Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome: Trials before the Papal Magistrates / Edition 2

by Elizabeth S. Cohen, Thomas V. Cohen

Overview

The social historian, searching for the basis of a culture, often turns to a study of ordinary people. Perhaps one of the most revealing places to find them is in a court of law. In this presentatoin of nine criminal trials of sixteenth-century Rome (1540-75), where magistrates kept verbatim records, Thomas and Elizabeth Cohen paint a lively portrait of a society, one that is reminiscent of Boccaccio. These stories, however, are true.

Each trial transcript is followed by an essay that interprets the beliefs, codes, everyday speech, and personal transactions of a world that is radically different from our own. The people on trial include assassins, a spell-caster, an exorcist, an adulterous wife, several courtesans, and the peasant cast of a bawdy, sacrilegious play. Out of their often pognant troubles, and their machinations, comes a vivid revelation of not only the tumultuous street life of Rome but also rituals of honour, the power and weakness of women, and the realities of social and economic hierarchies.

Like cinema-verite, Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome gives us an intimate glimpse of a people and their world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802076991
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	10/04/1993
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.01(w) x 9.03(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth S. Cohen teaches in the Department of History and in the Division of Humanties, York University. Thomas V. Cohen is Associate Professor in the Department of History and in the Division of Humanities, York University.

Editorial Reviews

'Highly recommended for anyone interested in the Renaissance.'

—Choice

'These fascinating snapshots of Renaissance Rome and its population are illuminating on many counts; they shed light, for example, on one of the most interesting aspects of the past, the relationship between the sexes, which is often difficult to retrieve from other official documentation. Men and women interact in these pages in ways that seem very familiar to us: they make friends, move house, go shopping, have sex, joke and argue in a seemingly contemporary fashion.'

—Kate Lowe, Canadian Journal of Urban Research

'Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome is designed as a textbook of source materials which will be of great use to teachers and students of Renaissance Italy and of interest to the general reader.'

—Mary M. Gallucci, Quaderni d'italianisctica

'It is indeed a worthy piece of investigation and scholarship.'

—Gregory Hanlon, The Literary Review of Canada

From the Publisher

'These fascinating snapshots of Renaissance Rome and its population are illuminating on many counts; they shed light, for example, on one of the most interesting aspects of the past, the relationship between the sexes, which is often difficult to retrieve from other official documentation. Men and women interact in these pages in ways that seem very familiar to us: they make friends, move house, go shopping, have sex, joke and argue in a seemingly contemporary fashion.'

Canadian Journal of Urban Research - Kate Lowe

'Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome is designed as a textbook of source materials which will be of great use to teachers and students of Renaissance Italy and of interest to the general reader.'

Quaderni d'italianisctica - Mary M. Gallucci

'Highly recommended for anyone interested in the Renaissance.'

Choice

'It is indeed a worthy piece of investigation and scholarship.'

The Literary Review of Canada - Gregory Hanlon

Thomas and Elizabeth Cohen (both history, York U.) present nine criminal trials of 16th-century Rome, where magistrates kept verbatim records. Each trial transcript is followed by an essay that interprets the beliefs, codes, everyday speech, and personal transactions of a world radically different from our own. The people on trial include assassins, a spell-caster, an exorcist, an adulterous wife, several courtesans, and the peasant cast of a bawdy, sacrilegious play. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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