Nur mit Papier, Feder und Wachs

Abstract

Summary Only with Paper, Pen and Wax. The Lawyers of Emperor Henry VII in Italy between Legal Practice and Political Advice This article examines the role of the learned jurists and judges at the “Italian court” of Emperor Henry VII (1308 – 1313) as legal practitioners and political advisors on the basis of a contemporary text, the so-called “Consilium” written by the court judge Milanzo. This text, written in the spring of 1313, shows Milanzo in dialogue with the emperor and his closest circle of advisors. Milanzo not only answers to open legal questions, but also presents the emperor with his own plan for an important political and military project: to integrate the city of Venice into the Empire “only with paper, pen and wax”. This plan was apparently convincing, for Milanzo was subsequently entrusted with its implementation. The political engagement that is evident from Milanzo’s text can possibly be explained biographically: many of the jurists who can be traced to Henry’s court held leading positions in the Italian communes and signories, at the papal curia or at episcopal courts and universities. This prosopographical explanation for the often-stated influence of the learned jurists on Henry VII’s politics, is concretised in this article on the basis of selected biographies.