Early medieval charters and urban legal cultures in Northern Italy. An Overview

My paper discusses some case studies taken from the rich documentary city-based production of early medieval north Italian private and public charters. In the first part of my paper I especially focus on the Lombard tradition; I further discuss the rich variety of documents, outline some examples, and focus my attention on a few documents that are particularly interesting. I then choose some examples from the early Carolingian period; my attention is for that period especially focused on wills and notitae placiti (disputes settlements), taking again some interesting examples in order to highlight the general state of the art in northern Carolingian Italy. I finally discuss some further documentary examples, especially taken from the 10th and 11th century tradition: in this last part, exchanges and leases are considered.