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This study of legio XX Valeria Victrix combines a prosopographical and historical approach to the study of the legion as a whole. Epigraphic and historical evidence is presented for all those individuals known to have served with the Twentieth Legion in their various capacities. Sources are quoted, with translation, for each of these and significant details of the careers discussed. Further aspects of careers generally are considered at the end of the relevant sections. This corpus is supported by a number of indices - of nomenclature, origins, ranks, service and posts held in other units etc., as well as an index of primary sources. Other inscriptions attesting to the presence of the Twentieth legion and its activities in various quarters of the Empire are also collected and presented. This epigraphic evidence is drawn together with that of the archaeological and historical sources, along with the copious modem literature on the subject of the Roman Army, to present a history of the Twentieth Legion from its formation out of the legions of the civil wars of the late Republic, to its uncertain end in the changing conditions of the late third and fourth centuries. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of individuals and the light that their careers can shed on the history and activities of the legion. Studies on a number of other aspects of the history and organisation of the legion are appended.

In The Painting Career ofPiero di Cosimo (1462-1522), I have sought to assemble a critical, monographic study of Piero's painting oeuvre that presently includes close to fifty works that are either extant or exist only in references and sources. The Florentine painter has historically proven to be among the most elusive artists of the Italian Renaissance and yet acted as a seminal figure in the artistic transitions occurring from the close of the fifteenth century to the beginnings of Mannerism in Florence. My thesis consists of close iconographic and stylistic analyses that have been balanced by archival work and technical examination. The latter involved numerous meetings with restorers in United States and European conservation laboratories. The resulting in-depth study of the physical states of Piero's paintings as objects involving painting technique, working methods and present condition produces some of the most revealing results. My research with original documents and other primary sources in Florence also introduces a number of new discoveries, particularly from the early and middle stages of the painter's life and career. The varied nature of Piero's art calls for a multidisciplinary approach. Combining iconographic, conservational and archival methods, I aim to contribute new insights into several specific areas. These include: a biographical grounding of Piero's life and those of his known patrons; Piero's advances in portraiture; the use of visual narrative forms and literary sources in Piero's mythologies; and the painter's large-scale devotional works. The questioning of past assumptions concerning Piero's work and biography also leads me to consider the larger scope of influence, legacy and modes of transmission between Piero and other contemporary artists. As one of the most important older innovators, living well into the sixteenth century, Piero was a major catalyst for the new generation of highly inventive artists such as Andrea del Sarto and Pontormo, both of whom passed through his studio. It was Piero, however, who proved to be perhaps the most groundbreaking practitioner in the domestic secular painting tradition before his pupils' ascendance.

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This thesis investigates the sentence of exile in Rome from the years 58 BC to AD 68. Its central argument is that exile increased in severity from the end of the Republic until it had been turned into a despotic tool at the end of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. The thesis also aims to convey diachronically the sense of exile through an analysis of its experiential effect on those who suffered banishment from Rome, while taking account of legal changes and explaining the various forms of exile, aquae et ignis interdictio, relegatio and deportatio. Primary sources referred to include the exilic works of Cicero, Ovid and Seneca, the historical texts of Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, as well as a wide range of other ancient writers. Additional research methods include the use of epigraphic and material evidence. A full bibliography of secondary sources and appendices on key moments and places of exile are included.

This thesis seeks to add to our understanding of Venetian society in the latter half of the fifteenth century by offering a new approach: an in-depth study of one of Venice's six districts (sestier1). My researches concentrated on the sestiere of San Polo, which embraced the Rialto. My intention in narrowing the focus of analysis is to reveal a cross-section of society. Fundamental to this inquiry is to discover the identity of this sestiere; to explore its little known social profile, trades and solidarities and to sharpen the images of its urban fabric. At the same time, it is an investigation into the significance and role of neighbourhood and local loyalties in Renaissance Venice. The opening chapter discusses the changing topography of San Polo and its definition over the following three centuries. Boundaries were blurred; parish disputes document how and why they were changed. Chapter Two introduces the three social orders recognised by contemporaries (patriciate, citizenry and artisans), tracing the sharpening of hierarchy, the growing cohesion of the cittadini originarii and the emergence of poorer neighbourhoods towards the city's margins. Chapter Three investigates noble and cittadini families in San Polo, through a number of detailed case studies. A complex and varied picture emerged, in which family structures and residential patterns amongst the nobility did not conform to rigid models. Chapter Four attempts to flesh out a collective portrait of the "little people", beginning with Rialto. Chapters Five and Six discuss property; initially through a massive survey after the Rialto fire (1514); Quattrocento sources are then used to examine property at Rialto, domestic housing, building activity and renting. The final chapter deals with neighbourhood, concluding that the sestiere was not an effective social unit and that local loyalties formed part of complex and changing webs of allegiance.

This thesis is a study of the pageantry and entertainments which took place in 1608 on the occasion of three aristocratic marriages, those of Princesses Margherita and Isabella of Savoy to Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua and Alfonso d'Este of Modena and of Maria Maddalena of Austria to Cosimo II de' Medici of Tuscany. Volume I comprises: a brief survey of the political situation in northern Italy in 1608, including the marriage negotiations between savoy, Mantua and Modena; a discussion of attitudes to women current in the Renaissance as reflected in marriage pageantry; a full account of the pageantry and entertainments celebrating these marriages, drawing on archival material and contemporary published descriptions; a discussion of the interpretation of pageantry, the response of the spectators, and pageantry's value as political propaganda and as a means of promoting and spreading artistic development. Volume II is an edited collection (in Italian and French) of the relevant documents from Italian state archives and full transcriptions of the three principal accounts published in 1608. The thesis concludes that there is a close relationship between political changes and developments in pageantry. The rise of absolutism as the dominant form of government in Italy at the end of the sixteenth century is parallelled by the glorification of the ruler in pageantry. The stability and prosperity of the state come to be identified with the security and strength of the ruler. The thesis offers a new approach to the role of women in Renaissance politics and society through examination of marriage pageantry. Women are represented as counsellors and mediators, rarely taking action, but promoting peace and, through their role as mothers of future heirs, ensuring stability and prosperity in the state.

This thesis aims to assess the importance of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga and his state in early quattrocento politics. The central geographical position of Mantua placed it in the forefront of the conflict between Venice and Milan which dominated Gianfrancesco's life. It was a conflict during which both protagonists tried to exploit Mantua to further their own expansionist aims. Such a clash of interests naturally placed immense pressures upon Gianfrancesco. As always, his primary aim was to maintain the existence of his state and this meant that he had to manoeuvre himself between the two rivals. He was to place the strategic advantages of Mantua and his own talents as a military commander first of all at the disposal of Venice, the traditional ally and protector of the Mantuan state, and subsequently, in 1438, when he became suspicious of Venetian motives, at the disposal of Filippo Maria Visconti. The central portion of the thesis investigates Gianfrancesco's relations with these two very different masters and attempts to clarify the issues and motives which prompted his change of loyalty in 1438. In many respects, the role which Gianfrancesco was called upon to play was an unenviable one. While it is true that he himself obtained a considerable degree of prestige as Commander of the Venetian army as well as the 'kudos' of an Imperial title, the dual role of ruler and soldier of fortune which had been thrust upon him bristled with problems, and these are also investigated in this study. The period of Gianfranceso's rule provides us with an excellent opportunity to observe the problems and decisions which confronted a small state like Mantua at a time of political crisis. The part which Gianfrancesco and Mantua played in that crisis has been underestimated and this thesis attempts to redress the balance.