The criminal law system of medieval and Renaissance Florence /

Stern's monograph is a sometimes excruciatingly detailed study of the three foreign rectors of Florence--the podesta (chief magistrate), the captain of the people, and the executor of the Ordinances of Justice. Stern traces the evolution of these officials from the 13th century when they performed both executive and judicial functions to the early 15th century. As early as the 1370s these foreign rectors had become solely judicial officials who oversaw Florence's criminal justice system. In the course of her narrative, Stern proves that neither the Medici party nor any other patrician clique managed to destroy these independent criminal courts (the rectors were hired from outside Florence to guarantee objectivity) before the Medici triumph of 1434. Although Stern offers a thorough administrative history and a statistical study of the types of cases tried between 1425 and 1428, she fails to enliven her account with descriptions of actual court cases. Her book would have been far more interesting if she had provided some details on the actual individuals who were forced to appear before the rectors. Graduate; faculty. T. S. Miller; Salisbury State University