Communities and pacta in early medieval Italy: jurisdiction,regulatory authority and dispute avoidance

This paper considers in turn the pacta between the Carolingians and the Venetians, the Carolingians and the papacy, and between Benevento and Naples. It compares and contrasts these documents (or series of documents) which in effect deal with the relationships between entire communities in early medieval Italy. By putting the agreements relating to the papacy and Venice into their local political contexts, it argues that these agreements tended to aim at regulating the relationship between these communities and establishing stable, peaceful and politically acceptable relationships rather than at establishing political dominance of one over the other.