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| Duecento | |
|---|---|
| Name | Duecento |
| Native name | Duecento |
| Caption | Crucifix by Cimabue |
| Start year | 1201 |
| End year | 1300 |
| Region | Italy |
Duecento
The Duecento denotes the thirteenth century in Italy, a period marked by developments in Florence, Siena, Venice, Pisa, Genoa and Naples. It overlaps chronologically with events such as the Fourth Crusade, the rise of the Holy Roman Empire under the Hohenstaufen dynasty, and the papacies of Innocent III and Boniface VIII. Cultural figures active include Dante Alighieri, Cimabue, and Giotto di Bondone, while institutions such as the Republic of Florence and the Commune of Bologna shaped political life.
The term originates from Italian century-naming conventions like Trecento and Quattrocento, paralleling usages for Rinascimento studies focusing on Florence, Siena, Umbria, Tuscany and Romagna. Historians such as Jacob Burckhardt and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle popularized period labels in scholarship on Gothic art, Romanesque architecture, and the transition toward Renaissance. Linguists contrast Duecento with the Dolce Stil Novo movement linked to Guido Guinizzelli, Guido Cavalcanti, and Dante Alighieri in philological accounts of Italian language evolution.
The Duecento unfolds amid the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, shifting trade networks connecting Pisa and Venice to the Levant and Constantinople. Imperial-papal tensions between the Hohenstaufen dynasty—notably Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor—and the Papacy involving Pope Innocent III shaped conflicts in Sicily, Bari, and Capua. Urban communes like the Republic of Genoa, Republic of Venice, Republic of Pisa, and Republic of Florence expanded mercantile law and banking precursors exemplified by innovations in Florence and Lucca. Military engagements such as the Battle of Benevento and disputes in the March of Ancona affected dynastic politics tied to houses like the Angevins and Hohenstaufen.
Visual culture in the Duecento features artists including Cimabue, Giotto di Bondone, Coppo di Marcovaldo, Duccio di Buoninsegna, and workshops in Siena and Assisi. Architectural projects in Pisa—such as the Pisa Cathedral complex—and in Florence—notably the Baptistery of Florence and the early stages of the Florence Cathedral site—reflect transitions from Romanesque architecture to Gothic architecture influenced by builders from Lombardy, Provence, and Burgundy. Fresco cycles in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi and panel painting for the Maesta in Siena illustrate narrative innovations later associated with the Italian Renaissance. Patrons like the Alighieri family and institutions such as Santa Maria Novella financed commissions alongside confraternities including the Compagnia della Misericordia.
Literary activity centers on vernacular production by poets and thinkers such as Dante Alighieri, Guido Cavalcanti, Guido Guinizzelli, Boncompagno da Signa, and Rustichello da Pisa. Scholastic philosophy at universities like Bologna and Paris engaged figures linked to Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus traditions, while legal scholarship at the University of Bologna and commentaries on the Corpus Juris Civilis informed civic statutes in Siena and Florence. The emergence of prose chronicles by Matteo Villani-style continuators and notaries in Pisa and Lucca complemented troubadour and Occitan influences migrating from Provence and Catalonia.
Musical and poetic forms include the transmission of Occitan lyricism from troubadours associated with William IX, Duke of Aquitaine and Bernart de Ventadorn into Italian vernaculars performed in courts of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, and Liguria. Notated liturgical developments in manuscripts produced in Pisa and Padua show chant traditions used in San Marco, Venice and monastic centers like Montecassino. Poets such as Sordello da Goito and performers linked to the courts of Ezzelino III da Romano and the Este family contributed to the fusion of lyric, moral, and political verse that informs later troubadour reception.
Urbanization accelerated in city-republics including Florence, Genoa, Venice, Pisa, and Siena with guild systems like the Arte della Lana and banking precursors exemplified by firms in Lucca and Florence. Maritime commerce tied Venice to the Byzantine Empire and Acre, while the Republic of Genoa pursued colonies and trading privileges influencing conflicts with Pisa. Communal constitutions and statutes—codified in archives of Bologna and Florence—regulated commerce, taxation, and militia levies used against rivals such as Perugia and Orvieto. The interplay of monarchy and commune appears in contests between the Hohenstaufen dynasty and papal-backed actors including the Angevins.
The Duecento provided artistic, literary, and institutional groundwork for the Trecento and the Italian Renaissance, influencing figures such as Giovanni Villani, Francesco Petrarca, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, and later patrons like the Medici family. Techniques developed by Giotto di Bondone and narrative modes from Dante Alighieri shaped subsequent painting, poetry, and civic identity in Florence and Siena. Legal and commercial innovations foreshadowed banking systems and municipal governance seen in the Quattrocento and beyond, while manuscript transmission linked Duecento scribes in Monte Cassino and Bologna to humanists active in Rome and Padua.
Category:13th century in Italy