The Torrone and the Prosecution of Crimes

Abstract

On 6 June 1654 a surgeon from one of Bologna’s hospitals reported Carlo Masina’s severe and ‘suspicious’ wounds to the criminal court.1 Upon interrogation, the dying Carlo pointed to three men (Domenico Pino, and Francesco and Alessandro Lambertini) and one woman (Diamante, Domenico’s wife) as the culprits. Earlier, Carlo had seen Domenico talking to ‘certain persons’ in one of the city’s many taverns and had mentioned that his behaviour did not befit a gentiluomo (gentleman), but a becco fotuto (fucking cuckold). Their quarrel escalated a day later when Domenico was waiting for him with a drawn sword, accompanied by his wife Diamante and the Lambertini brothers. When Carlo tried to duck the stones Diamante and the brothers were throwing at him, Domenico struck him with his sword, causing wounds which would eventually prove fatal for Carlo. Domenico was able to turn the capital punishment he received into a pardon through a peace accord with Carlo’s kin and the Lambertini brothers were exiled. Although her role in the homicide was similar to that of the brothers, no sentence is recorded for Diamante. While the criminal court records do not provide any information as to why Diamante got off so lightly compared to her male co-offenders, perceptions of gender may well have been at play. After all, differences in recorded and prosecuted crime are linked to moral and legal norms, which differed according to offence category as well as the ‘quality’ of the offender and victim – gender being one of the constituents that magistrates took into consideration when judging a crime. This chapter examines the relationship between criminal prosecution patterns and gender in early modern urban Bologna through the lens of the authorities. By examining both normative writings such as the city’s criminal bylaws and a sample of the Tribunale del Torrone’s investigation dossiers (processi), it sheds light on the legal attitudes and practices of prosecution that played a significant role in shaping women’s formal encounters with the law in urban Bologna. This chapter begins with an overview of the legal landscape and the organisation of the criminal justice system in early modern Bologna. It then discusses how criminal justice was administered, what procedures it followed and what prosecutorial priorities it established in the criminal bylaws. This will reveal that although the procedures and laws in themselves may appear relatively