Democracies of the Alps. Issues, practices and ideals of politics in mountain communities, 1300-1500
ProgettoDEMALPS studies late medieval mountain areas as the cradle of radically new political experiences, inspired by original values and
practices of self-governance. The focus of the project is on the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Western Alps, a broad territory
(including modern French, Italian and Swiss regions) which saw unprecedented political unrest and experimentation with forms and
institutions. This area was marked by numerous efforts at, and more than a few successes in, establishing autonomous collective
governments. As a research opportunity, this branch of the Alps is characterised by an unparalleled abundance of exceptional rural
sources for investigating this phenomenon: the registers of council proceedings, which reported the local assemblies’ composition,
debates, and decisions over time. This rich corpus of sources, mostly scattered across local municipal archives, offers an extraordinary
insight into the Alpine inhabitants’ political ideals and connections, with forms of government and practices of political participation
vividly emerging from the registers. To explore such a large and diverse region, DEMALPS will adopt an interdisciplinary approach
combining medieval history, digital humanities, diplomatics and archival science. The project will not only address questions about
the values and practices of Alpine politics, but also provide innovative diplomatic and archival analysis of Alpine sources in
comparative perspective. To this end, DEMALPS proposes to be the first native digital project specifically designed for collaborative
work and sharing data in medieval history on this scale; research hypothesis, data, and their analysis will be made publicly available
online during and after the project. The final goal of DEMALPS is to offer the scholarly community not only a new view of politics in
late medieval Europe
practices of self-governance. The focus of the project is on the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Western Alps, a broad territory
(including modern French, Italian and Swiss regions) which saw unprecedented political unrest and experimentation with forms and
institutions. This area was marked by numerous efforts at, and more than a few successes in, establishing autonomous collective
governments. As a research opportunity, this branch of the Alps is characterised by an unparalleled abundance of exceptional rural
sources for investigating this phenomenon: the registers of council proceedings, which reported the local assemblies’ composition,
debates, and decisions over time. This rich corpus of sources, mostly scattered across local municipal archives, offers an extraordinary
insight into the Alpine inhabitants’ political ideals and connections, with forms of government and practices of political participation
vividly emerging from the registers. To explore such a large and diverse region, DEMALPS will adopt an interdisciplinary approach
combining medieval history, digital humanities, diplomatics and archival science. The project will not only address questions about
the values and practices of Alpine politics, but also provide innovative diplomatic and archival analysis of Alpine sources in
comparative perspective. To this end, DEMALPS proposes to be the first native digital project specifically designed for collaborative
work and sharing data in medieval history on this scale; research hypothesis, data, and their analysis will be made publicly available
online during and after the project. The final goal of DEMALPS is to offer the scholarly community not only a new view of politics in
late medieval Europe