In Brothels and Brawls: Male Friendship and Masculinity in Early Modern Venice

Jana Byars’ paper, which springs from research on her new monograph-length study of masculinity and male friendship on the Mediterranean, explores the matrix of public male friendship, identity and ideals of masculinity.  In early modern Venice, homosocial interaction was the norm and expressions of masculinity were developed and articulated within this framework.  Venetian court records feature groups of young men traveling the city together, drinking, playing cards and engaging in street brawls heavy with insult and braggadocio.  These groups are crucial: men visited brothels together in this hyper-stimulated, alcohol-fueled state; sometimes they spent their evenings mixing all of these pastimes at the home of famous courtesans.  They were physically expressive and engaged in sexual acts in close proximity.  In the protracted adolescence permitted Venetian men, one’s identity was based on a collection of corporate bodies, including, I argue, one’s group of friends.  Using Venetian criminal cases involving street fighting, this paper demonstrates that Mediterranean ideals of masculinity involved not only defending oneself, but also one’s friends with words, certainly, and deeds, too, if required.  Hierarchies of power were established and reinforced in these nocturnal brawls and one’s value as a friend, and a man, was continually tested.  In this world, developing and keeping male friends was a necessary facet of normative masculinity