Question: what brought great wealth and power to italian city states in the 14th century
Answer: Some feudal lords existed with a servile labour force and huge tracts of land , but by the 11th century , many cities , including Venice , Milan , Florence , Genoa , Pisa , Lucca , Cremona , Siena , Perugia , Spoleto , Todi , Terni , and many others , had become large trading metropoles , able to obtain independence from their formal sovereigns .