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Conference Report on Violence and its Control in Early Modern Europe, 
4–5 July 2023, York
Under the influence of legal anthropology, historical research has, in the last few 
decades, begun to challenge the traditional interpretations of the role of interper-
sonal violence in early modern European society. Recent studies have shown that 
pre-modern society was not chaotic and ‘irreparably’ violent, as is often assumed. 
Instead, conflicts were often regulated by specific social ‘rules’ or customs. Violence 
has proven to be an ambivalent and complex phenomenon with no clear definition and 
a product of interactions between cultural, economic, social, political etc., factors, 
which vary according to time and place.
Therefore, it is not surprising that interest in researching the role of interper-
sonal violence and its control in early modern societies has increased in recent 
decades. This issue was, among others, the focus of the EU-funded research project 
ViolenControl – Violence and its Control in early modern Venice, 1500–1797, co-
ordinated and led by Andrew Vidali, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at 
the Department of History at the University of York (UK).
Between 4 and 5 July 2023, in the framework of his MSCA research project, a 
two-day conference entitled Violence and its Control in Early Modern Europe was 
organised and hosted at the University of York. The event also took place online for 
those who could not attend in person.
The opening address was given by Andrew Vidali, chair of the conference com-
mittee and head of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie research project. In the following 
two days, four panels were held in which thirteen research specialists from across 
Europe and the US presented their papers on the history of controlling interpersonal 
violence. Following the conference outline, however, not limited exclusively to these 
themes, they focused on: 1) the quantitative analysis of violence; 2) peacemaking, 
public order and policing; 3) interrelationships between criminal justice and violence; 
4) factionalism, political and elite violence; 5) class, gender-based and collective 
violence; 6) minorities and violence; and 7) spatial patterns of violence.
The opening panel, Gender and Spaces of Violence, was moderated by Amanda 
Madden from the George Mason University (USA). The first paper, entitled Control-
ling violence in the Bagno de’ Forzati of Livorno (17th–18th centuries), was given 
by Benedetta Chizzolini from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Ger-
many), in a cotutelle agreement with the University of Padua (Italy). She presented 
an analysis of the control of violence, the clash of jurisdictions and the exemplary 
punishments against specific crimes within the Bagno, a prison built between 1598 
and 1604 under Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in the heart of 
medieval Livorno. The prison was mainly used for ‘Turks’ captured and enslaved by 
the Order of Saint Stephen as well as Tuscan prisoners.
This was followed by a paper by Nere Jone Intxaustegi Jauregi from the Univer-
sity of Deusto (Spain). In her paper Violence and Women in Early Modern Basque 
Territories, she analysed physical mistreatment, verbal violence and mental abuse 
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against women and by women against other individuals, especially in the ‘private’ 
space of conflict, the family.
The first panel concluded with a presentation given by Sanne Muurling from the 
Radboud University (The Netherlands). In her paper entitled Women, violence and 
the use of justice in early modern Bologna, she refuted the traditional interpreta-
tions of women’s ‘passive’ role and how, despite their so-called subordination, they 
participated in all categories of criminal offences as well as in (in)formal mechanisms 
of dispute settlement.
The second panel of the day, Social Groups and Politics, moderated by Stuart 
Carroll from the University of York, was opened by Ugo Muraca from the Uni-
versity of Messina (Italy). In his paper, entitled «Faire tyranniser la majorité du 
peuple par une minorité factieuse»: the suppression of the federalist uprisings 
in Southern France in 1793, he analysed an insurrectional movement, which 
occurred in the French provinces and countryside in the same year as the peas-
ant uprisings in Vendée (1793). With it, several towns in the Midi opposed the 
capital’s alleged ‘centralism’.
The next presentation, entitled Controlling the violence of servants: a pressure 
way in early modern diplomacy?, was given by Amelie Balayre from the University 
of Arras (France). Predicated on ten incidents that occurred between French and Eng-
lish diplomatic staff in 1559–98, she showed that diplomacy, traditionally viewed as 
a dispute settlement practice that resolves issues between states through negotiation 
and compromise, also involved violence. While ambassadors were the public faces 
of their rulers, they were usually accompanied by a retinue of people and servants of 
varying ranks, who, in the context of war and strong religious tensions, used violence 
without much hesitation.
The final lecture of the second panel was presented by Sian Hibbert from 
the University of York. In her paper, Violence and the Notability: Languedoc 
1680–1720, she questioned what constitutes notability in a community and 
outlined how violence and its control were treated when individuals of specific 
social statuses were involved. She suggested that the traditional notability con-
cepts of status and ‘power’ (and therefore our understanding of the tensions 
underpinning incidents of violence) need to be located within the geographical 
locality of the individuals involved, because of the complex system of office 
holding and election specifics.
