The essays collected in this volume are dedicated to the pragmatic dimension of the writing of history in 12th-century Italy. All the contributions can be read by following a few guiding questions: why and by whom were chronicles written? In what spheres and with what objectives did they circulate? How were they used in the political arena? Through an innovative comparative perspective, which holds southern and central-northern Italy together, the main objective of the volume is to problematise, by means of concrete case studies, social and political significance of history writing in 12th-century Italy. |