Roman nobles and village communities: The Barberini family and the 'stato' of Monte Libretti in Latium

This dissertation examines the complex set of relations between Roman nobles and village communities from the mid-seventeenth to the late eighteenth century. Traditionally Roman nobles have been characterized as disinterested absentee landlords, living in Rome, indifferent to their fiefs in the countryside. My dissertation challenges this model of absenteeism by considering carefully the example of one family, the Barberini, and their governance of the stato of Monte Libretti, a large territory northeast of Rome, which united six villages under one noble administration. This dissertation examines the interconnected history of the Barberini family's administration and the villagers' reaction to their rule.;Based on manuscripts in the Barberini archives in Rome and at Harvard University, this study explores what contemporary nobles called the "jurisdictional administration" of fiefs in the countryside. Such rule involved noble participation in key areas of village life: the administration of justice; maintaining public order; and monitoring the affairs and participants in communal government. It also implied a concern for the economic and religious well being of noble "vassals" in the countryside. This dissertation analyzes why such rule had a great symbolic and practical importance for the Barberini both in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. It documents and illustrates the structures of absenteeism which made a close governance of the villages possible for the Barberini from their residence in Rome.;In addition to analyzing the nature of Barberini lordship, my study also investigates the response to that control by the inhabitants of the stato. Throughout the period in question the Barberini found themselves in a tangle of customs, laws, and inhabitants as stubborn as the Barberini in defending their rights. Though Barberini edicts proclaimed the rights of the noble family, letters from the family suggest that nobles realized how those rights had to be negotiated with villagers. In exploring this dynamic exchange, many features of the villagers' values and practices are also illuminated. This dissertation analyzes the nature of the negotiation which took place between urban landowners and rural inhabitants about issues affecting village life and lands.