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Article: Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125-1325.(Book review)
- Article from:
- Canadian Journal of History
- Article date:
- September 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Canadian Journal of History. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125-1325, by Augustine Thompson, O.P. University Park, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005. xii, 502 pp. $65.00 US (cloth) $25.00 US (paper).
For decades, historians of northern Italian communes in the Middle Ages have ignored the role of religion in the formation of those urban governments. For instance, J.K. Hyde, author of the still-consulted Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: The Evolution of the Civil Life, 1000-1350 (New York, 1973), describes the commune as an "essentially secular contrivance" (p. 8). In his ambitious new book, Augustine Thompson counters this vision of a ...