| Paper 1507-b | Business of Violence: The condottieri as Agents on Markets of Violence between Commerce and State Building in Late Medieval Italy
(Language: English)
Heinrich Lang, Early Modern History, Otto-Friedrichs-Universität Bamberg
Index terms: Economics - General, Military History, Politics and Diplomacy, Social History |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
While the small corpus of 15th-century English fabliaux have received some attention from scholars of literary history, the frequent episodes of violence in these poems are not often discussed. However, such outbursts of aggression are interesting, largely because they are often directed against members of the priesthood. This paper argues that such hostility goes beyond simple slapstick, and often succeeds in articulating powerful criticisms of the clergy, in ways that subtly evade the proscriptions against censure laid down by Archbishop Arundel at the beginning of the 15th century.
Paper -b:
I will examine here the function of the condottieri (ital. = mercenaries) in late Medieval Italy. I am interested in defining the economic, social, and cultural dynamics of the phenomenon that led to the development of a 'market of violence', and its impact on the broader context of the Italian Renaissance. By analysing the Italian state system over the 14th and 15th century, my aim is to give a new interpretation of the role of the condottieri as active entrepreneurs in the business of war within a network of merchant bankers, courtiers, and diplomats.
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