I gruppi eminenti a Padova tra sviluppi comunali e sperimentazioni protosignorili (fine XII-1260 ca)

This essay aims to retrace the political parable of the Padua city-repubblic from its origin until the end of the Ezzelinian period. The common thread is that of the relations between institutional transformations and the role of the elites. The city-repubblic of Padua since its establishment, in the fourth decade of the twelfth century, was always largely participated. The first consular college was very numerous, testifying to the will, or perhaps the need, to guarantee as many people as possible access to command roles. Who were these men? They were representatives of the aristocratic world, both of town and rural origin, linked to the episcopal curia by feudal relationships. They are very branched families with interests that are not always easy to reconcile: for this reason the commune became the institutional seat to which the task of settling conflicts between large families was entrusted. The experiment had a great success, so much so that the city was established already between the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth century as a coveted seat also for the residence of families of great rural tradition, such as the da Carrara, the Dalesmanini, the da Fontaniva, the Camposampiero. According to a well-established historiographical tradition, at the beginning of the thirteenth century the commune of Padua would have known then a popular 'revolution'. But of this one can legitimately doubt, since Padua did not have until the XIVth century forwarded an important presence of merchants and craftsmen. It is true that the commune, even under the coordination of a forward-looking leadership group, was able to give space to all the forces that sought political space on the urban theater. In camparison with this picture, the experience of the domination of Ezzelino da Romano constituted a fracture, although initially Ezzelino found in Padua more supporters than the main source for those times, the chronicle of the notary Rolandino, let leaked. The multi-city domination of the da Romano, in fact, could not allow the hegemonic groups of Padua to strengthen themselves to the detriment of those of other cities included in the domain. Ezzelino, therefore, betrays the aspirations of those who had aimed at him to broaden the sphere of their interests.