William Caferro
Biographic Data
| ID | 1122315 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William Caferro |
| GIVEN NAMES | William |
| FAMILY NAME | Caferro |
| SIGNATURE | CAFERRO W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Vanderbilt University |
| ORCID | 0009-0002-1847-8806 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
They are like your Arabs”
The famous Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani (d. 1348), a basic source of information about his city and Europe, composed a detailed and overlooked account of a civil war among the Ḥafṣids, a North African Muslim dynasty, an event known primarily through the writings of Villani’s famous contemporary Ibn Khaldūn, an eyewitness. Villani’s account reveals a nuanced understanding of the social and cultural fabric of the Ḥafṣid Tunis that, paired…
Comparative Economy and Martial Corporatism
The essay makes extensive use of archival sources to examine the economic and political meaning of Florentine city leagues [taglie] during the period from 1332 to 1392, associated (since Machiavelli) with military decadence and loss of native martial spirit. The paper argues that rather than “failed proto-nationalistic” military associations, as they have long been understood, the leagues expose critical and otherwise unavailable evidence about t…
Notariorum itinera
Notariorum itinera: Notai toscani del basso Medioevo tra routine, mobilità e specializzazione. Giuliano Pinto, Lorenzo Tanzini, and Sergio Tognetti, eds. Biblioteca Storica Toscana 78. Florence: Olschki, 2018. viii + 310 pp. €35. - Volume 74 Issue 4
Warfare and Italian states, 1300–1500
The history of Italian warfare from 1300 to 1500 has been dominated by discussion of mercenary soldiers. Italian states used them throughout the Middle Ages and by the fourteenth century the practice evolved into a species of “system,” characterized by reliance on preformed bands of substantial size, containing also foreign soldiers from outside of the peninsula. The era of the “companies of adventure” ( compagnie di ventura ), as it is known, la…
Premodern European Capitalism, Christianity, and Florence
The essay examines the role of Christianity in premodern European capitalism, with regard to the city of Florence. It traces the formation of the historical construct and the influence of Werner Sombart's Der moderne Kapitalismus , a work much neglected nowadays in the Anglophone academy. The article seeks to historicize and contextualize faith and economy, to stress their fundamentally intertwined nature and more specifically how notions of “neg…
Premodern European Capitalism, Christianity, and Florence
The essay examines the role of Christianity in premodern European capitalism, with regard to the city of Florence. It traces the formation of the historical construct and the influence of Werner Sombart’s Der moderne Kapitalismus, a work much neglected nowadays in the Anglophone academy. The article seeks to historicize and contextualize faith and economy, tostress their fundamentally intertwined nature and more specifically how notions of “negot…
Renaissance Mass Murder
Stephen Bowd's book seeks to explain the civilian massacres that occurred during the Italian Wars .Bowd treats the slaughters-largely ignored by scholars-as a social and cultural phenomenon, following the interpretative lines set down by the historian Philippe Contamine and the sociologist Michael Walzer.Bowd's vantage is, as much as possible, that of the civilian/victim.He consciously eschews the traditional grand military narrative that inheren…
Teaching Western Civilization
This contribution to the second installment of the Common Knowledge symposium “Inside the Humanities Classroom” describes the experience of teaching a single class meeting of the year-long Western Civilization survey course at Vanderbilt University. The essay examines both the professional and pedagogical challenges involved in organizing the class and the strategies employed to encourage critical reflection and historical thinking among the stud…
The Routledge History of the Renaissance
Routledge History of the Renaissance
From Oikonomia to Political Economy
Germano Maifreda. From Oikonomia to Political Economy: Constructing Economic Knowledge from the Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2012. vii + 304 pp. $134.95. ISBN: 978-1-4094-3301-9. - Volume 67 Issue 1
Petrarch's War
The nature of the Florentine economy during the era of plague and the so-called crisi del trecento has been the subject of a great deal of study and debate. The nuanced and sophisticated discourse has proceeded, however, without proper consideration of warfare, which coincided with the other crises, but has been relegated in the Anglophone scholarship to the lonely subfield of military history. Recent studies have helped improve the status quo an…
Contesting the Renaissance
The Ledger of Filippo Borromei and Co. of Bruges, 1438 . J. L. Bolton , Francesco Guidi Bruscoli
Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry, 1100-1550 . Yuval Noah Harari
Continuity, Long-Term Service, and Permanent Forces
Warfare and Economy in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1450
The well-known cycle of plague and famine in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italy coincided with continuous and expensive warfare. These wars, largely ignored by scholars, had important economic consequences for the peninsula, reallocating resources on both the state and individual level. The spending habits of soldiers suggest, albeit tentatively at this stage, a "Renaissance" penchant for conspicuous consumption and display
Noble Ideals and Bloody Realities
Lust for Liberty
The Knight and the Blast Furnace
Da Figline a Firenze
Sergio Tognetti. Da Figline a Firenze: Ascesa economica e politica della famiglia Serristori (secoli XIV-XVI). Florence: Opus Libri edizioni, 2003. ix + 234 pp. index, append, tbls. map. bibl. n.p. ISBN: n/a. - Volume 57 Issue 2
Il fisco in una statualità divisa
Marcello Bonazza. Il fisco in una statualità divisa: Impero, principi e ceti in area trentino-tirolese nella prima età moderna. Bologna: Società editrice il Mulino, 2001. 530 pp. index. bibl. €29.95. ISBN: 88-15-08386-3. - Volume 56 Issue 4
Carteggio degli oratori mantovani alla corte sforzesca (1450-1500), 2
Lucca, 1430-1494
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Italy and the Companies of Adventure in the Fourteenth Century
(1996). Italy and the Companies of Adventure in the Fourteenth Century. The Historian: Vol. 58, No. 4, pp. 795-810
