As my ever attentive and intelligent readers will know, from time to time I draw attention to books of Tuscan interest that seem to me to be unjustly neglected. I have just read and will soon reread H.B. Cotterill's "Medieval Italy".
Cotterill was born into a talented family at Blakeney, Norfolk, but spent most of his early life in Grahamstown, South Africa, where his father was Bishop. He took his degree in Classics in 1869 at St John's, University of Cambridge, where he developed an intense interest in art. He served for a time on the staff at both Harrow and Haileybury, before travelling to East Africa, inspired by Livingstone's "Last Journals" to contribute to the disruption of the slave trade there. This included transporting a steel launch in sections from the coast to the Zambesi where he explored the nothern shores of Lake Nyasa accompanied by, among others, a brother of Cecil Rhodes. After a 400 miles trek through unexplored country, he arrived safely in Zanzibar.
Soon after this he returned to England and married. He spent the rest of his life in Germany, Italy and Switzerland where he produced a number of books including a History of Greece, a History of Art, and two books on Italy, "Italy from Dante to Tasso" and the volume I'm looking at now, "Medieval Italy during a thousand years (305-1313)", published in 1915. His modest personality and residence abroad meant that he received much less attention in England than might have been expected in a man of his ability and distinction. Indeed, he does not rate an entry in Wikipedia.
This book received a rather negative though not unjustified contemporary review from Norman Parker of the University of Chicago (The School Review, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Apr., 1916), pp. 323-324) who complained that though there are facts in abundance, the flow of Italian history during the period covered was very difficult to discern, and that the rise of the Italian cities was hardly covered at all. However, I have a very clear idea of the flow of Italian history - what I wanted were the details, especially with regard to the Barbarian invasions following the fall of the Roman Empire - Cotterill supplies these in excellently organised abundance. No other book that I've read on the period provides more information on the origins, alliances and activities of the Barbarian tribes as they swept through Italy during the Dark Age, nor on the coeval succession of mostly appalling Popes (and not always succession - there were overlaps of up to four Popes at the same time).
If you're interested in the history of Italy during the Dark Age or Mediaeval times in general, seek out this book. It's a goldmine of recondite information written in a lucid and enthralling style.
P.S. I'm pleased to say that I've just acquired a copy of Catterill's "Italy from Dante to Tasso (1300-1600)" which answers in part the reviewer's caveat by describing the political history of Italy during the period of the expansion of the city states "as viewed from the standpoints of the chief cities".
More about Tuscany during the early Middle Ages.
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Author: Anna Maria Baldini
