Between Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire: the Genoese Republic and the Fieschi Family in the Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries

The aim of this thesis is to investigate socio-political functioning of the Genoese Republic from its origin in the beginning of twelfth century through the period of High Middle Ages until the middle of sixteenth century, first, to trace the historical path, stages of development and institutional peculiarities of Genoa, second, to analyze political, economic and social influence of the Genoese noble families, and especially the Fieschi family, on the Republic, third, to explore Genoa’s status among different Italian and European states as well as its place in the conflict between the political parties of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Most studies on the history of the Italian region of medieval and renaissance times were conducted in relation to such key cities of that period as Rome, Florence and Venice, while many other equally important city-states of the peninsula remain poorly explored. This work is based not only on already published chronicles of medieval Genoese authors, but also on previously unpublished documents, discovered in one of the historical archives of Saint-Petersburg, as well as on materials and research papers of English, American, French, Italian, German, Russian and other scholars, which were found in open access on the Internet or during the work in the National Library of Russia and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma (Italy). The work presented here is also one of the few attempts to briefly summarize in English the history of Genoa and the information about its institutions and socio-political structures. Therefore, it will be interesting and useful for anyone who wants to start or continue his or her acquaintance with the history of this great city.