«An testis sciat in qua provincia sita sit civitas?» Città a giudizio: fonti processuali per un approccio multifocale di storia urbana

Abstract

The proposal aims to consider a classical source of ecclesiastical historiography, used for several decades especially in studies on the Italian episcopacy. In fact, the processes for the appointment of bishops constitute a homogeneous corpus, which provides a range of information both on the prelate, as on the city and its diocesan territory. Preserved in the Archivio Segreto Vaticano, the source represents a particular ‘discourse on the city’, a real judgment articulated by several question marks that we intend to deliver in comparison other document. City to judgment, therefore, according to a geographically widespread, long-term, multi-focal, or a comparative approach to urban history. The itinerary of the proposal will focus on a particular diocesan system of fragmented viceroyalty of Naples in the early modern era (first half of XVII c.).