Dinamiche politico-istituzionali di una città mercantile in una Monarchia policentrica. Gli Eulogi di controprivilegio dell'Universitas Messanae

The paper deals with a legal-institutional instrument quite peculiar to Messina: the so-called right of counter-privilege. The city was unique in the sphere of the Iberian monarchy, it could block the application of royal and viceroy provisions: if the provisions conflicted to its prerogatives, their implementation was suspended until the sovereign himself made a pronouncement. This right belonged to the judges of the stratigotial court, all members of the urban ruling group. They drew up and justified the eulogy. The Crown had, then, to rule on the city's reasons set forth in the eulogium. Evidently, the main bone of contention was taxation, the backbone of every state and the main object of the interests of the ruling group of a commercial city. The "eulogies" of counter-privilege represent, therefore, an irreplaceable source of knowledge for reconstructing, with greater clarity than has been done so far, the events arising from the relationship between the sovereign, the viceroy and the city of the Straits. The study focuses on the analysis and critical edition of one of the surviving eulogies preserved in the Medinaceli Ducal Archives in Toledo dating from 1575. That document enlightens us on the events that occurred between 1562 and 1575 regarding the taxation of one tarì per ounce on hides and goods of various kinds and one tarì per pound of raw silk. The city of Faro opposed it and raised the issue of the measure's confliggence with its civic privileges. At the same time, the study does not fail to provide interesting insights into Peloritan aspirations to play the role of first Sicilian sedes, as transpires from the struggle for precedence in the parliamentary assemblies held in those years.