Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

An insatiable calamity: urban space and political hegemony in a history of fires (880-1080)

ABSTRACT

Despite their documentary reoccurrence, fires have received sparse attention in historiography. Above all those which devastated the urban spaces of Regnum Italicum between 880 and 1080. When they do not naturalize occurrences of this type as fatalities or accidents, the explanations in force make them appear as cases of supposed feudal disorder, widely revised by historians. In relation to understanding the history of the calamity of urban fires, much needs to be done. This article seeks to contribute to this undertaking. Starting from diplomatic and chronicle documentation, we analyze their meaning and the way these references are used in the composition of the written records: fires emerge as a social and multidimensional action. Moreover, we seek to explain the changes associated with the nature of this practice. The hypothesis of this paper is that the documentary appearance of the fires belongs to a political temporality.

Keywords:
fires; urban spaces; political history

Associação Nacional de História - ANPUH Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 338, Cidade Universitária, Caixa Postal 8105, 05508-900 São Paulo SP Brazil, Tel. / Fax: +55 11 3091-3047 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: rbh@anpuh.org