Prompted by a Diabolic Spirit: Clerical Violence and Honor in Late Medieval Italy

Historians of gender have long demonstrated that late medieval Italian elites had clear ideas about what made a man: the display of prowess in both bed and battle was a must. But what of clerics, whose vows forbade them from competing in either arena? Recent studies of medieval masculinity are only just beginning to uncover the complexities of medieval clerical masculinity, especially the relationship between clerical masculinity, sexuality, and violence. The rich criminal case records of the episcopal court of Lucca reveal a world in which some priests openly skirted their vows, adopting lives similar to those of their secular counterparts: taking “wives,” carrying arms, and engaging in acts of violence both public and private. The 1352 case against Andrea, rector of the Church of San Michele in Villa Urbana, for example, reveals a priest accused not only of keeping a concubine, but of murdering a fellow cleric on her behalf. The case goes on to describe Andrea’s flight from the diocese, including the aid he received from his mistress’ brother in stealing goods from the church to prepare for his escape.

Examining this and other cases from fourteenth-century Lucca, this paper seeks to answer looming questions about masculinity, honor, and violence among priests in late medieval Italy. What pressures did priests feel to construct their gender identity according to secular ideas of masculine honor? How widespread was this phenomenon? In a world in which medieval Italian bishops saw their jurisdictions slowly shifting into the secular hands of communal authorities, what do these cases reveal about the effectiveness of ecclesiastical reform and the struggles between ecclesiastical and secular authorities in the late Middle Ages?