Violence in a Bavarian market town

[Ariella Elema]

I just ran across a short academic conference paper that provides some interesting social context for the German medieval martial arts. Check this out: Violence and Local Society in Late Medieval Bavaria: A Look at the Evidence by Clif Hubby.

[bigdummy]

Fascinating Ariella thanks for posting!

BD

[Fab]

We have such similar studies in France about letters of remission (someone asking for forgiveness to the local Lord, or a potentate of greater importance) giving interesting hints : a priest on a market armed with sword and buckler for instance, or people drawing their swords and moving "en garde" and the like.

[Ariella Elema]

I was thinking of the French material as I read the paper. It looks a lot like the stuff that Claude Gauvard writes about.

[bigdummy]

I just want to say i finally read this paper yesterday and I found it really fascinating, especially the conclusion where they talk about the role of honor / reputation in late medieval society and it's relation to violence, commerce, social standing etc.

Really interesting stuff, this kind of helps me bridge my understanding of early medieval / Iron age Norse culture with later Renaissance Italy.

My one question is, where did all that honor go? At what point did we stop needing it in mainstream culture? It was important in the subculture I was in during my youth in almost exactly the same way described in this paper.

BD

[Fab]

I'd say late XXth. Though in less 'educated' areas, it still stands. Staredown contests can still jeopardize your life in some French areas.

Though now stupidity is the drive behind all this.

[bigdummy]

Yes I'd tend to agree with you, clearly for example Latin gangs in the US have this concept very strong still, but there is a lot of depravity and sickness in there. The mainstream culture seems to have lost it, and modern life conspires to steal it from you at every step.

i wonder what the long term ramifications will be, if any.

BD

[Ariella Elema]

I would put the transition a little earlier. There's still plenty of agonism over honour and reputation in modern mainstream politics and sports. The thing is that violence is no longer a legitimate part of it.

In the later Middle Ages you see moves to make public violence the prerogative of the nobility. I'm thinking that honour culture (or at least the violent part of it) went into decline when the old aristocracies fell out of power in the nineteenth century.