The Boundaries of Eros: Sex Crime and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice

by Guido Ruggiero

Utilizing the records of several Venetian courts that dealt with sex crimes, Ruggiero traces the evolution of both licit and illicit sexuality during the 14th and 15th centuries. He argues that the use of such records reveals not only the nature of sexual behaviour that was considered criminal, but also what society established as the norm. Through this examination of illicit sexuality, Ruggiero sheds light on the institutions, languages, social life and values not only of this shadow-culture, but also of Venetian society and, ultimately, the Renaissance itself.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Renaissance, Italy, Sexuality, Historical, Gender and Sexuality

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Guido Ruggiero, Professor of History and Cooper Fellow of the College of Arts and Sciences, was born in Danbury, Connecticut and grew up in Webster, New York, a small rural town along the old shore line of Lake Ontario. After earning a B.A. with a heavy focus on ancient history and philosophy at the University of Colorado, he went on to UCLA where as a University of California Regent's Intern Fellow he earned an M.A. (1967) and a Ph.D. (1972). As a Regent's Fellow he began his long love affair with Venice and the Venetian Archives in 1970 and has been returning there for his research ever since. He makes his home in Treviso, Italy, when he is not teaching at UM.

Professor Ruggiero has published on the history of gender, sex, crime, magic, science and everyday culture, primarily in renaissance and early modern Italy. Early in his career he focused on social science history, but his interests have expanded toward yet more interdisciplinary approaches, including microhistory, narrative history, and the melding of literature, literary criticism, and archival history. His new book, The Renaissance in Italy: A Social and Cultural History of the Rinascimento, published by Cambridge University Press recently won the AAIS (the American Association for Italian Studies) prize for the best book of 2014 on premodern Italy. A radical rethinking of the period, it has been hailed as a work that offers an exciting paradigm for the Italian Renaissance both as a period and a movement. He has also published Violence in Early Renaissance Venice (Rutgers, 1980), The Boundaries of Eros: Sex Crime and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice (Oxford, 1985), Binding Passions: Tales of Magic, Marriage and Power from the End of the Renaissance(Oxford, 1993), Machiavelli in Love: Sex, Self and Society in Renaissance Italy (Johns Hopkins, 2007); as well as Sex and Gender in Historical Perspectives (Johns Hopkins, 1990), Microhistory and the Lost Peoples of Europe (Johns Hopkins,1991), and History from Crime (Johns Hopkins, 1993), edited with Edward Muir. In addition he has edited The Blackwell Companion to the Renaissance (Wiley-Blackwell, 2002) and Five Comedies from the Italian Renaissance (Johns Hopkins, 2003) translated with Laura Giannetti. He also edited the series Studies in the History of Sexuality (1985-2002) for Oxford University Press and was a co-editor of the six volume, Encyclopedia of European Social History for Scribner's (2002). In addition to being a fellow or visiting professor at Harvard’s Villa I Tatti in Florence (1990-1991, 2012), the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton (1981-82; 1991), and at the American Academy in Rome (Fall, 2011), he has won a number of grants and fellowships including a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1990). Ruggiero regularly teaches classes on the Italian Renaissance, the new social and cultural history, and the uses of literature for history.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brilliant, ground breaking examination of sex, or really sex that came to the attention of the authorities, in Renaissance Venice. It is fascinating but also of its time, 1985, how different the world was, this was the time when finally sex, particularly same-sex (it would be absurd to apply a term like gay to what went on between men and men and boys anywhere renaissance Europe). But nowadays there is a greater acknowledgement that while archival sources, such as 'criminal' records (again to imagine that they correspond to our idea of 'police records' is counter-productive) are important their very nature skewers our perception of non-normative sexual behavior.

By the time I read it was thirty years old, now it is forty five, that doesn't mean it has no use, it is a mine of wonderful insights and information but books like this are inextricably tied up in their time. You need to read with that at the back of your mind.

