present in rural societies. In Italy, the focus has mostly been on the aristocracy and the militia of the urban communes. Although certainly more numerous than the urban knights, the mounted warriors who were not citizens or did not belong to the nobility have so far been considered almost exclusively in terms of their roles as fighters in communal armies, armed auxiliaries of the lords, or lower-ranking members of the feudal hierarchy, which in Italy was often centered around urban bishoprics. Very few studies have examined rural knights in their primary nature—as individuals generated by and active within rural worlds. As a result, our knowledge is based largely on a few case studies and scattered references in works more generally dedicated to lordship and village society. Thus, many economic, social, and cultural aspects of the history of rural knights have remained in the background. Similarly, the great variety of ways in which mounted warriors may have influenced all levels of local life remains to be clarified, beyond paradigms centered on dominatus loci (local lordship). This project seeks to fill that significant gap in research by systematically studying rural knights in four regions—Lombardy, Tuscany, Lazio, and Campania—based on a shared research framework and drawing from a wide range of sources. Located in the South, Center, and North of the country, and each with its own distinct characteristics, these selected regions will make it possible to examine the differing development of the rural militia depending on the political, settlement, social, and economic contexts. The study will specifically analyze all the elements that shaped their identity: military functions, proximity to lords, privileges and exemptions, land holdings and economic activities, lifestyle and consumption habits, ownership of dependent peasants, relationships with local communities, forms of political organization, and connections to wider regional or supra-local networks. At the same time, a broader survey will be conducted of other Italian regions to identify documentation of relevance to the topic. A shared database will collect the main sources. Finally, the regional case studies will be compared with each other and with the most relevant case studies found in other regions, in order to offer a comprehensive and multidimensional picture of a prominent social group.
Results achieved
The research focused on several regions (Lombardy, Veneto, Tuscany, Marche, Lazio, Campania), investigated on the basis of a shared questionnaire and through a wide range of sources. At the same time, a survey was carried out on other Italian regions to identify case studies mentioned in historiography and documentation of particular relevance for the topic. A shared database collected the main sources. Finally, the regional frameworks were compared with one another and with the most significant case studies identified in other regions, thus providing a new overall image of a prominent social group previously neglected by research. The project has largely achieved its scientific objectives, offering a broad, articulated and comparative picture of the presence, role and forms of preeminence of rural knights in some regions of medieval Italy. The integration between micro-analytical case studies and regional reconstructions made it possible to verify the initial hypotheses, refine them and, in several cases, reformulate them on the basis of more solid documentary evidence. The Bologna unit worked mainly on Tuscany, historical Lunigiana and the Ligurian-Emilian Apennines, with targeted surveys in Veneto and also provided the collection and interpretation of archaeological data for all the regions involved in the research project. Furthermore, the Bologna unit organized the Seminario-convegno, 27 marzo 2025, in Bologna: I milites nelle società rurali. Quadri regionali and collaborated with the Rome unit in organizing the online Seminario-convegno, 27 settembre 2024: Il tempo dei cavalieri. Preminenze cavalleresche, società locali e poteri nelle campagne italiane (secoli XI-XIII): casi di studio. Moreover, the Bologna unit organized a series of four public lectures, in collaboration with the Municipality of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, held between September 2025 and February 2026 (see the attached posters). Publications (only by Bologna unit's main staff members): - Sandro Carocci, Maria Elena Cortese, Studiare la preminenza cavalleresca nelle società locali: obbiettivi della ricerca, fonti, metodi, in “Reti Medievali Rivista”, 26, 2 (2025), pp. 553–562; - Maria Elena Cortese, Rethinking social and economic changes in the 10th-12th centuries: new approaches to aristocracy and local power in central-northern Italy, in In Search of the High Middle Ages. Change and Continuity in 11th-12th-century Italy, edited by Alberto Cotza and Giuseppe Petralia, Firenze: Firenze University Press, 2026 (Reti MedievaliE-Book 54), pp. 221-240; - Nicola Ryssov, I più ricchi e i più onorevoli del villaggio. Microstoria di due milites del Polesine (secoli XII-XIII), in “Reti Medievali Rivista”, 26, 2 (2025), pp. 623–655; - Nicola Ryssov, « Il lupo pastore », Mélanges de l’École française de Rome - Moyen Âge [En ligne], 137/2 | 2025, mis en ligne le 20 juin 2026, consulté le 10 juillet 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/mefrm/16588 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/16in3.Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Maria Elena Cortese
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà
Coordinatore:
Università degli Studi di ROMA Tor Vergata(Italy)
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 97.003,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
28/09/2023
Data di fine:
27/09/2025
