Gender and insult in an Italian city

Bologna in the later Middle Ages

Bibliographic Data

ID5779664
AuthorsT Dean (0000-0003-4207-6700, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume29
Issue2
Pages217-231
Publication date2004-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0307-1022 • E-ISSN: 1470-1200
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0307102042000207868
OpenAlexW2067518402
LanguageEN
Citations received13

There are few studies of insult in later medieval Italy. This article aims not only to fill that gap, but also to show the value of applying one branch of modern linguistics to the evidence for medieval insult. The overall aim is to study the particularly gendered aspects of insult: what words and actions could men and women use against their own gender and against the other? The copious judicial archive of Bologna allows for extensive study of this phenomenon. The article falls into three parts: first, establishing the general pattern of insult; second, examining closely the strongest male term of insult; and finally investigating the practice of 'doorscorning', by which the doors of victims' houses were defiled. To interpret the findings, methodological approaches are borrowed from anthropology, medieval legal theory and modern linguistics

Insult · Phenomenon · Historical Legal Studies and Society · History of Emotions Research · Medieval and Early Modern Justice