Becker, Marvin B. Florence in Transition (2 volume set) I. The Decline of the Commune II. Studies in the Rise of the Territorial State. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1967. [1676]
Two volumes, brown cloth hardcovers, clean texts, good price-clipped dust jackets with a little edge wear. 6 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches, 263 + 275 clean pp. Very good in good dust-jacket. Hardcover.
"With the waning of the Middle Ages, the life of the Italian polis underwent a gradual but unmistakable transformation. The leisurely decentralization of the medieval commune, which had its roots in feudalism, the code of chivalry, and religious faith, gave place to the tight despotism of the fourteenth century. This in turn yielded to democratized government and finally to a stricter legalistic and puritanical rule. Mavin Becker's two-volume study of Florence examines this metamorphosis and establishes its relationship to the emergence of the Renaissance state." - publisher.