Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ViolenControl (Violence and its Control in early modern Venice, 1500-1797)
Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31
“ViolenControl” addresses the problem of interpersonal violence and its control in the early modern age, with a focus on the Republic of Venice. The project challenges views of the linear decrease of lethal violence between the Middle Ages and modern period, built on Norbert Elias’ analysis. This interpretation has long been contested by scholars of violence, but comprehensive studies on early modern Italy are still lacking. “ViolenControl” aims to offer a long-term study of the Venetian Republic, a different setting from the princely one usually surveyed.
Understanding which factors and control mechanisms have actually contributed to the monitoring and decrease of interpersonal violence is an important discovery that can potentially help modern societies tackle the issue of violence, whose incidence varies greatly from nation to nation. The factors so far identified by scholars as major contributors to the increase in lethal violence are political and environmental-demographic factors. Finding out what impact these elements had on a complex setting as the Venetian Republic is another objective of this research, which focuses on both quantitative and qualitative aspects.
In particular, “ViolenControl” addressed the following aspects: the spatial aspects of violence, class, and gender. Starting with the relationship between lethal violence and gender relations in the Venetian Republic, this project aimed at investigating the gendered characteristics of violence, especially the construction, performance, and elaboration of masculinity through male violence. This was, in fact, a prerogative of young men and associated with socio-cultural notions of male honour. But the project also gave special consideration to female-on-male and female-on-female violence as to better frame how violence framed, and sometimes even conflicted with, gender identities.
Understanding which factors and control mechanisms have actually contributed to the monitoring and decrease of interpersonal violence is an important discovery that can potentially help modern societies tackle the issue of violence, whose incidence varies greatly from nation to nation. The factors so far identified by scholars as major contributors to the increase in lethal violence are political and environmental-demographic factors. Finding out what impact these elements had on a complex setting as the Venetian Republic is another objective of this research, which focuses on both quantitative and qualitative aspects.
In particular, “ViolenControl” addressed the following aspects: the spatial aspects of violence, class, and gender. Starting with the relationship between lethal violence and gender relations in the Venetian Republic, this project aimed at investigating the gendered characteristics of violence, especially the construction, performance, and elaboration of masculinity through male violence. This was, in fact, a prerogative of young men and associated with socio-cultural notions of male honour. But the project also gave special consideration to female-on-male and female-on-female violence as to better frame how violence framed, and sometimes even conflicted with, gender identities.
The first four months of the project have been spent in Italian archives to identify sources to be examined later. Most of this time was spent looking through the Death Notice’s records from Padua and Verona, sources compiled by local Health Officers that provide valuable insight into the lethal violence occurring within city walls. But these months were also used to gather the relevant sources for qualitative research. Based on such source material, four conference and one seminar papers have been produced, which discuss various topics related to the project's objectives.
In chronological order, these papers addressed: 1) the relationship between spaces of violence and the urban and rural environment in 17th century Padua; 2) the culture of violence in the maritime colonies of the Venetian Republic, to show how similar or different they were to continental Europe; 3) the impact of elite violence and violence against state authority on the overall rates of lethal violence; 4) a comparison between the new judiciaries created in the Republic of Venice and Papal States, and tasked with promoting civic peace and reducing noble and factional violence in those territories; 5) a focus on enmities between Venetian patrician houses in the first half of the 16th century as a moment of political and judicial transformation and the introduction of a more punitive justice approach. In addition to these papers, a conference project gathered scholars from Europe and America.
The two journal articles written, one of which currently in peer review and the other accepted and about to be published (plus a third that has been rejected but is going to be resubmitted) explored some of the conference papers’ topics: the first investigated violence in Cyprus during Venetian rule, a context hitherto unexplored due to the very scarce existing sources. This innovative analysis shows how Cypriot society shared the same idiom of honour and violence with the European social classes, and other points of contact concerned some legal nuances that shaped the narratives of conflicts by those involved in them. The second explores the case of the feud between the Michiel and Molin families at the beginning of the 16th century and, above all, its judicial and out-of-court management.
In addition to such outputs designed for specialists and the academia, the project also includes outputs designed to spread its findings to the general public. In particular, a blog post published on a specialised history of law, crime, and justice blog offers an overview of the civic peacemakers established in the Venetian mainland and in Papal States throughout the 16th century. The blog post outlines the main features of these new officers, highlighting common points and differences, and connects their emergence to the challenges faced by the two states, namely factionalism and noble banditry.
