Cleaning Up the Devil’s House: Clerics, Sex and Violence in the Post-Tridentine Papal States
Menica Curiole’s story—a young woman, separated from her husband, who died from injuries inflicted by a priest in 1592—is a multivalent one. As a local event, Menica’s story was one of a woman on the margins in Corneto (now Tarquinia) attempting to survive; the priest, Balzagrano, who paid her oster...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
2023
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 2023, Volume: 54, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 99-118 |
| Further subjects: | B
CLERGY'S sexual behavior
B PAPAL States B PRIESTS' sexual behavior B ART & Faith in Tridentine Spain (Book) B INDEX librorum prohibitorum |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Menica Curiole’s story—a young woman, separated from her husband, who died from injuries inflicted by a priest in 1592—is a multivalent one. As a local event, Menica’s story was one of a woman on the margins in Corneto (now Tarquinia) attempting to survive; the priest, Balzagrano, who paid her osteria bill in exchange for sex, ultimately killed her, scandalizing the community. As a crime involving both sex and violence, the trial conducted after her death to deal with the scandal reveals another story. The trial process conducted in the wake of Menica’s death demonstrates how enforcing post-Tridentine norms of morality, even in the Papal States, was a complex and uneven process. In the Protestant Reformation’s wake, several popes declared the prosecution of morality crimes, a priority in theory; but that priority was carried out very selectively, and often in response to public scandals, in reality. The Governor’s court in Rome, sent to deal with Menica’s sad death, used that scandal as an opportunity to grapple with the moral standards of Corneto more broadly, among the clergy and laity alike, which still fell well short of Tridentine norms. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/727949 |