Papers by Cristina Vasta
Maria Montessori, what did she really intend for "freedom"?
«La libertà non può essere donata», D... more Maria Montessori, what did she really intend for "freedom"?
«La libertà non può essere donata», Dissertation, Corso di specializzazione Montessori per educatrici della prima infanzia Roma, a.a. 2021/2022 Cristina Vasta
Considerazioni e linee di dibattito tra storia medievale e storia economica AnnA modiGliAni Ai ma... more Considerazioni e linee di dibattito tra storia medievale e storia economica AnnA modiGliAni Ai margini della Roma rinascimentale: esclusione/inclusione nella pratica e nella riflessione teorica coeva AnnA CAvAllAro Poveri, infermi e indemoniati nell'arte del Quattrocento a Roma e dintorni GiuliA BArone Povertà ed emarginazione sAndro notAri I marginali nella normativa statutaria medievale romana. Appunti storico-giuridici dAniele lomBArdi Fra tribunali e prigioni: qualche nota su delinquenti, criminali e carcerati nella Roma del Quattrocento mArinA CAFFiero Gli ebrei erano marginali? Giuseppe Crimi Contro le cortigiane: scritti in prosa e in versi nel Cinquecento AnnA esposito La marginalità femminile a Roma nel '400: serve, schiave, concubine CristinA vAstA Donne senza padrone. Marginalità femminile e strategie di sopravvivenza a Roma tra XVI e XVII secolo pAolA Cosentino "Voi che sprezzando il mondo, e la sua sorte": il Gran lamento degli osti di Roma
Storie Romane del Rinascimento, a cura di Anna Esposito, 2018
Instead of focusing on a particular historical issue concerning the history of foreigners in Rome... more Instead of focusing on a particular historical issue concerning the history of foreigners in Rome in the 16th and 17th centuries, the aim of the article is to show how a detailed analysis of a specific primary source, in this case trial records of the main criminal court operating in Rome (the Tribunale criminale del Governatore, Governor's criminal court), can break new ground of research.
After a first section devoted to describe the archival fond Tribunale criminale del governatore di Roma (1512-1809), which is preserved by the Archivio di Stato di Roma, the paper examines two topics: the language spoken by the foreigners, who often continued to use their own local dialect despite their long permanence in Rome; the description of individual process of integration given to the judge by several courtesans, frequently meticulous and colourful re-enactments of their journeys and their way to build new relationships in the city that enrich with original details the history of this peculiar kind of immigrant women.
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Questo articolo, proponendo una inversione di prospettiva metodologica, affronta il tema della presenza di stranieri e forestieri a Roma non tanto a partire dai fondamentali interrogativi che esso pone (l’origine, la permanenza, la capacità e le strategie di integrazione, la produzione culturale, la vita religiosa), quanto da ciò che di nuovo l’analisi sistematica di una specifica fonte primaria, in questo caso gli atti processuali prodotti dal tribunale del governatore di Roma, può fornire alla più generale riflessione storiografica, elementi talvolta forieri di inedite visioni e capaci di illuminare dettagli prima ignorati. Dopo aver esaminato nel suo insieme il fondo archivistico Tribunale criminale del governatore di Roma (1512-1809), conservato presso l’Archivio di Stato di Roma, e rilevato le potenzialità euristiche di ciascuna serie documentaria riguardo al tema in oggetto, il testo si sofferma in particolare su due questioni specifiche che gli incartamenti processuali prodotti tra XVI e XVII secolo consentono di indagare: la permanenza nel linguaggio parlato da forestieri e stranieri immigrati a Roma di elementi dialettali e linguistici propri della loro terra d’origine; l’articolazione non sempre lineare dei percorsi che portavano a Roma un peculiare soggetto sociale, le prostitute. Frammenti di oralità cristallizzata nei verbali d’interrogatorio e narrazioni individuali del venire, del restare, dell’integrarsi che possono contribuire a rendere più complesso e dinamico il già significativo quadro di conoscenze in merito ad un fenomeno, quello dell’immigrazione nella città dei papi, di fondamentale rilievo per chiunque intenda affrontare uno studio sulla Roma della prima età moderna.
While the issue of violence committed by women represents one of the new frontiers of internation... more While the issue of violence committed by women represents one of the new frontiers of international historiography, studies have rarely been conducted on the forms, places and the significance of violence committed by women in an early modern Italian city. Based on a systematic investigation of criminal records from the Tribunale del governatore di Roma that shows that the majority (43%) of the crimes contested against women between 1550 and 1630 were crimes of a violent nature (murders, assaults, brawls, stabbings, poisonings, house-scornings, verbal abuse), the main purpose of the article is to illustrate the places where this kind of violence was perpetrated. Contrary to what one might have expected - a domestic setting for women’s violence - this study demonstrates that women committed acts of violence mainly in a public setting: in the streets, in the squares, from their windows, in courtyards, in churches, even in convents. These physical sites are complemented by an "immaterial architecture", the night, the favourite time to attack their opponents. By examining some case studies this paper shows the active role played by women in sixteenth and seventeenth century Roman urban space, and argues, as suggested by Peter Burke, that interpersonal violence for women, just as it was for men, was a «code of communication», a «form of sociability», one of the tools at their disposal to negotiate, define and defend their social identity.
