Summary This innovative collection explores the causes and effects of 'disciplined dissent' - forms of protest or political action positioned between the poles of submission and defiance. To identify the political influence of commoners, the emphasis is neither 'top down' nor 'bottom up' but on mutual influence and the interplay between rulers and ruled. Contributions concerning quite diverse polities show a careful opposition of non-elite people through an effort to respect the legislative system and to find common ground with the authorities. The aim was to emphasize aspects of the norms and institutions in favour of the benefit of the community, or to ensure adjustments of some aspects if found to be beneficial for the few and detrimental for many. The examination of non-violent pressure can help us to have a more exhaustive understanding of the protagonists, causes, and effects of socio-political changes in contexts of governmental development. The analysis includes cases of violent action that managed to secure royal approval. The premise of the book is that inequality, far from being accepted as normal and inevitable, was frequently questioned by less powerful people. When targeted by more or less evident forms of political marginalization, they laid claim to principles of justice and on this basis developed a critical comprehension of government, pursued a selective rejection of injustice, and gained recognition through negotiation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Gaining Political Recognition in Western Europe, 1200-1600 ? FABRIZIO TITONE Before the 'Primo Popolo': Politics and the Popular Movement at San Gimignano in the First Half of the Thirteenth Century? ENRICO FAINI Putting Pressure on the Lord: the Fiscal Reforms of Pietro Gambacorta, Signore of Pisa (1370-1392) ? ALMA POLONI Flemish Textile Workers' Struggle for Emancipation in the Thirteenth Century ? WIM BLOCKMANS Rulers and Ruled: Freedom, Submission, and Dissent in the Florentine Correspondences (15th Century) ? ISABELLA LAZZARINI Putting Pressure on Rulers: Petitions, Disciplined Dissent and the Commons in Fourteenth Century England ? PETER COSS Disciplined Dissent and Nostalgia in Late Medieval England ? HANNAH SKODA Civic Ritual and Disciplined Dissent in Late Medieval England ? ELIZA HARTRICH In the Name of the Commonweal : How did French Peasants Manage to Obtain a Legal Recognition of Their Rights to Self-Defence During the Hundred Years War? ? VINCENT CHALLET Knowledge and Agency in Catania in the Later Middle Ages ? FABRIZIO TITONE Pushing Back Male Violence in Marriage: England, 1400-1600 ? MARTIN INGRAM Conclusion? CHRIS WICKHAM Index