Gli "iudices" a Brescia (XII-XIII secolo)

Over the last few decades, a number of studies have amply explored the history of justice in the commune of Brescia, especially with regard to the measures of exclusion from citizenship or the problem of seigniorial justice in the countryside. No particular attention, however, has been paid to the individuals who administered justice in the city itself and over the territory, apart from the famous case of Albertano da Brescia. Starting from there, the essay aims to investigate the existence of a group of judges of local origin between the 12th-13th centuries. The analysis will be conducted in two directions, both involving the selection of significant cases: by focusing first on juridical practices, secondly on the judges’ social profile. This paper is meant to show how in Brescia the main identity factor for judges resided in the legal experience acquired through working daily in the public courts and in the communal political system. But also, it points out how public justice itself played a key role as a channel of mobility, leading some judges to aristocratic status.