[Petruccio Hambasket IV · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather recent (1985) study of an academic sphere that has somehow been largely untouched (Renaissance sexuality) until the 20th century. Ruggiero's focus is entirely on Venice between the 14th and 15th centuries. He intends to understand the realms and forms of 'normal' Venetian sexuality (to some extent Italian) in this period by studying what is considered not to be normal, that is to say illicit in the eyes of the Venetian criminal courts (i.e. noble merchant-bankers, known as Avogadori). Ruggiero looks at 5 of the most common sexual crimes of this period in order to form the bulk of his analysis: fornication, adultery, acts against God, rape, and sodomy. He will use a very large amount of legal documents (primary sources) in this study, his absolute knowledge of this many records is highly impressive, as is the comparative handling of such material. Primary sources are largely necessary as this field of historical enquiry, as aforementioned, is lacking in scholarly treatment.

This is a very dry and pedantic study so if analytic comparisons and nitpicking is not your thing this might not be for you. However, Ruggiero has pioneered a realm of historical study in this book that will practically make it impossible to talk about certain conclusions relating to Venetian society without reference to it. Along with that Ruggiero is a world class historian and for those in the field is highly worth checking out.

[Anıl Karzek · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye-opening work by Ruggiero. Handled with a detailed documentary with well-organized chapters. I would like to see more about prosecution procedures on ships and Venetian colonies (Crete, Cyprus, Aegean islands, etc.), which is essential to my studies. Other than that, this has elaborated some questions for further studies.

[Emilia Sur · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you think that Venice is only sumptuous architecture, trendsetting and splendid arts, and high-brow literature, there is quite a apart you might miss out on. French poet Guillaume Apollinaire didn't call Venice the "sexe femelle" of Europe for nothing - but I'm straying.
Not totally, because Guido Ruggiero's meticulous look into Venetian Renaissance sexual mores makes for a pretty well-researched and very informative experience. That Renaissance Venetians didn't leave sexual extravagance and promiscuity to the likes of Serenissima's more famous sexplorers - Casanova, Giorgio Baffo, or a more contemporary Veronica Franco - we have the relentless efforts of the Signori di Notte and the Avogadori to thank for. The former would survey the misbehaving in the city during the night, and the latter serving to the interests of the city - they were Venice's version of a D.A.. And all were very meticulous about it. Leaving us with lots of stories of how Venitians of all walks of life acted under the spell of Eros. (And yes - we really didn't invent much nowadays...)
A book to read if you want a more intimate look at the legendary city in the lagoons...

[Craig Monson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on a close reading of archival documents, related to several 16th- and 17th-century cases in Venice, the book provides valuable insight, both into how historians can approach such documents and the intriguing sorts of things that, with luck and careful analysis, they may discover. Engagingly written, sufficiently to appeal to general readers.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

De titel van het boek zegt precies wat er behandeld wordt. De vele voorbeelden worden uitgebreid besproken. Ik vond het op een gegeven moment een beetje langdradig worden. Er kwamen te veel voorbeelden en er werd in de eerste 6 hoofdstukken alleen aandacht besteed aan de juridisch invalshoek. Hoofstuk 7 liet de resultaten van het onderzoek in de desbetreffende maatschappij zien. Dit was het beste hoofdstuk van het boek. Het boek is interessant als je er onderzoek naar doet, maar mocht dit niet het geval zijn kies dan een ander boek.

[Laya Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched and written with both economy and style. If you want to learn about this absolutely fascinating corner of Italian history, you will not find a better resource (written in English, that is 😉)

[Robert Lukins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and well collected account of Venice in the 14th and 15th centuries through the lens of the criminal courts and their handling of 'illicit' activity.

[Katia M. Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected. It uses records of criminal activity to spot sexual goings on. It is quite repetitive and I became bored with it quite easily but pushed through to the end. I had been hoping for a little more scandal and debauchery. I can't say I would recommend it as a good read, but it would be useful as a research tool to avoid locating the original data, which I imagine took a long time.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and critical information not elsewhere available in English or, for that matter, without unfettered access to 500 year-old archives and fluency in a vanishing dialect...in other words, this is the place you'll learn thus stuff. and it's good stuff.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm probably not going to write a full length review of this one, but I'll probably write a paragraph at some point. Maybe bundle it together with reviews of the other non-fiction books I'm planning on reading this month?

Anyway, consider this review pending.