Anneke van Baalen, HIDDEN MASCULINITY, Max Weber's historical sociology of bureaucracy. 1994
Chapter 7 The city: new fraternities of patriarchs
122
8. Demilitarization of medieval citizens: the citizen as 'homo economicus'
Yet, according to Weber, the nobility survived politically throughout the democratic
revolutions. Although it was formally excluded from the city government, its military power
remained an important factor, the more so because the cities waged wars against each other
in an attempt to expand their economical and political power; as the power of the guilds over
the nobility remained military in character, the man chosen to lead the handicraft guilds in
the armed struggle was usually a knight
58
. Besides, knights wishing to participate in city life
could become members of a craft guild; in the long run therefore, nobility and rich
bourgeoisie again merged into a city patriciate
59
.
The unity of this city patriciate was reinforced - especially in Northern Europe at the end of
the Middle Ages - when the country nobility broke with the urban nobility, because the latter
participated in economic activities and sat together with the craft guilds in the municipal
governments.
60
At the same time a development to the contrary occurred: the medieval city administration
was demilitarized, and with it the citizenry. While in Athens the demagogue, the political
leader, was often still the highest military leader
61
, the medieval 'capitano del popolo', the
people's captain, more and more became a chosen juridical and political functionary, until
finally he was a official of the commune. The citizens became increasingly preoccupied with
economic concerns and were no longer used to fulfil military service
62
; we shall see that in
the end they were deliberately disarmed by the patrimonial rulers within and outside of the
city.
Weber sees this development as constituting a decisive difference between the city of
Antiquity and that of the Middle Ages; while the former remained an association of military
men, the latter ultimately became a sheer economic Verband. In his view the citizen of
Antiquity was a homo politicus - 'politics' being the fight for power - whereas the medieval
citizen was a homo economicus.
63
The medieval demilitarization of the citizenry gave other military powers their chance. In Italy
they ruled within the city walls themselves: they were the 'signorie', the city tyrannies.
64
58
ES p. 1301, WG p. 775/6. See also ES p. 1130, WG p. 668: 'However, it was very rare, even under the
popolani, for a commoner to hold leading offices, even though here as always the bourgeois strata had to finance
the parties.' The leading knight 'was often called in from another town,in which case he had to bring his own staff
along', ES p. 1302, WG p. 776.
59
ES p. 1304/5, WG p. 777/8.
60
ES p. 1239, WG p. 743.
61
ES p. 1314, WG p. 783.
62
ES p. 1320, WG p. 787.
63
ES p. 1354, WG p. 805.
64
ES p. 1316, WG p. 784. These tyrannies had also developed in Antiquity as a result of the struggle of sections
of the middle classes and the peasantry, who were both victims of usury, against the patriciate. The difference
between Antiquity and Middle Ages, though, is that the Italian city dictatorships in most cases 'developed directly
out of the legal offices of the popolo', while 'the city tyrannis in Hellenic Antiquity normally represented only one of
the intermediate phenomena between the patrician rule and timocracy or democracy'. ES p. 1318, WG p. 785.
(The Concise Oxford Dictionary: 'Timocracy: Form of government in which there is a property qualification for
office; form of government in which rulers are motivated by lover of honour', from Greek 'timokratia', in which
'timè' is honour, worth, value).
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