ABSTRACT
A well-known case of such a transfer of power was the overlordship offered by Florence to Walter of Brienne, titular duke of Athens, in 1342 after the city's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Lu cchese.~ T his was untypical only in that the initiative came mainly from the citizens. Mo re commonly the tyrant accomplished his own ascent to power through a carefully planned COIiP "'1101. However recognisable such a coup may be to the eyes of historians, it was usually possible at the time to disguise and minimise it. The city commo nly in the first instance granted special powers to an individual for a fixed period only-alleging the need in a time of crisis to suspend fo r a while the normal ,",'Orkings of the constitution-but both the duration of the grant and the width of the powers were often extended later. Even when full powers had been made over, it was usual fo r the commune to maintain its own legal existence, its former institutions surviving though in practice they came under the control of the tyranl. Many signori (lords) regularised their position by securing a grant of special powers from a 'parliament' held to represent all the citizens, this anachronistic assembly having never formally lost its position as the commune's sovereign body. Commonly such an election continued to be made in each successive generation, the heir sometimes even taking an oath to protect the well-being of the commune. Normally signori came to acquire the power of appointing their successor-usually a son or nephew-and sometimes they associated him in office when they became elderl y. A formal agreement on hereditary succession was likely to be a quite late development; it is only found at Verona, for example. after 1359, when the Scaligeri ( Della Scala) had been lords of that city for almost a century.