Conference Presentations by Cristina Vasta
Much debate has centred on the Elias Norbert's concept of the civilizing process, the transformat... more Much debate has centred on the Elias Norbert's concept of the civilizing process, the transformation of Early Modern Europe from an uncontrolled society, in which people could not govern their impulses, to a "civilized" society. This process, aided by the imposition of new social and religious norms. However, Natalie Zemon Davis has remarked that, in order to achieve a well-rounded knowledge on the construction of personal identity, scholars must investigate more than the processes of «réinscription du pouvoir», as suggested by Foucault, but also observe people's oppositions to the power. Using judicial records, which demonstrate the resistance to governmental authority and rebellion against repression, the aim of this paper is to show how, in late Sixteenth-century, Romans reacted to the progressive criminalization of behaviours. This is attested by the increasing number of trials for attacks against the sbirri, the constables of the Governor's Court, Rome's main judicial authority.
Recent historiography on early modern interpersonal violence continues to assume that men were mo... more Recent historiography on early modern interpersonal violence continues to assume that men were most often the culprits and women, when they appeared, were usually victims. The few women who committed violence did so in "female" ways such as infanticide, poisoning, or sorcery. Nevertheless, the trial records for the first decades of the seventeenth century of the Tribunale criminale del governatore, the main criminal court in Rome, yield a number of cases of women accused of murder in other forms. A detailed analysis of the stories that emerge from the trials will pose questions about the motives and the means attributed to the accused women. They were really moved by passionate impulses, by the need of react against physical assaults, or there were other wilful reasons? They actually used to kill mainly poison, or they also used, as men generally did, bladed weapons? Did the community and the judicial process applied different standards to murderesses than to violent men? Our paper will show how some of these women's crimes resembled the violent patterns of men.
2 Why talk about a history of violent women when throughout history women have always been the vi... more 2 Why talk about a history of violent women when throughout history women have always been the victims of crime?
Talks by Cristina Vasta
Instead of focusing on a particular historical issue concerning the history of foreigners in Rome... more Instead of focusing on a particular historical issue concerning the history of foreigners in Rome in the 16th and 17th centuries, the aim of the article is to show how a detailed analysis of a specific primary source, in this case trial records of the main criminal court operating in Rome (the Governor's tribunal), can break new ground of research. After a first section devoted to describe the archival fond Tribunale criminale del governatore di Roma (1512-1809), which is preserved by the Archivio di Stato di Roma, the paper examines two topics: the language spoken by the foreigners, who often continued to use their own local dialect despite their long permanence in Rome; the description of individual process of integration given to the judge by several courtesans, frequently meticulous and colourful re-enactments of their journeys and their way to build new relationships in the city that enrich with original details the history of this peculiar kind of immigrant women.
Undisciplined: The Chasm between Law’s Aspiration and Its Grasp in Rome in the Second Half of Sixteenth Century., 2019
Much debate has centred on the Elias Norbert’s concept of the civilizing process, the transformat... more Much debate has centred on the Elias Norbert’s concept of the civilizing process, the transformation of early modern Europe from an uncontrolled society, in which people could not govern their impulses to a "civilized" society. This process, aided by the imposition of new social and religious norms. However, Natalie Zemon Davis has remarked that, in order to achieve a well-rounded knowledge on the construction of personal identity, scholars must investigate more than the processes of «réinscription du pouvoir», as suggested by Foucault, but also observe people's oppositions to the power. Using judicial records, which demonstrate the resistance to governmental authority and rebellion against repression, the aim of this paper is to show how in late sixteenth-century Romans reacted to the progressive criminalization of behaviours. This is attested by the increasing number of trials for attacks against sbirri, the constables of the Tribunale del Governatore, Rome’s main judicial authority.
Recent historiography on early modern interpersonal violence continues to assume that men were mo... more Recent historiography on early modern interpersonal violence continues to assume that men were most often the culprits and women, when they appeared, were usually victims. The few women who committed violence did so in "female" ways such as infanticide, poisoning, or sorcery. Nevertheless, the trial records for the first decades of the seventeenth century of the Tribunale criminale del governatore, the main criminal court in Rome, yield a number of cases of women accused of murder in other forms. A detailed analysis of the stories that emerge from the trials will pose questions about the motives and the means attributed to the accused women. They were really moved by passionate impulses, by the need of react against physical assaults, or there were other wilful reasons? They actually used to kill mainly poison, or they also used, as men generally did, bladed weapons? Did the community and the judicial process applied different standards to murderesses than to violent men? Our paper will show how some of these women's crimes resembled the violent patterns of men.
