Books by Ronald E Zupko

The history of the medieval towns of northern and central Italy opens a window onto the concerns of urban elites throughout the medieval world regarding the environment and quality of life. In Straws in the Wind the authors demonstrate that legislative efforts to control the environment were neither haphazard nor accidental.

An account of the environmental history of medieval towns which examines the law codes of towns in northern and central Italy to demonstrate that legislators had a vision of what the quality of life should be and enacted laws designed to shape the city environment in accordance with this ideal.