2 - The Politics of Vendetta

Summary

Vendetta was a commonly used term in early modern Italy and widely viewed in as legitimate, contributing to Italy’s very high homicide rates. But vendetta has received surprisingly little attention from historians. Vendetta was not opposed to the state or the law, because it was closely associated with justice. The process of getting even did not require the spilling of blood: an injury could be satisfied in bloodless ways and medieval statutes progressively sought to deny or restrict self-help. The elaboration of more punitive courts institutionalised the system of compensation for an injury. Vendetta was a process of conflict resolution in which the state, church and community brought significant pressure to bear on the parties to renounce enmity and seek peace. This became much more difficult after 1500. The Italian Wars not only unleashed mass violence and regime change on a scale not experienced in the late Middle Ages but also led to the collapse of traditional political loyalties. The violence unleased by civil war changed the nature of faction: factional identities were henceforth forged in blood.