SATYRANDO · Insults in Italian City States.Criminal Literary History
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-06-01 → 2023-03-01
- EU contribution
- €262,269
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Insults in Italian City States.Criminal Literary History
As European societies strive towards increased complexity and integration, the challenge is to bring together diverse individuals and communities without eroding their unique identities and diversity. Understanding how such harmonious integration can be achieved, without triggering destructive violence, is more urgent than ever. However, true integration must be able to preserve those voices that challenge and question dominant narratives. These forms of protest, potent forces in their own right, are essential for stirring debate and promoting change, acting as counterweights to illiberal tendencies. SATYRANDO seeks to redefine the role of non-physical, particularly verbal, violence in today's societies. This redefinition comes from fostering a cross-disciplinary understanding of the history of insult and defamation as crimes at a critical juncture of European history, the Italian Middle Ages. This period is unique for its explosion of judicial records, an occurrence unmatched in the rest of Europe or in earlier eras. Simultaneously, the influential Bolognese school of Roman law glossators rose to prominence, significantly shaping the way European societies balanced defamation with free speech from the Renaissance through to the modern era. Lastly, the Italian Trecento emerged as a hotbed of literary innovation, with eminent figures such as Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch not only employing but also reflecting on the satirical mode. By mapping, curating and making accessible and interoperable, a vast selection of judicial material related to the crime of insult (verba iniuriosa), the action addresses a number of key questions: When does symbolic violence exceed its bounds and become intolerable? What is the role of art in the production and regulation of violence in complex societies such as the Italian communes? And what if any are the social and gender markers of the phenomenon? SATYRANDO concluded successfully, with the development and publication of the most comprehensive database to date of judicial documents related to the crime of insult. This comprehensive resource not only illuminates the historical dynamics of non-physical violence but also establishes a foundation for future academic explorations in this field. The project further expanded its scope by with partially published interviews with celebrated comedian Alexis Wilkinson and renowned cartoonist Bob Mankoff. The completion of the project extends to the academic sphere, where a monograph and two comprehensive studies are underway.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
“You are lying in your throat!” “Your father was a water carrier!” “You shouldn’t be talking to good women!” “Rotten prattler!” In Late medieval Italian cities, these and many other expressions were illegal. A citizen found uttering these words against another citizen would be taken to court and, if found guilty, punished. Lists of such ‘injurious words’ (verba iniuriosa) are found in government measures (statutes, legislation of decrees and ordinances). Many more are preserved in collections of criminal trial records (depositions, prosecutions, sentences and records of fines).SATYRANDO will be the first systematic investigation of the interconnections between this fascinating body of legal practices and thinking, and the Italian literary production of the time, a period generally referred to as the Late Middle Ages (mid-13th – end-15th century). In various ways jurisdiction over insult will illuminate the circumstances of production and reception of a variety of literary artefacts and theories. The action will change the way in which so-called the group of 'Playful Poets' are perceived and categorised in available scholarship – at school and university levels -, correcting the traditional notion that the use of aggressive, offensive language should be mainly interpreted as a rhetorical exercise or divertissment. By locating and describing those commentators, rhetoricians and poets who demonstrate an awareness of the legal risks involved in employing violent language, the action will also contribute to a better understanding of the development of the literary genre of satire and the history of concepts such as defamation, oppression of minorities (ie satire vs women and Jews in particular), freedom of speech, hate crimes and tolerance.An important part of SATYRANDO is to explore the broader impact of the reworked definition of satirical language by developing private and public dialogue with Italian and EU policy-makers, magistrates and satirists and cartoonists.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA · RomaCoordinatorItaly
- THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · CHICAGO ILLINOISUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union