As Samuel Cohn rightly points out in the introduction to this insightful and helpful book, the study of popular revolt, rebellion, and rioting in early modern Europe has established itself as a key area of enquiry since the days of the protests against the war in Vietnam, thanks to the pioneering studies of scholars such as Natalie Z. Davis, E. P. Thompson, Yves-Marie Bercé, William Beik, Peter Blickle, and others. Most studies nevertheless—albeit not only—focused on Britain and France. A comparable research field has not developed regarding early modern Italy, in particular for the early sixteenth century, for which we mostly have case studies (Aubert; De Benedictis), with the fundamental exception of the research surrounding Masaniello's revolt in 1647. It is Rosario Villari's work, masterful on the politics of the Baroque age and the Neapolitan revolt, that Cohn's new research stems from and builds on. This book therefore fills a gap, and for the first time tries to offer a general overview of the phenomenon of popular protest with a thematic rather than case-study approach.
The volume—structured in three parts (“Differences,” “Convergences,” “Democracy”)—revolves primarily around the years of the Italian wars (1494–1559). It begins by usefully engaging with slippery and much-debated concepts such as revolt/revolution and popolo, offering a clear take that serves as a guide to proceed through the book. Chapters are devoted to the forms and expressions of revolt (chants, flags), to its causes (from price rises to anti-feudal rioting, to grain scarcity), and to its protagonists (soldiers and shopkeepers first and foremost). A significant chapter is devoted to the role of women, who for a long time were overlooked in this scholarship, especially by the Italian historiography.
The third section, on “Democracy,” is the most conceptually stimulating. Using the term as a conscious anachronism, the author employs the concept to sound out the ideological underpinnings of early modern revolts. The many facets of representation are therefore examined—for example, the issue of the “cultures of voting” to which Serena Ferente, Lovro Kunčević, and Miles Pattenden have recently devoted a collection of essays. Attention is also given to the Parlamenti, with their many ambivalences. Here, some further discussion of factionalism and an engagement with a more recent historiography on the Italian states of the Quattrocento might have helped in expanding the implications of the argument. Overall, the thesis is that many of the Italian early modern popular revolts were “permeated by ideals of democracy.” And Cohn gives quite a stimulating suggestion for what a democratic ambition in a nondemocratic age might have looked like: desire for representation and a push for socioeconomic equality. In some respect, the author feels that centralization and what used to be called early modern “state building” went directly against such democratic instincts. Here the book leaves itself open to a wider discussion of political theory (direct democracy, role of the State, etc.). We may agree or not with the author's stance—perhaps living in a populist age gives one less certainty on the intrinsic value of the popolo construct—but for sure, the book is a major contribution in rethinking early modern Italian politics.
