Absolutism in Renaissance Milan : plenitude of power under the Visconti and the Sforza, 1329-1535
"... shows how authority above the law--once the preserve of pope and emperor--was claimed by the ruling Milanese dynasties, the Visconti and the Sforza, and why this privilege was finally abandoned by Francesco II, the last Sforza duke (d. 1535). As new rulers, the Visconti and the Sforza had to impose their regime by rewarding supporters at the expense of opponents. That process required absolute power, also known as 'plenitude of power', meaning the capacity to overrule even fundamental laws and rights, including titles to property." "Contemporary lawyers ... were at first prepared to ... support ... the free use of absolute power ... However, lawyers eventually came to ... reassert the principle that laws could not be set aside without compelling justification." The book traces "developments in Milan over the course of two centuries, showing how the Visconti and Sforza regimes seized, exploited, and finally relinquished absolute power."--Page vi
eBook, English, 2009
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2009