摘要
It is a very hard job for historians to keep themselves neutrals in from of the events they find during their studies. It is also difficult to notice the correlations among the different times of the history without falling in anachronistic mistakes. In fact, it is well-known that a historian must be wise and rational when he finds those correlations, because every society has its own characteristics, structures, and mentality. This brief essay focuses on the social structures in a north eastern italic region, which is called Friuli, between the 12th and 16th centuries. In the above mentioned centuries, it is possible to notice an evolution from a feudal ecclesiastical principality, ruled by prince-patriarchs, ecclesiastical institutions and nobility, to a more fluid and dynamic constitution formed by new classes which rose up in times of urban and economic development. But this development struggles to delete the old system, which persisted until the end of 18th century with the arrival of Napoleon. The transition from the Patriarch＇s power to Venice＇s dominion seems to have created two main consequences： by one hand a more bureaucratic and modem structure of the State, by the other hand a consolidation of the old connections between patrons and clients, consequence of the ＂modem＂ feudal system that consolidated its roots in the Late Middle Ages centuries.
