Abstract

The title has drawn on a statement by Matteo D'Afflitto, commentator of the Frederick II's Constitution, which summarizes the ancient aspiration of the power to impose weights and measures in order to control each activity and protect the subjects from fraud. The Frederick Kingdom, one of the most structured of the time, offers precious sources (the legislative, chronicle and chancellery ones, besides the less known Quaternus excadenciarum Capitinate) to analyse a crucial topic with regard to the rebirth of centralist powers, early expressions of statehood.