The first day of the conference was concluded with a talk by the keynote 
speaker, Amanda Madden. Her lecture titled The history of violence between 
the micro and macro: notes from the field of early modern studies discussed the 
importance of micro and macro studies, focusing on the history of violence and 
its control in the early modern period, based on Italian cities. In doing so, she 
specifically stressed the important role of spatial analysis of violence, e.g. GIS 
mapping. In her opinion, this methodological approach can bridge the micro 
and macro studies and deepen our understanding of patterns of violence and its 
control throughout history.
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The second day of the conference began with the panel Cultures of Violence, 
Peace, and the Law, moderated by Paolo Broggio from the Roma Tre University 
(Italy). In the first paper, entitled ‘Who is there?’: the Violent Game of chivalì 
in the Republic of Venice (1576–1645c.), Andrea Toffolon from the Ca’ Foscari 
University of Venice (Italy), gave a detailed analysis of chivalì, an ambush 
taunt or provocation considered a ‘game’, which developed into interpersonal 
violence. He placed the insufficiently researched phenomenon of the chosen 
time and space in a wider context of violence and called into question the ran-
domness of the targets (i.e. victims). He also addressed the gendered aspects 
of this ‘game’, showing that despite being in the minority, women were also 
involved; however, solely as victims.
The second lecture of the panel was given by Povilas Andrius Stepavičius 
from Vilnius University (Lithuania). His paper Attempts to live peacefully: 
violence and its control in the 17th century Vilnius explored what kind of 
violence deterrence measures were used in seventeenth-century Vilnius. He 
focused 1) on inhabitants and their ways of dealing with violent outbursts and 
2) on the attempt to identify how the city’s institutions prepared for peace-
making and protecting the public order. He argued that the source material 
reveals a strong desire to control violence in the domestic and neighbourhood 
environment.
The panel ended with a presentation by Mattia Corso, an independent researcher 
from Italy. In his paper entitled The Problem with Weapons: Arms Control Policies 
in Sixteenth Century Verona, he examined the historical context of weapons control 
in sixteenth-century Verona, specifically focusing on the laws that governed the 
use and carrying of arms in public spaces. In his analysis, he combined archival 
records documenting the enforcement of laws with two unique and valuable sources, 
reports by judge Ermes Forcadura (1550–1607), focusing on factors that influenced 
the effectiveness of arms control measures.
The fourth and last panel of the conference, entitled Looking East: Violence 
in Central Europe, was moderated by Andrew Vidali. The session was opened 
by Žiga Oman from the Institute IRRIS (Slovenia) with the paper entitled Di-
mensions of Enmity in Early Modern Inner Austria. Predicated on cases from 
the provincial courts of Rothenfels in Styria and Bled in Carniola, as well as the 
town court of Ljubljana, the Carniolan capital, he addressed the use of violence 
and its control in dispute settlement among non-nobles to discern the dimen-
sions of ‘enmity’ in early modern Inner Austria.
Next followed a presentation by Marta Raczyńska-Kruk from the Uni-
versity of Warsaw (Poland). In her paper‘You dog, Polish deaf German!’. 
The story about Deaf Germans in early modern Poland and the problem of 
symbolic violence, she dealt with the concept and the cultural phenomenon 
of the so-called ‘Deaf Germans’ (Taubdeutche in German, Głuchoniemcy in 
Polish) ethnic group in early modern Poland and the history of research on this 
phenomenon in the context of symbolic violence. According to her paper, a 
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Veronika Kos: CONFERENCE REPORT, 831–838
type of non-physical violence manifested in power differences between social 
and cultural groups, focusing especially on the expression of violence through 
language and how ethnic stereotypes build a linguistic and cultural image of 
the world.
The panel and the conference were concluded by the paper entitled Protection 
from Violence: the Anabaptists in Moravia (1525–1621). It was given by Emese 
Bálint, an independent researcher from Romania, who focused on the protection 
from the violence of the Anabaptist minority in early modern Moravia. She chal-
lenged the traditional views which interpret the toleration of a religious minor-
ity solely as a cultural tradition and/or a legal guarantee. As Bálint illustrated, 
protection from violence was a complex variable depending on the outcomes of 
power struggles, economic gains, and political costs.
The conference Violence and its Control in Early Modern Europe successfully 
addressed the topic of interpersonal violence and its control in the early modern 
period from various points of view. The speakers and the moderators showed 
that this research topic is very complex and deserves further consideration. The 
organisers should be commended for the selection of compelling papers and the 
good organisation of the conference.
Veronika Kos