Book Reviews by Cristina Vasta
Roma nel Rinascimento, 2018
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Papers by Cristina Vasta
«La libertà non può essere donata», Dissertation, Corso di specializzazione Montessori per educatrici della prima infanzia Roma, a.a. 2021/2022 Cristina Vasta
After a first section devoted to describe the archival fond Tribunale criminale del governatore di Roma (1512-1809), which is preserved by the Archivio di Stato di Roma, the paper examines two topics: the language spoken by the foreigners, who often continued to use their own local dialect despite their long permanence in Rome; the description of individual process of integration given to the judge by several courtesans, frequently meticulous and colourful re-enactments of their journeys and their way to build new relationships in the city that enrich with original details the history of this peculiar kind of immigrant women.
***
Questo articolo, proponendo una inversione di prospettiva metodologica, affronta il tema della presenza di stranieri e forestieri a Roma non tanto a partire dai fondamentali interrogativi che esso pone (l’origine, la permanenza, la capacità e le strategie di integrazione, la produzione culturale, la vita religiosa), quanto da ciò che di nuovo l’analisi sistematica di una specifica fonte primaria, in questo caso gli atti processuali prodotti dal tribunale del governatore di Roma, può fornire alla più generale riflessione storiografica, elementi talvolta forieri di inedite visioni e capaci di illuminare dettagli prima ignorati. Dopo aver esaminato nel suo insieme il fondo archivistico Tribunale criminale del governatore di Roma (1512-1809), conservato presso l’Archivio di Stato di Roma, e rilevato le potenzialità euristiche di ciascuna serie documentaria riguardo al tema in oggetto, il testo si sofferma in particolare su due questioni specifiche che gli incartamenti processuali prodotti tra XVI e XVII secolo consentono di indagare: la permanenza nel linguaggio parlato da forestieri e stranieri immigrati a Roma di elementi dialettali e linguistici propri della loro terra d’origine; l’articolazione non sempre lineare dei percorsi che portavano a Roma un peculiare soggetto sociale, le prostitute. Frammenti di oralità cristallizzata nei verbali d’interrogatorio e narrazioni individuali del venire, del restare, dell’integrarsi che possono contribuire a rendere più complesso e dinamico il già significativo quadro di conoscenze in merito ad un fenomeno, quello dell’immigrazione nella città dei papi, di fondamentale rilievo per chiunque intenda affrontare uno studio sulla Roma della prima età moderna.
Conference Presentations by Cristina Vasta
Talks by Cristina Vasta
Book Reviews by Cristina Vasta
«La libertà non può essere donata», Dissertation, Corso di specializzazione Montessori per educatrici della prima infanzia Roma, a.a. 2021/2022 Cristina Vasta
After a first section devoted to describe the archival fond Tribunale criminale del governatore di Roma (1512-1809), which is preserved by the Archivio di Stato di Roma, the paper examines two topics: the language spoken by the foreigners, who often continued to use their own local dialect despite their long permanence in Rome; the description of individual process of integration given to the judge by several courtesans, frequently meticulous and colourful re-enactments of their journeys and their way to build new relationships in the city that enrich with original details the history of this peculiar kind of immigrant women.
***
Questo articolo, proponendo una inversione di prospettiva metodologica, affronta il tema della presenza di stranieri e forestieri a Roma non tanto a partire dai fondamentali interrogativi che esso pone (l’origine, la permanenza, la capacità e le strategie di integrazione, la produzione culturale, la vita religiosa), quanto da ciò che di nuovo l’analisi sistematica di una specifica fonte primaria, in questo caso gli atti processuali prodotti dal tribunale del governatore di Roma, può fornire alla più generale riflessione storiografica, elementi talvolta forieri di inedite visioni e capaci di illuminare dettagli prima ignorati. Dopo aver esaminato nel suo insieme il fondo archivistico Tribunale criminale del governatore di Roma (1512-1809), conservato presso l’Archivio di Stato di Roma, e rilevato le potenzialità euristiche di ciascuna serie documentaria riguardo al tema in oggetto, il testo si sofferma in particolare su due questioni specifiche che gli incartamenti processuali prodotti tra XVI e XVII secolo consentono di indagare: la permanenza nel linguaggio parlato da forestieri e stranieri immigrati a Roma di elementi dialettali e linguistici propri della loro terra d’origine; l’articolazione non sempre lineare dei percorsi che portavano a Roma un peculiare soggetto sociale, le prostitute. Frammenti di oralità cristallizzata nei verbali d’interrogatorio e narrazioni individuali del venire, del restare, dell’integrarsi che possono contribuire a rendere più complesso e dinamico il già significativo quadro di conoscenze in merito ad un fenomeno, quello dell’immigrazione nella città dei papi, di fondamentale rilievo per chiunque intenda affrontare uno studio sulla Roma della prima età moderna.