Warfare and Economy in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1450
The well-known cycle of plague and famine in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italy coincided with continuous and expensive warfare. These wars, largely ignored by scholars, had important economic consequences for the peninsula, reallocating resources on both the state and individual level. The spending habits of soldiers suggest, albeit tentatively at this stage, a "Renaissance" penchant for conspicuous consumption and display
The silk business of Tommaso Spinelli, fifteenth‐century Florentine merchant and papal banker
Continuity, Long-Term Service, and Permanent Forces
City and Countryside in Siena in the Second Half of the Fourteenth Century
This article reopens the classic debate about the relationship between the city and the countryside in medieval/Renaissance Italy. It examines city-countryside relations in Siena in the second half of the fourteenth century and compares them with what we know of Siena≈s northern neighbor, Florence. It argues that Sienese policy was moderate and even-handed and, despite similar pressures, less harsh than that of the Florentines. The difference is …
Broken Lights and Mended Lives
City and Countryside in Siena in the Second Half of the Fourteenth Century
This article reopens the classic debate about the relationship between the city and the countryside in medieval/Renaissance Italy. It examines city-countryside relations in Siena in the second half of the fourteenth century and compares them with what we know of Siena≈s northern neighbor, Florence. It argues that Sienese policy was moderate and even-handed and, despite similar pressures, less harsh than that of the Florentines. The difference is …
Italy and the Companies of Adventure in the Fourteenth Century
(1996). Italy and the Companies of Adventure in the Fourteenth Century. The Historian: Vol. 58, No. 4, pp. 795-810
The silk business of Tommaso Spinelli, fifteenth‐century Florentine merchant and papal banker
The silk business of Tommaso Spinelli, fifteenth-century Florentine merchant and papal banker
Lucca, 1430-1494
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Carteggio degli oratori mantovani alla corte sforzesca (1450-1500), 2
Il fisco in una statualità divisa
Marcello Bonazza. Il fisco in una statualità divisa: Impero, principi e ceti in area trentino-tirolese nella prima età moderna. Bologna: Società editrice il Mulino, 2001. 530 pp. index. bibl. €29.95. ISBN: 88-15-08386-3. - Volume 56 Issue 4
The Knight and the Blast Furnace
Da Figline a Firenze
Sergio Tognetti. Da Figline a Firenze: Ascesa economica e politica della famiglia Serristori (secoli XIV-XVI). Florence: Opus Libri edizioni, 2003. ix + 234 pp. index, append, tbls. map. bibl. n.p. ISBN: n/a. - Volume 57 Issue 2
Noble Ideals and Bloody Realities
Lust for Liberty
Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry, 1100-1550 . Yuval Noah Harari
Continuity, Long-Term Service, and Permanent Forces
Warfare and Economy in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1450
The well-known cycle of plague and famine in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italy coincided with continuous and expensive warfare. These wars, largely ignored by scholars, had important economic consequences for the peninsula, reallocating resources on both the state and individual level. The spending habits of soldiers suggest, albeit tentatively at this stage, a "Renaissance" penchant for conspicuous consumption and display
The Ledger of Filippo Borromei and Co. of Bruges, 1438 . J. L. Bolton , Francesco Guidi Bruscoli
Contesting the Renaissance
Petrarch's War
The nature of the Florentine economy during the era of plague and the so-called crisi del trecento has been the subject of a great deal of study and debate. The nuanced and sophisticated discourse has proceeded, however, without proper consideration of warfare, which coincided with the other crises, but has been relegated in the Anglophone scholarship to the lonely subfield of military history. Recent studies have helped improve the status quo an…
From Oikonomia to Political Economy
Germano Maifreda. From Oikonomia to Political Economy: Constructing Economic Knowledge from the Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2012. vii + 304 pp. $134.95. ISBN: 978-1-4094-3301-9. - Volume 67 Issue 1
The Routledge History of the Renaissance
Routledge History of the Renaissance
Teaching Western Civilization
This contribution to the second installment of the Common Knowledge symposium “Inside the Humanities Classroom” describes the experience of teaching a single class meeting of the year-long Western Civilization survey course at Vanderbilt University. The essay examines both the professional and pedagogical challenges involved in organizing the class and the strategies employed to encourage critical reflection and historical thinking among the stud…
Warfare and Italian states, 1300–1500
The history of Italian warfare from 1300 to 1500 has been dominated by discussion of mercenary soldiers. Italian states used them throughout the Middle Ages and by the fourteenth century the practice evolved into a species of “system,” characterized by reliance on preformed bands of substantial size, containing also foreign soldiers from outside of the peninsula. The era of the “companies of adventure” ( compagnie di ventura ), as it is known, la…
Premodern European Capitalism, Christianity, and Florence
The essay examines the role of Christianity in premodern European capitalism, with regard to the city of Florence. It traces the formation of the historical construct and the influence of Werner Sombart's Der moderne Kapitalismus , a work much neglected nowadays in the Anglophone academy. The article seeks to historicize and contextualize faith and economy, to stress their fundamentally intertwined nature and more specifically how notions of “neg…
Premodern European Capitalism, Christianity, and Florence
The essay examines the role of Christianity in premodern European capitalism, with regard to the city of Florence. It traces the formation of the historical construct and the influence of Werner Sombart’s Der moderne Kapitalismus, a work much neglected nowadays in the Anglophone academy. The article seeks to historicize and contextualize faith and economy, tostress their fundamentally intertwined nature and more specifically how notions of “negot…
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