Parading in public: patrician women and sumptuary law in Renaissance Siena

Abstract

ABSTRACT:In Renaissance Italy clothing, particularly of women, was strictly regulated; individuals were regularly denounced when walking through the city. Modesty was a virtue in a republican state and dress played a major part in urban identity, reflecting social values and those of the political regime. Sumptuary laws were a major mode of control, particularly of patrician women, whose dress reflected both their own and their family's wealth and status. Despite increased availability of luxurious fabrics encouraged by urban policies, legislation was used to prohibit new forms of dress and raise money for state coffers. At the end of the fifteenth century Pandolfo Petrucci (1452–1512) took control of Siena. The inner elite of his regime, particularly its female members, were given exemptions from the strict legislation and were able to flaunt their elevated status and the new social order.

The Archaeology of Emptiness? Understanding Open Urban Spaces in the Medieval World

“…For example, in England, Italy, and elsewhere sumptuary legislation served to restrict consumption in an attempt to reduce its potential for challenging the social order. In engaging with public spaces, people had to take care in presenting themselves -confrontation had implications for the self (Shaw 2005, 154;Jackson 2010;Howell 2010, 234-43). These implications undermined trust, limiting the opportunities for individuals to engage in economic interactions.…”

The Political Economy of Status Competition: Sumptuary Laws in Preindustrial Europe

“…The existence, proliferation, and disappearance of these laws directly connect to topics such as the emergence of fashion and the culture, politics, and legal systems of the Renaissance more generally; and the consumer and industrious revolutions (see Brewer and Porter 1993;Vries 2008). Historians have also investigated how sumptuary laws reinforced distinct gender norms (see, particularly, Brundage 1987b;Jackson 2010;Moran 2018;Cavallar and Kirschner 2020).…”