Deviance in pre-modern society

Definitions of deviance

What is deviance?

How defined in pre-modern (c.1750) period?

Broad definition – religious, sexual, social

Transgression of Church’s moral strictures

How much concealed from the historian’s view?

Dante’s hierarchy of deviance (from The Divine Comedy early C14th)

)

Identification of deviant behaviour common to all societies

• Suspect and threatening

• Appearance, beliefs and/or lifestyle

• Marginalisation, ostracisation, persecution of individuals or groups

• Common stereotypes: sexual depravity, criminality, anti-social behaviour

• Metaphors of sin, pollution, disease

• Cf ‘terrorists’ (Dillinger, 2004)

Accusations vs Deviant Groups (from Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy (1992), p. 166)

Extreme: blood libel/ritual murder accusation vs Jews

Role of the courts/legislation

auto da fe = show trial Official treatment of deviants

• Fluctuations• Ecclesiastical e.g.

Spanish Inquisition• Secular courts often

harsher (will execute)• Could be surprisingly

lenient• Social relations >

heightened tension in post 1500 period

Treatment of the ‘Other’

• Diverse societies: minorities integrated

• Expulsions > mobile communities

• Refugees/diaspora especially by early modern period (post 1500) e.g. moriscos, Huguenots

• Scapegoating

Socially marginal and mobile

Gypsies by Callot c. 1621 C16th and C17th

• Fear of vagrants on increase

• Criminal gangs imagined• Gypsy/Roma people

suspect• Social stability and

hierarchy central

Social stigmatisation

Executioner (C16th)Dishonourable trades

• Played important socio-economic role

• Ostracised from polite society

• Excluded from citizenship• Physically and socially

marginalised• Developed own

subculture/networks• Definition of ‘margins’?

(Milner)

Medieval bath house: often frequented by prostitutes

Treatment of diseased

Fear of contamination:•Leprosy•Plague•Syphilis•Mental illness•Lunacy•Also strong metaphorical use re deviant groups

The court dwarf: Spain and Italy

Monstrous births: source of fascination & horror

‘Monk calf’

(C16th Germany)‘Barking monster’

(C18th England)

SIN: a sinful and virtuous woman

Questions

• In what way group defined as deviant?

• What form did marginalisation take?

• Was persecution systematic or sporadic, official or popular?

• Are there geographical & chronological distinctions to be made?

• What do local studies add?

• What does it tell us about wider society?