Between Communes, Signorie and Papal Government: Public Palaces in the Papal State (Late 14th to Early 15th Centuries)

Abstract

The takeover of the Papal State by the Pope himself during the 15th century brought an end to the domination of many powerful lordly families. Communal institutions were often reestablished, and controlled by a representative of the pope but just as the development of urban lordships had not seen the disappearance of communal institutions and their old public palaces, the arrival of the papal administration did not always lead to the construction of new buildings. Based on cases situated mainly in the two provinces of the Duchy of Spoleto and the March of Ancona, this article shows how different urban governments (both seigneurial and pontifical) of the late Trecento and early Quattrocento were able to use the buildings created by a power they were trying to replace or with which they had to collaborate for their own benefit. Communal palaces received special attention from the new rulers: they were part of urban identity and symbolized the idea of a government based on the consent of the people, necessary for the legitimacy of any kind of leadership.