From domus civium to a communal palace. The medieval beginnings of the seat of municipal authorities

Abstract

From domus civium to a communal palace. The medieval beginnings of the seat of municipal authorities

(Summary)

The article discusses the development of the permanent seat of municipal authorities in western Medieval towns – the most impressive secular public building, the symbol and ‘logo’ of a medieval town (known as a commune). The main subject of analysis is the terminology used to describe various communities of citizens, places for their gatherings and the seat of the municipal authorities, used in source materials, from the oldest mention of communes until the 13th century. The birth of the communes, and development of the language to describe them, are presented against the backdrop of the great social and political processes taking place at the turn of the first and second millennium, in “post-Carolingian Europe”, although initially they were only perceptible in Latin. The common basis for educating Medieval clerks (notaries and town writers) – also in terms of language and law – resulted in a barely differentiable and quickly stabilized Latin terminology for describing the seat of the commune (domus civium, domus civitatis, praetorium). The differentiation is more noticeable in the vernacular languages, especially with reference to words describing the place where citizens held gatherings and the place of work of the first municipal authorities, which enables a fuller perception of the relationship between the place where power was exercised and the political evolution of the commune – the degree of its independence, the system of authority, aspirations to political sovereignty and, lastly, the ideology and communal identity. This terminology reflects the processes and circumstances in which the communes were born and developed, the role, on the one hand, of the bishop, his seat and the cathedral, and on the other, the stormy development of the economy, in particular trade and the establishment of guilds (merchants’ chambers). What is particularly noticeable is the term used by the Italian communes transforming into city-states in the 12th/13th century – palatium (palazzo) – which in Roman law was reserved for the seat of the Emperor, and in the early Medieval period was also used by royalty, and then, in the period in which Italian bishops were losing their powers in Italian towns, appropriated by them to describe the residences which were being extended. The general term for the place where municipal powers were being exercised, consolidated in the 13th/14th century in vernacular languages, has remained little changed down to this day in most regions of the researched area. The article concludes with deliberations on the function of the late Medieval seat of the municipal authorities, provided with a strong tower and which housed the constantly increasing archives, as a place of credibility (locus credibilis), memories and space for social communication.