Finally, an innovative dissemination experiment was presented at the York Festival of Ideas. Using an open-source tool, an interactive gamebook has been designed to popularize the functioning of the early modern Venetian criminal justice system. The four storylines provide an in-depth look at the following aspects in a style tailored to the non-specialised level of the audience: 1) the relations between crimes and courts and the protagonists of Venetian justice; 2) how public justice worked; 3) forms of international justice justice before modern international law came into being; 4) what happened during and/or beyond the trial.
In chronological order, these papers addressed: 1) the relationship between spaces of violence and the urban and rural environment in 17th century Padua; 2) the culture of violence in the maritime colonies of the Venetian Republic, to show how similar or different they were to continental Europe; 3) the impact of elite violence and violence against state authority on the overall rates of lethal violence; 4) a comparison between the new judiciaries created in the Republic of Venice and Papal States, and tasked with promoting civic peace and reducing noble and factional violence in those territories; 5) a focus on enmities between Venetian patrician houses in the first half of the 16th century as a moment of political and judicial transformation and the introduction of a more punitive justice approach. In addition to these papers, a conference project gathered scholars from Europe and America.
The two journal articles written, one of which currently in peer review and the other accepted and about to be published (plus a third that has been rejected but is going to be resubmitted) explored some of the conference papers’ topics: the first investigated violence in Cyprus during Venetian rule, a context hitherto unexplored due to the very scarce existing sources. This innovative analysis shows how Cypriot society shared the same idiom of honour and violence with the European social classes, and other points of contact concerned some legal nuances that shaped the narratives of conflicts by those involved in them. The second explores the case of the feud between the Michiel and Molin families at the beginning of the 16th century and, above all, its judicial and out-of-court management.
In addition to such outputs designed for specialists and the academia, the project also includes outputs designed to spread its findings to the general public. In particular, a blog post published on a specialised history of law, crime, and justice blog offers an overview of the civic peacemakers established in the Venetian mainland and in Papal States throughout the 16th century. The blog post outlines the main features of these new officers, highlighting common points and differences, and connects their emergence to the challenges faced by the two states, namely factionalism and noble banditry.
Finally, an innovative dissemination experiment was presented at the York Festival of Ideas. Using an open-source tool, an interactive gamebook has been designed to popularize the functioning of the early modern Venetian criminal justice system. The four storylines provide an in-depth look at the following aspects in a style tailored to the non-specialised level of the audience: 1) the relations between crimes and courts and the protagonists of Venetian justice; 2) how public justice worked; 3) forms of international justice justice before modern international law came into being; 4) what happened during and/or beyond the trial.
The project's outputs advanced the state of the art in the comprehension of the early modern history of violence in different aspects, especially thanks to the two datasets on cases of lethal violence that occurred in Padua and Verona. These include information about the identity of the victims, their social background and place of origin, where they were attacked, with what weapon and at what time of day, as well as how much time elapsed from the violence to the actual death. The key novelties are manifold but, in particular, the most significant is the understanding of how a territory, such as the Venetian mainland, could have little homogeneity within it: specific local factors had a significant weight in determining homicide rates.
Other outputs contributed with other insights: the comparison of urban and rural spaces of violence showed that violence is much more defined by the environment than one might expect, as well as by the socio-economic stratification of the population. This conference paper also shows how violence was more frequent in urban than in rural spaces. Places present in both contexts, such as taverns and shops, did not play the same role as places of violence but were much more prominent in urban violence than in rural one, where violence occurred much more at the residences of victims and perpetrators.
The conference paper and blog post on civic peacemakers in the Venetian mainland brought to light unknown figures that should lead us to rethink the peace-making practices promoted by both local and central ruling classes. The so-called Peace Lords of bigger as well as smaller cities were members of those civic councils and often belonged to the most politically important families. This discovery has relevance not only for the study of criminal justice and violence, but also for political and social history on account of the impact played by them in the local scenario, and the role interpreted by these peacemakers as a means of linking city justice and the justice exercised by governors and central courts.
Other outputs contributed with other insights: the comparison of urban and rural spaces of violence showed that violence is much more defined by the environment than one might expect, as well as by the socio-economic stratification of the population. This conference paper also shows how violence was more frequent in urban than in rural spaces. Places present in both contexts, such as taverns and shops, did not play the same role as places of violence but were much more prominent in urban violence than in rural one, where violence occurred much more at the residences of victims and perpetrators.
The conference paper and blog post on civic peacemakers in the Venetian mainland brought to light unknown figures that should lead us to rethink the peace-making practices promoted by both local and central ruling classes. The so-called Peace Lords of bigger as well as smaller cities were members of those civic councils and often belonged to the most politically important families. This discovery has relevance not only for the study of criminal justice and violence, but also for political and social history on account of the impact played by them in the local scenario, and the role interpreted by these peacemakers as a means of linking city justice and the justice exercised by governors and central courts.