Christine Shaw, Barons and Castellans: The Military Nobility of Renaissance Italy (Sposato)

Christine Shaw

Barons and Castellans: The Military Nobility of Renaissance Italy

(Leiden: Brill, 2015) 284pp.  $149.00

Barons and Castellans

Christine Shaw’s Barons and Castellans is the first book-length English language study of the military nobility, an important but often overlooked segment of the elite in Renaissance Italy. The military nobility, also aptly referred to as “signori di castelli“(“lords of castles”) or “barons and castellans” in this study, did not fit a single model but rather varied widely in terms of their resources, power, and temperament. As a result, Shaw’s study is comparative, focusing on these martially-inclined nobles and their military resources in a number of distinct regions of the Italian peninsula (e.g. Lombardia, the Veneto, Liguria, Rome, the Kingdom of Naples, etc.). Shaw tackles this challenging task with aplomb, synthesizing the substantial body of extant scholarship, mainly Italophone, for each region with a wide range of historical evidence drawn from chronicles and archives. The chronological focus of Shaw’s study is a “long” century, roughly 1450-1550, characterized by considerable turmoil and change. By tracing the lifestyle and practices of the military nobility during this period, Shaw demonstrates a striking continuity in their military and political roles and importance, despite the fundamentally different political landscape in Italy following the Italian Wars.

This continuity is crucial to her argument that historians must see the military nobility of Renaissance Italy as distinct from the civic nobilities found in each major center of power in the peninsula, even those urban patricians who purchased rural estates and participated in military affairs. Indeed, despite their differences, sometimes striking in degree, Shaw argues that these barons and castellans would have recognized one another as members of a pan-Italian military nobility, distinct from the career courtiers, bankers, merchants, and lawyers who generally comprised the civic nobility. As a result, the importance of Shaw’s Barons and Castellans is not only the contribution it makes to the history of warfare in Renaissance Italy, but also how it broadens our understanding of Renaissance Italian society.

In an introductory first chapter, Shaw places the military nobility of the various regions in their proper mid-fifteenth century context. This chapter paints a picture of an Italian military nobility that varied widely in terms of their wealth, political importance, and military strength. The range of experiences is striking and immediately provides scholars with a multitude of avenues of future research. In chapter two (“Lands and Fortresses”), Shaw argues that the possession of rural estates and fortresses was not only central to the identity of the military nobility in each of the regions she studies, but also provided the financial means to maintain their identity. In particular, Shaw is interested in the military resources provided by these fortresses and estates, and how widely this permitted members of the military nobility to act. More specifically, the chapter deals with important issues like inheritance practices, military services owed by and to members of the military nobility, revenues generated by noble estates and fortresses, as well as how control of these landed assets fit into the struggle of Italian regional powers to centralize their territorial states. In keeping with her overarching theme of continuity, Shaw concludes by arguing for a notable stability in the relationship of the military nobility with their lands and fortresses, despite the many changes that occurred during the period 1450-1550.

In chapter three (“Barons in the City”) Shaw surveys the relationship between the military nobility of each region and civic life, again stressing the broad range of experiences. More importantly, in this chapter Shaw engages with a topic that has generated significant scholarship over the past century and a half: the intersection in Medieval and Renaissance Italy of the rural, generally associated with the traditional “feudal” nobility and chivalry, and the urban, generally associated with the rise of new men and a new civic ethos. Shaw makes a noteworthy contribution to this debate by demonstrating that members of the military nobility who did engage with civic life in the towns and cities in their region managed to maintain their distinct identity, unlike the multitude of rural families who became fully integrated into urban patriciates and the plethora of civic elites who bought country estates and fortresses. Indeed, Shaw argues that even while residing in towns or cities, the military nobles valued and invested in their rural estates, which were not only central to their identity, but also provided them with their military strength. Among the topics considered in this chapter is the issue of direct lordship over towns and cities, as well as the surprising lack of interest among most military nobles in holding civic offices. This apathy toward civic offices did not mean, of course, that the military nobility exercised little influence in civic affairs. Indeed, barons and castellans in each region exerted varying degrees of influence indirectly through political factions that were already deeply rooted in cities and towns. Somewhat more controversial, however, is Shaw’s argument that these barons and castellans in general were not enemies of civic life, an assertion that seemingly contrasts with her emphasis throughout the study on the military nobility’s traditional autonomy in the face of the centrifugal forces exerted by territorial states in Renaissance Italy, their deeply entrenched connection with the countryside, and their martial lifestyle that was in many ways antithetical to civic ethos cultivated by urban dwellers.

