522 claudio povolo
if not competition, with the new magistracy of the Esecutori contro la
bestemmia. this body was created by the republic in 1537 to prosecute
blasphemy (bestemmia), but quickly became involved in other matters
considered just as important, such as gambling and the violation of young
virgins by deceit.33
the ecclesiastical and secular authorities sought to discipline the sphere
of behavior that was defined both as sin and crime using new authority
and procedures. the most important changes, however, were aimed at
limiting violence and other behaviors that were perceived to be preda-
tory but that, in many cases, simply reflected a society that was still built
around the twin structures of kinship and feud.34 it was into this politi-
cal space defined by status and honor that important Venetian magistra-
cies such as the council of ten and the senate inserted themselves in no
uncertain terms beginning in the last decades of the 16th century.35
Two Scenes to ContinueA Nocturnal Arrest
saturday, 27 august 1605, in the early hours of the night in the village of
orgiano (fig. 13.1), about 20 kilometers to the south of Vicenza. the long
dusters and wide-brimmed hats, which allowed only glimpses of faces
hardened by time and almost camouflaged by shaggy hair, seemed to blur
the men moving along the track into the village. they left their horses in
a nearby yard and cautiously surrounded the palazzo. trying not to be
33 gaetano cozzi, La società veneta e il suo diritto. Saggi su questioni matrimoniali,
giustizia penale, politica del diritto, sopravvivenza del diritto veneto nell’Ottocento (Venice,
2000), pp. 79–83. a summary in bellabarba, La giustizia, pp. 68–75.
34 on the difficulty of exhaustively defining the concept of violence, see Pieter spieren-
burg, “Violence: reflections about a word,” in sophie body-gendrot and Pieter spieren-
burg, eds., Violence in Europe: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (new York, 2008),
pp. 13–25. willem de haan, “Violence as an essentially contested concept,” in body-
gendrot and spierenburg, eds., Violence in Europe, pp. 37–38, emphasizes the social con-
struction of all forms of violence and the necessity for historians to contextualize violence
in order to understand its meaning and ends. this observation is apt for social control in
the modern period, in which bloody forms of violence regulated by central institutions
were used to combat banditry, which was driven by feuds between clans and the culture
of honor. on this culture, see n. 22 and related text.
35 in this Venice was no different from the other political entities of monarchies or
principalities, gregory hanlon, “Violence and its control in the Late renaissance: an ital-
ian Model,” in ruggiero, ed., A Companion to the Worlds of Renaissance, pp. 141–43. in a
republic, however, this process could have quite different outcomes, as will be seen.