ABSTRACT
Textbooks on the Late Middle Ages often feature the same map: a colourful jigsaw showing the respective territories of European states. While the spatial dimension of these polities is now being reassessed, it is crucial to realise that territoriality was never the state’s exclusive domain. Communities of all shapes and sizes, from individual villages to federal associations, constructed territories of equally diverse form and format. Inspired by the reflections of contemporary jurists, this essay looks to challenge these assumptions by surveying different scales and processes of territory-making in late medieval Italy. In so doing, the essay seeks to shift the focus away from the supposed territory of the state and provide a more accurate picture of the spatial fabric of a late medieval society.
