Social preeminence and mounted combat: the case of Camugliano in the Valdera (Tuscany, ca. 1150-1200)|Preminenza sociale e combattimento a cavallo: il caso di Camugliano in Valdera (Toscana,1150-1200 ca.)

The paper examines a family group of mounted combatants and the prominence they enjoyed in the village in which they resided. The designated case study is Camugliano, a centre illuminated by a substantial documentary dossier: seventy parchments written mostly by local notaries. The most prominent family group of the local élite was that descended from the two brothers Portascudo and Garzone, who had performed military support on horseback. Their descendants took over these functions and exercised them for various eminent individuals. They thus succeeded in establishing themselves as leading figures in village society.