Why were these particular medieval Italian city-states the first to achieve them? There were two major factors. First was their ability to play off imperial, papal, and Byzantine ambitions, and so to establish and maintain their independence. Second was their leadership in a rapidly expanding foreign trade that resulted in the dispersion of political power among a set of well-matched interest groups: not only the aristocracy, the military, and the clergy but also merchants, bankers, manufacturers, and the workers’ guilds.