In chapter four (“Honour, Faction and Private Wars”), Shaw argues that the barons and castellans saw their military assets, which were in many cases far superior to those available to other elites, primarily as a means to defend and further their own interests, not as tools to be put at the service of a sovereign lord or government. Despite their possession of rural fortresses and private armies, however, Shaw argues somewhat surprisingly that the military nobility did not always, or even typically, engage in martial violence. Indeed, Shaw asserts that private warfare between families and the use of violence to assert and defend honor, characteristic of military nobilities elsewhere in Renaissance Europe, were not common among the signori di castelli in Italy. Shaw does concede that one segment of the military nobility were more likely than any other to engage in violent activities: young men, especially from minor branches of these elite families.Although Shaw downplays the violent lifestyle of the military nobility in Renaissance Italy, in chapter five (“A Life in Arms”) she argues that the military traditions of these families and individuals were central to their personal and collective identities. This did not mean, however, that every male member expected or desired to cultivate a military career. In fact, military nobles in certain regions, for example among the Roman barons or in the Emilia Romagna, were far more likely to have a military career than their counterparts in other regions. Rather than an expectation, Shaw asserts that the decision to live the life in arms was an individual one and provides ample evidence to confirm the continued participation among Italian signori di castelli in the profession of arms both at home and abroad. In this way Shaw once again aptly demonstrates the broad range of experiences among members of the Renaissance Italian military nobility. Shaw’s conclusions in these two chapters in particular make an important contribution to both the history of warfare and the study of the elite in Renaissance Italy, and will no doubt spark considerable debate and encourage future research.

In chapters six (“Allegiance and Rebellion I: The Fifteenth Century”) and seven (“Allegiance and Rebellion II: The Italian Wars”) Shaw traces the complicated nature of loyalty in Renaissance Italy. For the fifteenth century Shaw argues that allegiance was not straightforward because of the complexity of the political geography of Italy, which resulted in members of the military nobility owing loyalty and service to several powers, who were themselves at times in conflict with one another. As a result, military nobles were often forced to take up arms against a lord or government that demanded their fidelity and service. Shaw explains that in order to justify a particular course of action, the military nobility in general prioritized their honor over any obligation they owed as a subject of a particular sovereign power and, in many cases, they asserted their traditional autonomy, refusing to recognize that they owed loyalty or service to any higher power. This important argument is supported by Shaw’s observation that the military nobility as a whole generally preferred to conclude voluntary associations, like aderenza and condotta, rather than more formal and binding ones. During the Italian Wars, the issue of allegiance was greatly complicated by the presence of foreign powers (France and Spain), which forced the military nobility to consider a whole host of factors when determining where their loyalty ultimately lay. Shaw notes that while the military nobles of Renaissance Italy could easily justify changes in loyalty, as they had done in the fifteenth century, the French and Spanish did not understand or quickly forgive such mutability. Not surprisingly, during and after the Italian Wars France and Spain replaced the territorial states of fifteenth century Italy as the foci of allegiance and loyalty. Despite these changes, however, Shaw again stresses the continuity of the lifestyle and military and political activities of the military nobility.

In summary, Shaw’s Barons and Castellans deserves considerable praise for both its breadth of coverage and the significant contribution it makes to several fields of historical inquiry, not least the history of warfare and the elite in Renaissance Italy. Given the importance and scope of Shaw’s study, scholars interested in pursuing any of the multitude of leads introduced therein will no doubt lament the rather sparse footnotes and relative lack of discussion about the sources utilized, especially those composed by or as a result of the patronage of the signori di castelli themselves. Military historians interested in the art of war will be disappointed by the lack of treatment of how these military nobles conducted themselves in battle, while historians of elite culture will wish for more discussion of the cultural and intellectual forces (e.g. chivalry, honor) that influenced these barons and castellans and shaped their “life of arms”. Despite these minor points, Shaw’s Barons and Castellans is an important piece of scholarship that deserves a broad audience. Indeed, military historians and scholars of elite culture in Renaissance Italy alike will profit greatly from this study.

Peter W. Sposato, PhD
Indiana University Kokomo

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