Sumptuary Law in Italy 1200-1500 (Oxford Historical Monographs)

The luxurious spending habits of Italians in the Renaissance are well known. The new luxury, however, was not greeted with universal approval, and chroniclers, poets, churchmen, and statesmen were often critical of, and preoccupied by, its effects. The most voluminous and telling evidence of this preoccupation is the body of laws enacted to restrict and regulate all aspects of luxury consumption — the so-called sumptuary laws. This book offers the first comprehensive study of Italian sumptuary laws through a chronological, geographical, and thematic survey of more than three hundred laws enacted in over forty cities throughout the peninsula. It examines the nature of these laws up to 1500 and relates them to the circumstances, the framework of ideas and the habits of mind that gave rise to them. This Is A Study Of Italian Sumptuary Laws Through A Chronological, Geographical, And Thematic Survey Of More Than 300 Laws Enacted In Over 40 Cities Throughout The Peninsula. Note On Money -- Note On Measurements -- 1. Ancient And Early Medieval Precedents -- 2. The Origins And Characteristics Of Italian Sumptuary Law -- 3. Money And People -- 4. Ambition And Social Order -- 5. The Church And Sumptuary Law -- 6. Women And Sumptuary Law -- 7. Problems Of Enforcement And The Failure Of Sumptuary Law. Catherine Kovesi Killerby. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [165]-180) And Index. Although the luxurious spending habits of Italians in the Renaissance are well known, this is the first comprehensive study of the sumptuary laws that attempted to regulate the consumption of luxuries. Catherine Kovesi Killerby provides a chronological, geographical, and thematic survey of more than three hundred laws enacted in over forty cities throughout Italy, and sets them in their social context. Dedication ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABBREVIATIONS A NOTE ON MONEY A NOTE ON MEASUREMENTS Introduction 1 Ancient and Early Medieval Precedent 2 The Origins and Characteristics of Italian Sumptuary Law 3 Money and People 4 Ambition and Social Order 5 The Church and Sumptuary Law 6 Women and Sumptuary Law 7 Problems of Enforcement and the Failure of Sumptuary Law BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX