Accounts of public justice in the Italian communes emphasize mediation of urban conflicts, overlooking interactions between rural communities and civic tribunals. Foregrounding the countryside reveals how nonelites responded to public courts and procedures such as anonymous denunciation and ex officio inquisition. This article argues that a Florentine court's outcomes resulted from the intersection of institutional structures, local power relations, and rural inhabitants’ in-court behavior. It uses procedural records in conjunction with notarial cartularies and public documentation to explicate the local dynamics shaping testimony. Claiming ignorance was rural peoples’ tactical response to elite malefactors' enmeshment with the commune as rural proxies.

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14 世纪托斯卡纳的农村人民与公共正义

意大利公社的公共司法记录强调调解城市冲突，忽视农村社区和公民法庭之间的互动。将农村置于前景揭示了非精英如何应对公共法庭和程序，例如匿名谴责和当然调查。本文认为，佛罗伦萨法院的结果是制度结构、地方权力关系和农村居民在法庭上行为的交集。它使用程序记录以及公证卡特尔和公共文件来解释当地的动态塑造证词。声称无知是农村人民对精英犯罪分子作为农村代理人与公社纠缠在一起的策略性反应。