The Florentine Onesta and the Control of Prostitution, 1403-1680

Everyday Crime, Criminal Justice and Gender in Early Modern Bologna

“…Each year, the criminal court produced records for between 2,000 and 3,000 denunciations -the initial complaint about a crime to a local official of the court -and some 300 to 400 processi, which were formal investigation dossiers. 70 In form and spirit these processi fell somewhere between an inquest and a trial in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, as it included the first deposition, all of the forensic and other evidence gathered, the verbatim transcripts of witness testimonies and suspect interrogations, but did not necessarily pass judgement as trials were often suspended for a range of reasons.71 The discrepancy between the number of denunciations and completed trials is well documented for early modern towns, including for those in Italy.72 A widespread culture of peacemaking and pardoning accounted for a part of these suspensions, as did the court magistrates' decisions of which cases to pursue based on the onus, the perceived danger of the case or importance to the community, as well as the 'personal qualities' of those involved.73 Examining the character and content of both the denunciations and the investigation dossiers is therefore important. It does not only allow us to shed light on the involvement of men and women in a wider variety of crimes, but also enables the scrutiny of the diverging priorities of plaintiffs and the authorities and, consequently, on gender biases ingrained in the judicial system.…”

“…The cases collected from the Bolognese criminal court do not necessarily represent all of criminality among a population. Many scholars have argued that criminal court records above all measured the effectiveness and choices of the judicial apparatus rather than all of society's transgressions.74 They commonly refer to the 'dark figure of crime' to describe the crimes that were 70 Angelozzi and Casanova, La giustizia in una città di antico regime, 433; Blanshei,'Introduction,' xvi. 71 In late seventeenth Bologna, a verdict was reached in only a little over three per cent of all of the cases that passed through the court.…”

“…Another example comes from the complaint against Pavolino Balini, who insulted, hit and threatened to kill his fellow coachman Rafael di Negrini with a sword in his hand after he had refused to withdraw a complaint from four years earlier. 70 After several troublesome encounters, Rafael lodged a new complaint, declaring that he feared for his life after Pavolino had come to his house in the middle of the night. Later that day, an agreement was apparently reached and the complaint was withdrawn.…”

Whose City Is This? Hucksters, Domestic Servants, Wet‐Nurses, Prostitutes, and Slaves in Late Medieval Western Mediterranean Urban Society

“…John Brackett traced the development of the office of decency, the Onestà, demonstrating the interplay between civic organization and low-status women. 31 He surmised that the decision to establish the office in 1403 was a somewhat desperate measure to raise badly needed taxes; it was almost certainly inspired by the complaints of the densely packed neighborhoods, interested that their streets not suffer from mala fama. The intramural brothel established to segregate prostitutes garnered fame of its own, becoming something of a sex-tourism site for foreign travelers.…”

Sex and the Sacred

“…9 The earliest legislation emerged in the 1280s and 1290s and was most draconian. It forced prostitutes to remain 1,000 braccia, or over half a kilometer, outside the old city walls and at least 400 braccia (roughly 230 meters) from suburban settlements.…”