HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

332 AUGUSTO VASINAcertainly an inaccurate prefiguration of the so-called urban lordshipin the first half of the thirteenth century. 32 Those forms of solidaritywhich were created temporarily between several urban centers wereunderstood by chroniclers for what they effectively were, that is,occasional military-defensive measures performing an anti-tyrannicalfunction, according to an orientation in many aspects similar, therefore,to the contemporary federative tradition in the Po region. 33 Acenter of coagulation of this more open and dynamic historiographicaldirection was, however, not Venice—fiercely focused on its recordsof the doges, on its restricted patriciate, and on its exceptional fortuneon the sea 34 —but Padua—a city of dry land, re-started in a newway of life in the twelfth century, and decisively oriented after thatto assume a lively presence in the Venetian region, from Verona toVicenza up to Treviso. 35An interpreter of this new political and cultural climate wasRolandino of Padua (1200–76), in his Cronica in factis et circa factaMarchie Trivixane (ca. 1200–62). 36 His rhetorical formation (developedat Bologna), the influence of his father (which was in line with hisprofessional aspirations and was very strong), and his considerablecapacity for vigorous and independent reflection on political mattersmade Rolandino a notary-chronicler of indubitable importance inthe context of urban historiography of the thirteenth century. Thesefactors also made his work a unique cultural expression in everyrespect (beginning with the recognition of its authentic and officialnature, accorded to him around 1262 by a committee of colleagues,doctors in artibus at the school of Padua). 37 The work, divided intoa praefatio, twelve books (for a total of 198 chapters), and a finalrecomendatio ad legentes, was considered a recollectio cronicorum, a recastingof paternal records, written documents, and oral and visual testi-32Still important for many illuminating aspects is the article, published in 1962and reprinted more recently, by Sestan (1966), 193–223.33Considerations on the evolution of federalism in the cities of the Po betweenthe twelfth and the thirteenth century have been developed in Vasina (1996),183–201.34See on this topic Pertusi (1970), passim.35On the historiography of Padua in the context of that of Venice, cf. Bortolami(1995), 53–86.36For the most recent edition, cf. Rolandini Patavini, Cronica in factis et circa factaMarchie Trivixane, ed. A. Bonardi, in Rerum Italicarum Scriptores 2nd ser., 8.1 (Città diCastello, 1905).37See Arnaldi (1963); more recently, Bortolami (1995), 62–74.