Italy in the seventeenth century

259 Pages·7.079 MB·English

by  Sella, Domenico

an informa business
R
o
u
t
le
d
g
www.routledge.com e
ITALY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
LONGMAN HISTORY OF ITALY
General editor: Denys Hay
Early Medieval Italy 600-1200
T.S. Brown
*Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch 1216-1380
john Larner
*Italy in the Age of the Renaissance 1380-1530
Denys Hay and john Law
*Italy 1530-1630
Eric Cochrane (edited by julius Kirshner)
Italy in the Seventeenth Century
Domenico Sella
*Italy in the Age of Reason 1685-1789
Dina Carpanetto and Giuseppe Ricuperati
*Italy in the Age of the Risorgimento 1790-1870
Harry Hearder
*Modern Italy: 1871-1995 (Second Edition)
Martin Clark
*already published
LONGMAN HISTORY OF ITALY
Italy in the
Seventeenth Century
DOMENICO SELLA
~~ ~~o~;~~n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1997 by Addison Wesley Longman Limited
Published in the United States of America
by Addison Wesley Longman
Published 2014 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXI4 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA
Routledge is an imprint oft he Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
ISBN: 978-1-315-84639-2 (eiSBN)
© Taylor & Francis 1997
The right of Domenico Sella to be identified
as author of this Work has been asserted by him
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise without either the prior written
permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted
copying in the United Kingdom issued by the
Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road,
London WlP 9HE.
ISBN 978-0-582-03595-9 PPR
ISBN 978-0-582-03598-0 CSD
British library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sella, Domenico.
Italy in the seventeenth century I Domenico Sella.
p. em. --(Longman history of Italy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-582-03598-8 (csd). --ISBN 0-582-03595-3 (ppr)
1. Italy--History--17th century. I. Title. II. Series.
III. Series: Longman history of Italy (Unnumbered)
DG544.S45 19%
945'.07-dc20 96-44940
CIP
Contents
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Preface .................................................................................................... ix
Map: The Italian states in the seventeenth century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Chapter One The system of Italian states . . .. .. . .. . . .. . . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . 1
The end of Pax Hispanica . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . .. . 3
Italy and the Thirty Years War ........................................... 5
The Papacy and Italian politics . . . . .. . ... . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . ... . . .. . . .. . . .. 9
Venice and the Turks .......................................................... 11
Italy and the Sun King . .. . . . .. . ... . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . ... .... 13
Institutional stability . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . . 14
Chapter Two The economy .............................................................. 19
Agriculture: setbacks and recovery . ... . ... . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . . .. . .. . . . .. . 23
Industrial and commercial decline .. . . . . .. . . .. . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . 29
Causes and scapegoats ... . ... . . ... . . .. . . ... . ... .... . ... . ... . .. . . .. . . ... . . .. . 32
Industrial survival and growth .. . . . . .. . .. . . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . 41
A changed economy ... . .. . . ... . ... . ... . . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . ... . ... . .. . . .. . . ... 46
Chapter Three Society ......................................................................... 50
The aristocracy .. . . .. . ... . ... . ... . ... . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . ... . .. . ... . .. . . . .. . ... . . .. . . 52
Refeudalization? .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . 63
The middling order .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . . . 69
The plebs . . .. . .. . . .. . ... . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . ... . . .. . . .. . . .. . . ... . .. . . .. . ... . . .. . . .. . . . .. . 75
Welfare ................................................................................ 82
Revolts ................................................................................. 90
Chapter Four Religion ....................................................................... 101
Reforming the clergy .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . . .. . . .. . . 106
Christianization . ... ... . ... . .. . . ... . ... . ... . . ... . ... . .. . . .. . ... . ... . .. . . .. . . ... . ... . 122
The response of the laity . . . .. . . .. . . . ... . .. . . .. . . .. . ... . .. . ... . ..... .. . ... . . . 137
Coercion and repression ............ :........................................ 144
v
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY
Chapter Five Church and state 161
In the Savoyard state .......................................................... . 166
In the Spanish dominions .................................................. . 168
In the Venetian Republic .................................................. .. 176
Chapter Six Culture 188
The arts 189
Poetry and the theatre ...................................................... .. 192
Music .................................................................................. . 195
Historiography .................................................................... . 197
Travel literature .................................................................. . 200
Books of advice ................................................................. . 201
Political theory ................................................................... . 203
Philosophers and libertines .............................................. .. 206
Chapter Seven Science ........................................................................ 213
Galileo's science .................................................................. 214
The trial . . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. . 229
Galileo's legacy . ....................... .... .... ... . .... ... .. ... ... . .... . ...... .... 233
Appendix: Tables of succession ............................................................... 239
Index ....................................................................................................... 241
vi
Abbreviations
AISIG Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico di Trento
QS Quaderni storici
SIB Storia d 'Italia, ed. Ruggiero Romano and Corrado Vivanti, 20
vols, Einaudi, Turin 1972-1986.
SSI Storia della societa italiana, ed. Giovanni Cherubini et al., 25
vols, Teti, Milan 1981-1990.
T&C Timore e carita. I poveri nell'Italia moderna, ed. Giorgio Politi
et al., Annali della Biblioteca statale e civica, Cremona 1982.
vii
For Annamaria
Preface
From the days of the Enlightenment until quite recently, the seventeenth
century has been the Cinderella of Italian historiography. Long viewed as a
time of unrelieved decadence and gloom in sharp contrast to the splendours
of the Renaissance on the one hand and to the rebirth of the nation's spirit in
the eighteenth century on the other, the Seicento was dismissed as an almost
embarrassing aberration in the trajectory of Italian history, an aberration that
deserved but a fraction of the attention which scholars lavished on the
centuries that preceded and followed it. In the last twenty years or so,
however, the relative neglect in which the seventeenth century had been held
for so long has given way to a remarkable surge of interest: a vast amount of
research has been conducted on virtually every aspect of the nation's life, a
wealth of new evidence has surfaced and, as a result, a new and profoundly
different image of the period has begun to emerge. As a work of synthesis,
this book is meant to provide an overview of the century in light of the
revisions proposed by recent scholarship and of the lively debates those
revisions have generated.
I am very grateful to my colleagues Robert M. Kingdon, David C. Lindberg,
Johann Sommerville and John Tedeschi for generously agreeing to read
portions of the manuscript in draft and for offering helpful comments,
criticisms and suggestions on several points. I am also greatly indebted to my
son Antonio for the expert, unfailing assistance he has provided in the
preparation of the manuscript. My wife, to whom the book is dedicated, has
helped me more than she probably realizes: not only have I benefited from
her constant encouragement and support during the book's long gestation,
but her comments and suggestions at various stages of the work have greatly
contributed to bringing clarity to my thoughts and to my writing.
ix