Social support networks in the imperial fiefdoms

Until recently, historiography had not paid particular attention to the study of the social support networks in the territories of the imperial fiefdoms of the Apennines, situated in today’s southern areas of Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, and Liguria. Until 1797, the term imperial fiefs was used to refer to all territories subject to the Holy Roman Empire. In the Old Regime, social support practices represented a tool for defining and strengthening the social identity of the patronage actors which exercised, together with charity, an economic, jurisdictional, and social control action through these activities. In the area under investigation, the role of parishes, communities, and families emerged alongside the role of the feudal lord. The aim of the present work is to shift attention from the more eminently jurisdictional, political, and religious aspects to those concerning the activities of intermediate social bodies which were the leading figures in the formation of social support networks.